Is asking people where they are from racism?

[civvver]

They are most likely asking out of cordial politeness, to try and feign interest in you. It's a normal socially acceptable question to ask things like where are you from, what do you do, what stuff do you like? You're just being way too sensitive. Are you an anti-social person? Does your entire family live in England now? You don't like discussing your cultural heritage at all?

I work with a ton of immigrants, a few from European countries, most from Asian ones, one guy's from Africa. I ask them questions about their origins all the time because it's interesting and friendly. They seem to enjoy telling me about Chinese or Indian food and their own cultural customs.

 

[Borachio]

They are most likely asking out of cordial politeness, to try and feign interest in you.

This may be true of American culture, but it's extremely unlikely to be true in Bradford. People there don't tend to "feign" interest. They're either interested or they aren't. And I think it unlikely that "cordial politeness" is an applicable term.

 

[Formaldehyde]

When strangers ask me where I'm from they aren't expecting me to tell them where my ancestors once lived before they immigrated to North America centuries ago. They are expecting to hear the name of some American town or city.

 

[FaohKi]

When strangers ask me where I'm from they aren't expecting me to tell them where my ancestors once lived before they immigrated to North America centuries ago. They are expecting to hear the name of some American town or city.

I expect exactly what you don't expect

 

[bhavv]

When strangers ask me where I'm from they aren't expecting me to tell them where my ancestors once lived before they immigrated to North America centuries ago. They are expecting to hear the name of some American town or city.

Good for you in America.

 

[Formaldehyde]

That was in response to Civver. And yes, I fully understand and appreciate the double standard.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Alternative: By completely annihilating anyone who offends you the formation of a barrier is prevented and no group of "other" can form.

While I do not advocate this approach, historically speaking it seems to better reflect genuine human nature.

In some cultures maybe.

Thats a heck of alot easier to say than do - distinction is a necessity of existence, though it is ironic that the anti racists have similar logic to the racists (for example)

Of course it is difficult. If you can do hard things, though, you can do this. It's work and takes practice. You have many years ahead of you to get it right.

 

[aelf]

It could, but to assume this "otherness" factor is the intent shows your own bias in looking to find a racial dimension in what could be just a conversation. In fact, I would suggest that by making that assumption, you are guilty of putting them into a group you can call "other" and you are showing great disrespect for their effort to recognize you as a person by making conversation. To engage a stranger in in casual conversation at a personal level is a sign of respect and recognition of them as a distinct individual. You should embrace the opportunity and tell your story in your own words.

Wha...? It's not everyday that I hear someone respond to a legit sociological concept with, "Maybe you're the one who's the problem if you look at things that way." Or maybe I just don't hang around racists much, I dunno.

Because that seems like a stock racist response to me. I mean I was talking about racism, yes? And not about some conversation in the neighbourhood store. Just checking here, because from what I can see my posts just preceding that one were discussing how people stereotype Filipino women as maids. That's not racist? And the people thinking it's racist as the ones with the problem?

Or maybe I should expect some response deriding academic wisdom as ivory tower speak, and explaining that real, practical people don't actually face problems related to Othering?

I definitely don't see why asking people where they're from couldn't be mildly racist, even when not overtly hostile. It depends on the context, obviously. If it's some acquaintance asking at a party, it might indeed just be an attempt at making conversation, if sometimes a bit awkwardly. If I were asked the question by an old white gentleman/lady on the street in Europe, when there's no obvious reason why he/she should think I actually came from somewhere else, I'd probably put it down to a little bit of ignorance, a holdover from ages past when people just assumed that only white people could come from Europe. If true, that does qualify as a mildly racist idea that stereotypes people of different skin colour as necessarily foreign.

Obviously I might have no way of knowing if that's the idea behind the question, and so there's no reason to get mad immediately. But this is an actual thing in the real world, as demonstrated by the ones who are not so benign when asking.