Mixed Asian: What Should I Call You? // Hapa, Hafu, Halfie?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ธ.ค. 2024
- Let's Talk.
There's a certain vagueness and straddling of middle ground to finding a unifying term to describe mixed race people. We just wanted to talk about what that's been like for us, why we think terms and labels don't have to be a bad thing, and what terms we use for ourselves as mixed Koreans.
Links
Speaker: Becky / sincerelybeckyw
Camera: Cedric / skycedi
The Halfie Project
Instagram / thehalfieproject
Website www.thehalfiep...
Podcast www.thehalfiep...
Get in touch at thehalfieproject@gmail.com
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We're very curious to see how you respond - leave a comment about what words you feel comfortable using when describing yourself in terms of being mixed race. What terms do you feel comfortable using when describing someone else? Are they one and the same?
I identify as mixed-race or multiracial, and describe myself as such. Typically, I use the terms bi-racial, mixed race or multiracial & multicultural to describe others as they indicate. One thing I think it's important to remember is that people don't always look (phenotype) like what they are genetically (genotype). Also a mixed-race or bi-racial person may appear as though they are of a different race at various times in their life due to the effects of epigenetics. This may be because certain physical traits emerge, ascend or descend & disappear depending on a number of factors.
@@mariabarnes9197 Well put!
This is why I love this channel! Great content.
I still don't know what to call my daughter when addressing her directly....
Sometimes I just say you are Korean and Jamaican. Sometimes depending on the context I just say you are Korean (when she is wanting more Kimchi for example).
The other day she was searching Google images for a girl like her for her school work with the term "brown girl" and didn't find any similar people. So I typed "Blasian girl" to her delight she found suitable images. It was the first time I exposed her to that.
She's 7 next month and now fully gets why she looks how she does. She just worked out why she isn't as dark as me, or as light as her mum.
I used to call myself a 'hybrid' years ago when I was in middle school, but I think the car industry and seed industry have most claim to that term. maybe I should be hybreed 🙂. it's never been easy to find an accessible word for being half asian half white, and usually I say I'm mixed and go into detail (sometimes adamently) of saying my mom is Chinese and Filipino, and my dad is Irish and German mostly. for the last three years being in the Philippines, I've used the word halo-halo to describe myself which is the name of a popular dessert drink here which basically means mix-mix in Tagalog. when I think about 'blood' in terms of how it's used to measure ethnicity, it seems more accurate to think of it like colors blending and making a new color, only we have so many specific color variants or shades within this half or part asian and half or part white and any other biracial or multiracial peoples. when I get disposed in "quarters" of Chinese, Filipino, Irish and German (and somehow fitting a little bit of Austrian in the white side as well) to make up a whole, it becomes unendearing to my actual representation as belonging to any one of them. strangely enough, I'm sure most "full" races are comprised the same way as half or mixed people, as centuries of 'mixing' became a new normal. Filipino and Mexicans are similar, having Spanish blood mixed in from centuries of Spanish colonizing.
if I like to romanticize it, it reminds me of how seasons change and how they gradually become the next, the inbetween that exists. it's never just black and white changes with outlines so apparent. it's good to be muddy in the middle and understand life that way. to be a part of that. even the briefest wind-rustling-leaves is an existence into itself.
being from California, I've been familiar with hapa and I was really happy when I learned it as "hoppa" and actually being a way to identify with other half asian half white. but the word never stuck, because it seemed too exoticized to Hawaiian culture that I never experienced, and on top of that, no one particularly used that term to describe me or other half people either.
it would be great to have an umbrella term that was universally understood like hapa did or still does for some, to finally have a members only club based on being full mixed. circumstantially having words like halo-halo work for me and it's fun to go somewhere new and discover a new way of expressing(??) my racial identity. but overall, half asian half white is as close as I can get to being excited for now if I see representation described as that. but the most interesting solution would be to make up a term and create a myth to go along with it.
Eurasian is not only accurate it encumpases all people who have both European and East Asian DNA. We are a relatively new race but we are perhaps one of the most unique, intelligent and powerful races to ever inhabit the planet. Be proud of who you are. You are Eurasian.
I always thought the term "halfie" was super cute. I'm not sure how others would react if I used it to describe myself, but it's a very welcoming and inclusive term to me.
I'm only 1/4 Asian,my paternal grandmother is from Busan. My father is from Algeria,and my mother is from Spain. I've been calling myself and my siblings "Hapa". Sometimes when you're younger,being mixed can be a blessing and a curse. No one claims you,but it makes you stronger.
I just say I am multicultural. And I grew up in a different country from both of my parents, actually two countries, neither related to them. I don't speak their native languages nor understand much about them. But in one way or another, it is still a part of me, but I don't feel any patriotic feelings to anywhere either. I hope other people with multicultural backgrounds can accept themselves too.
