Okay. I think I've just invented the term "xeno-dysmorphia" because I Googled and couldn't find a name for this...

Basically... I'm English but I feel like I should be French. I look French - well, I mean I would if I tied my sweater around my neck and wore tan and grey simultaneously. I place emphasis on my vowels rather than consonants when I'm speaking. I love French cinema. J'adore Daniel Auteuil... Yves Montand... Francois Oizon, Stephane Rideau. The music is gorgeous... Serge Gainsbourg... 'La Maison Ou J'ai Grandi' par Francoise Hardy...

Does anybody else feel "displaced"?

I've never felt very american and I have a very high criticism for things that seem very typically american.

I've never felt as though I belonged to another country, though I have a strong affinity for the UK.

Displaced?

Not me. I'm just envious of different ethnicities body parts. Like I wish I had Japanese hair and lips Indian eyes and eyebrows and the latin sex appeal

I´m a Turk born and raised in Germany and quite happy with what and who I am. Even though I was born in Germany I had to apply for my citizenship and gave up my old one when I was in my late 20s. If I could choose my nationality or ethnic background in my next life (that is, if there IS a next life), I wouldn´t want to be anything else but I have to admit, being a Turk is not a very pleasant experience most of the time and you have to be strong enough to cope with most of the everyday ignorance, whether it´s coming from "my own people" or other people.

There´s a lot of stress that comes with it, and I´m pretty sure that my personality would be totally different if I were an Italian or Spaniard, simply because your environment and the way you experience things reflect back on your personality and the way you look at life.

Also, growing up with lots of different people (American friends, Germans, Turkish, Arabic or Portuguese and Yugoslavian friends) and travelling very often and intensively over the years broadened my horizon but at the same time made me realize that I am more of a cosmopolitan character than a member of a certain group, be it ethnic or religious or a certain nationality.

On the one hand I am glad and happy about all this and how things in life shaped me and I see a lot of benefits and I know that I have something that other people don´t have and never will have but on the other hand I know that it´s also a good thing to have a base, something one can call home, a foundation.
As much as I can mingle very well with either Turks,Americans, Brits or Germans or most other people, I also see where I have my differences with them and how sometimes some of the characteristics of all those groups get on my nerves.

Then there are places that always used to have a special place in my heart but where the people and their mentality and all that they stood for over the years have changed and therefore cooled off my affection for those places but that may change again in the future.

If I could, I would like to volunteer for an experiment where they deepfreeze my body and wake me up in a distant future with a utopian society that is reminiscent of Gene Roddenberry´s Star Trek series....not that I´m a huge fan of Star Trek but I find that vision of the future very appealing....no more racial or religious or ethnic or sexual boundaries and the idea that we, as human beings, are happier when we stop bullying and controlling and dominating and fighting each other.

CarrieMpls said:

I sort of feel that in some regards. I'm proudly American. Yes, we have our short comings, but I always have hope that we will get better, and on some fronts we have improved ourselves. On other fronts, we fail miserably. But perhaps, all of that is the Human Experience. I think my criticism lies in the cliché and mundane things people accept as "normal" or an inevitable part of reality. I balk at that. It stunts creativity. "the opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation".

I don't feel like I belong to another country either, but I do also have a strong affection for the UK.

I'm Mexican-American. I moved here when I was 4.

I've always had this thing for England. I think it had to do with the 80's and all the music that came out of the U.K. I remember really wanting to go there during that time. I "get" British humor, I love their film.

I've been to England twice and I remember that when I got home I felt homesick for it. How can that happen? Was I reincarnated. (No queen jokes please! hehee)

The funny thing is that 2 people, at different places, said that they thought I was Turkish.

i don't feel at home anywhere.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

You do look a bit Turkish. We are very mixed people, there are blond Turks, Middle Eastern looking Turks, Latin American looking ones, some have an Asian look (originally the Turks stem from the Central Asian steppes), and there are many Slavic looking Turks from the Balkans.It´s due to the history and the Ottoman Empire´s vastness. Three of my uncles have African ancestors,and some of my relatives look very pale and blond.
Unfortunately, this rich ethnical heritage all but disappeared with the rise of the nation state ideology in Europe and the rest of the world in the early years of the 20th century.


Speaking of Britain....I used to have this affection for Britain, too, especially when I was a kid. I still love it but I´m not naive enough to still want to live there.

I'm American born-&-raised, but my parents are Honduran so I am deeply steeped in Central American/Hispanic culture, YET anyone will tell you that I look distinctly Indian/Pakistani.

I guess I could be the poster child for your newly-coined terminology!

KoolEaze said:

Wow. Yes! I have cousins that are red haired and freckled. Heehee. I think it's wonderful that we are all mixed.