Defining the term

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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“Hapa” is a Hawaiian word, literally meaning “half” or “portion” and it became popularized in the phrase “hapa haole,” people who were originally part Hawaiian and part Caucasian, “hapa haoles.” As Asians from the mainland started going over more and more it was brought back to the mainland. And it’s gradually sort of taken on the term of people just being “mixed”. Sometimes in Hawaii people will say that anyone that’s mixed is Hapa. Sometimes people think of it as purely J-A and Caucasian. Some people think of it as being any kind of Pacific Islander and something else. But basically the way I define it is anyone who is multiethnic, multiracial, who has partial Pacific Islander or Asian descent is the way I define it.

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

hapa identity multiracial