Ethnicity as a Choice

One discussion point from class I would like to follow up on is the idea that ethnicity is a choice. The prevailing notion seemed to be that it is not a choice, and this is certainly true to some extent; e.g. I cannot really claim that I am Spanish or South African etc., but I have been able to make a choice regarding my Polish ethnicity. As you may or may not know, I am a product of the exact same Polish community we read about in the ethnicity article. (Fun sidebar: the article mentioned an ethnic politician named Roman Pucinski; my father served as a pall bearer at his funeral). Anyway, while my father is Polish and his family more so, the combination of my Nordic mother and never learning the Polish language separated but did not sever me from the rest of the Polish community.

Now here comes the choice: I chose to embrace my Polish heritage. I love Polish food, I have several Polish friends, I like going to Polish fests and parades back home, and my room bears a gigantic Polish flag. However, my sister made the opposite decision. She avoids Polish food and is generally indifferent toward my family's Polish traditions. By not adopting Polish culture she is choosing to reject that ethnicity and adopt a more bland American ethnicity (to my dismay).

In my opinion everyone in America has this choice: to either create a sort of hybridized Ethnic-American identity or assimilate into standard American culture (boring).