Imposing identity upon others

Early consciousness of identity Finding parallels through art Refusing to use a Chinese name to identify as Asian American The Hapa Project Perceptions of uniqueness Defusing myths through The Hapa Project Difficulty responding to the question "What are you?" Lessons learned from The Hapa Project Differing responses by gender to the Hapa Project Identity as a conscious ongoing process Japanese Americans are more aware of their Hapa identity Hapa as his primary identity Discomfort at being labeled by others International dimensions of hapa identity Issues of identity outside of America Imposing identity upon others Changing fortunes of "identity art" The right to say who you are Defining the term "Hapa"

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Certainly if you go internationally, identity is placed upon you. For me, I grew up across the street here, I grew up being in Chinatown every week. At the same time I grew up with this really heavy J-A influence in my life from my brother doing shotokan and then me doing shotokan and studying that my for whole life, and then studying Japanese in college and then living in Japan several times and going to school there. I have felt probably more of an affinity with Japanese culture than Chinese culture, so I might say my identity might blend over there, but then people might object to that, saying “Well wait a minute, my identity of you”—being put on me—is like, “You’re Chinese.” But the people who tell me I’m not Chinese the most in the world are Chinese people! No one tells me I’m not Chinese more than my sister!

Date: May 3, 2006
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Jim Bower
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

hapa identity multiracial