For example, I’m like 0.01% Senegalese or something, but I wasn’t raised by Senegalese people or by the culture, nor do I consider the percentage to be significant enough, so I would not consider myself to be Senegalese.
My dad says our ancestry test used to say he was ~48-50% Norwegian, but now my ancestry says it is around 3-4%. However, another test I paid for with my raw data detected Swedish ancestry around 22%. We were raised more with Norwegian stuff and Norwegian learning videos, though, so I consider myself and my dad Norwegian-American for sure, no matter what it says on the ancestry test because 1) IDK how true, but I heard ancestry tests can be bullshit and just estimate from regions. 2) Culture and identity is more than just a number percentage on a test. 🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴
Hilsen fra en norskamerikaner!
It does come off as insecure when someone makes a culture they have little connection to a large part of their identity rather than just showing an interest in it, but most of the time it’s harmless and not worth making a big deal over. I would loosely define being part of a culture as fitting in with other members of it: ability to express yourself in the native language and understanding its nuances, familiarity with customs and mentality, not feeling out of place when around natives/locals regardless of your ethnicity or ancestry.