Word for "overly proud of heritage"
I remember at one point knowing a word that meant "overly proud of your own heritage or culture", and basically being racist or at least biased toward your own heritage/culture. Anyone know some words that fit this description?
Solution 1:
For terms that see this in terms of a nation:
nationalistic
relating to or showing a belief that your country is better and more important than other countries (from Merriam-Webster)
jingoism
the feelings and beliefs of people who think that their country is always right and who are in favor of aggressive acts against other countries (ibid)
See also fascist.
for terms that focus on the racial aspect, I might say ethnocentric
having or based on the idea that your own group or culture is better or more important than others (M-W)
or tribal thinking.
A good pejorative adjective for expressing this sort of biased thinking is "jaundiced"
Solution 2:
I think you mean "chauvinistic."
The American Heritage Dictionary defines the term as a "[p]rejudiced belief in the superiority of one's own gender, group, or kind: 'the chauvinism . . . of making extraterrestrial life in our own image" (Henry S.F. Cooper, Jr.)'"
The same dictionary explains the word's etymology:
"[French chauvinisme, after Nicolas Chauvin, a legendary French soldier famous for his devotion to Napoleon.]"
Solution 3:
They could be Nationalist. Nationalists come in many types: national nationalism, ethnic nationalism, etc. In some cases, races, cultures, etc. can be considered nations.
Solution 4:
+1 to everything above. I prefer strong language in such cases. You may also find "xenophobe" to be an appropriate pejorative:
A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.
If you don't mind exaggeration, you could probably swing "solipsism" as a mighty smack:
: a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing;
: extreme egocentrism
All definitions are found on Merriam Webster:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/xenophobe
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solipsism