A question of nationality...

Firstly I apologise in advance for a poorly constructed question (I am trying to be careful) but here goes...

Currently in New Zealand we are having a bit of an argument on what constitutes a "Kiwi" ie a New Zealander I realise that I can move to a country and become a citizen but will I ever be a native of that nation or will that mantle fall to the next generation or the generation after that?

I think as the world shrinks and becomes more and more entwined this question will have to answered to avoid racial conflict in the future.

In my opinion it is the third generation that can be considered the "native", I have come to the conclusion that until your parents are born in the nation you can not be considered native to that land.

difficult, depends if you look at it following the 'law' or as a personal sentiment...

I have no clue WHAT I am, I'm only interested in WHO I am

Am I Belgian? sure but with everything that's happening politically in Belgium that's maybe not a good futureproof idea
Am I a Flaming? also but what's a Flaming in the world? We have less inhabitants than NY (or close or something...  )

So I'm ME, MYSELF & I 

another thing about being SOMETHING.... people get sent back to their country because they're not NATIVE, when % are shown from prisoners they first debate on what are Belgians and what not? How many generations this or that? who decides and why?

I think that depends a lot on the nation/region/province you are talking about.

Myself, e.g., living here on Mallorca, I cannot become Mallorquin: Even though by papers I am one the islanders, and myself, consider me a foreign guest nevertheless.

But, here the 2nd generation is definitely considered to be Mallorquin, maybe not in school when they are young (the kids will treat them as foreigners), but once adult they can claim for themselves tho be Spanish/Mallorquin and find the islanders also consider them to be such.

As far as cities goes I have seen the same effect and difference: While you can after a few years living in Berlin claim to be a Berliner (and the others will see and treat you like that), it won´t work for Munich, there it would have to be third generation indeed.

In my chosen German home town Kassel we were making the difference between "Kasseler" (someone from another city who just happened to live there), "Kasselaner" (born in Kassel), and finally "Kasseläner" (parents born in Kassel).

My auto-definition then varies depending on who aks me: For a Hessain, I am from Frankfurt; for a German, I am Hessian, for a Spaniard I am German, for an Asian I am European, and so on up to potential extra terrestrianss from our or another galaxy...

FWIW,

Rattler

But this can not be solely a personal choice thing because it is as much about how others perceive you as it is about how you see yourself.

I don't think there are any right's or wrong's in this discussion as I am only looking for opinion.

I just raised this question as it is a "current" topic here at the moment and I think it is one that is worth looking at given the rise in "nationalist" feeling around the world which I suspect will continue to happen as the world continues to shrink.

Interesting aspects, I feel I have to say a lot, but I wil first sleep a day (or a few) over it.

Rattler

Ah, but that is where you miss my point, I dont give a rats patootie what the French or the Japanese think, they dont define me, which is the root of my point. I understand, that the culture may not accept me as such, but I would refer you to my previous statement about giving a $&#t what others think. Which may be why I have few friends and dont socialize much...

I see.  We have that here, too.  We even have politicians who are attacked for not being "real Southerners" or "real _____" (fill in the blank).  This happens when someone runs for a State office but wasn't born/raised in the state.  It's not always a national thing but even regional discrimination.

That being said, national offices are often won by non-white/not-7th generation "Americans".  the current governor of Louisiana is an American of Indian descent.  He has had some people tout him as a possible Presidential candidate, too (until he didn't do so well in a televised speech.)

Part of the reason I raised the question was that it is a topic I know affects the USA as well but to be honest it is not something that ever really comes up in New Zealand.

However there is a growing nationalist movement in this country and recently it has been fueled by the possibility of selling huge tracks of land to foreign investment and even though I am pro-immigration and foreign investment I find myself wondering whether it is a good idea to allow this on such volumes.

Personally I am of the opinion that I will not see "immigrants" as Kiwi's no matter how much the embrace the local customs.

Why would any immigrant have to pay for my feelings on the subject, I am very pro-immigration as without it we would be a very stagnant little nation I am more than happy to see immigrants as citizens with all the rights available to "natural born" citizens but they are not "natural born" residents.

I do not have an issue with accepting differences within cultures and do believe it would be counter productive try and make everyone the same as it is our differences that make us interesting as a species.