I'm always kind of intrigued/shocked when people speak of having a state identity such as Texan, Wisconsinite, Georgian etc. And I think I've finally figured out why, I grew up in a place (South Bend and St Joe County) that simply doesn't have a clear and cut Hoosier identity.

There are a ton of reasons for this lack of "Hoosierness" once you think about it for a few minutes. Looking at St Joe County as a whole, there are a number of things that pop out that would lead the people of the county not to identify with Indiana as a whole.

The first is obviously we are a border county with Michigan. I imagine most border counties typically have less of a home state identity. More likely to have friends/family/work in a different state than you live. Hell St Joe County is the titular capital of the "Michigan" region

Aack that was supposed to be Michiana. Darn autocorrect.

It's further de Hoosierized b/c SW michigan is beautiful and has great mini vacation amenities. If you live in St Joe chances are you take multiple day long trips to Michigan a year.

Second reason would be Chicago. While I'm 100% in the South Bend is not part of Chicagoland camp. It's definitely true being 2 hours from the 3rd largest city in the country will have cultural impacts on your city. Chicago is obviously not in Indiana

Third is St Joe county grew up in a very un-Indiana way. We were born through manufacturing and now have a very Rust Belt metro character. There aren't too many Rust Belt cities in Indiana. St Joe county looks like a lot of counties in MI and eastern OH, not many in IN

Combining all that and you culturally don't get a lot of Hoosier tethering to St Joe county. When people think of Indiana, I doubt it's a place like St Joe count which comes to mind.

There are two things tho that due tether us to Indiana. The first obviously being we are in the state lol. Regardless of identity. The Indy region has a pull on this area both legally, politically and economically.

The second is the state colleges, specifically IU and Purdue, which imprint a definitive Indiana identity on their grads. My wife headed 4 hours south to Bloomington for four years. Even tho she's returned, that's definitely had an impact on her relationship to the overall state

The colleges also lead to us not being Hoosier however. Notre Dame has a now huge impact on this county regardless if you like them or not. ND is a private school not tethered at all to Indiana, further entrenching our economy as detached from the state.

Now that I've internalized this, I'm a little less judgy of state identities. I don't have really a Hoosier identity not because I'm "above it" snobbishly like I once thought but more because I didn't grow up in a very Indiana place.

So in summary.

South Bend - In Indiana but not of it

To put a real easy example on this, supposedly Pork Tenderloin Sandwich is this quintessential Hoosier food. I've never had one in my life. I don't even know where I'd get one.

@adamwren can take my Hoosier care I guess.