I have been following this channel for awhile now and I have identified with most of the content provided.
This was a great video talking about the power behind language. With that said, I am mixed race: Black, White, and Korean. My mother is white while my father is a 'halfie' i.e. African American and Korean
Statistically I am even less than half so I am still searching for my term.
Well Done!!! This is also a concept that I ponder on and will be covering in the future.
I gave the information of this channel to my daughter who is American and Argentinian and Iranian.
Hi, I'm a hapa, and to be honest in the United States, I'm just asian. I'm like the male version of you. People can tell I'm not white, therefore I'm just asian. Either way, there's a lot of racial tension where I live. I just got threatened at work by a new guy I never even spoke to... it's exhausting when everyone has a different moral code, and even non verbally someone can be offended to the point where they threaten you, which happened today at work.
My question to you is, are half asian people accepted in korea genrally if they speak korean and what jobs can they get? I'm just trying to survive, I don't need to be rich.
Thanks Becky, so many really interesting points! I think just in terms of my experience, I have journeyed with a lot of the terms you've mentioned in the video and gone through similar ways of thinking. Growing up, it was always 'Half Korean, Half British' but that left a feeling of not being fully something. I tried to journey with the term Hapa, but I'm not Hawaiian or American where the term has more prevalence, so that didnt sit right. More recently I have used the term 'mixed race' but on chats witI think that sometimes has the connotations of animal breeding, and 'mixing' of breeds etc. I've pretty much settled on 'Bi-racial' which for me encapsulates having fully two ethnicities and cultures which coexist in tandem with one another.
At the end of the day though, what you said at the beginning about language and the power not being in the word itself but the contextual connotations are really key here. Whatever someone feels comfortable referring to themselves as is their prerogative and we should do our best to back and encourage that :)
They're all valid, but I think hapa is the most all-encompassing term to describe mixed Asians because it doesn't signify a specific pair of ethnicities even though it originated in Hawaii. Hafu is a Japanese term used to describe someone that is part Japanese and halfie has a connotation of biracial identity, hence the "half." But to your point about the meaning of these words, you're right - language does evolve over time and is continually shaped by social and cultural forces. For example, it would no longer be socially acceptable to call an East Asian person "Oriental," even though it was never meant to be an offensive racial epithet because Orient was used to describe the Far East, geographically speaking.
Hapa applies to both mixed Asians AND Polynesians. Like you mentioned, it originated from Hawaii.
Hapa doesn’t apply to Asians !! It is for anyone who has part hawaiian mix!!!
@@baygrl518AAPI harms Pacific Islanders
@@bunnybird9342 That’s a subjective interpretation, and speaking for an entire people is out of place. Agree to disagree
@@baygrl518 I'm Asian-American but I feel like AAPI is unfair for Pacific Islanders because their community is so much smaller and has a completely different set of issues than the Asian-American issues. And whenever you see stuff advertised as AAPI, you will almost never see anything Pacific Islander-related and in the very rare moment you do, they are just an afterthought at best.
Let's enjoy !
Being half European and half Filipino has made me a “mestiza” in the Philippines which has a very positive connotation to it.
Positive in which ways please?
@@nathanielmills4678 from my experience of visiting the Philippines simce I was little and also living there for a year as a kid, being half caucasian and therefore lighter skinned, promoted people to give you special treatment, it gives you a higher “status” (not that I agree with it or asked for it) but that’s the culture over there. It stems from the time the Philippines was colonized by first Spain and then the US.; lighter skin meant upperclass, and it’s still the “beauty-standard” today.
@@cherry.bomb_ ah yes, thanks for that. Well might as well make the most of it and be adored 😊
@@cherry.bomb_the white worship in the Philippines is so sad
Growing up in the 80's and the 90's, my mom was from South Korea and my dad was mostly of Scots-Irish and German descent from Tennessee. My dad usually identify myself as "Amerasian" or "half Korean and half American", which I felt it was kind of derogatory. I usually identify myself as biracial or Eurasian.
I pretty much call myself whatever makes people comfortable just to get it out of the way. Every person will see you differently. In my case as an example, I have been seen as White, Filipino, Pacific Islander, Asian, all of these, a mix of these, and none of these. It all depended on the perception of the person looking. Studying what I am gave me an interesting perspective. For instance I am Filipino but my Filipino culture is in line with the 70s because that is when my family came to the States. The culture of the Philippines did natural evolution but my culture was frozen in that period. Talking to my friends when I was a teen in the 90s who newly immigrated I felt like a patient coming out of a 20 year coma. My culture mirrored closer to their parents than it did to theirs. I am even more separated from the culture of the Philippines now than I was 20 years ago. I experienced similar circumstances from moving away from the rural South in the late 80s to a more suburban area in Central Florida. The slang and way of talking changed back where my White family is from and the culture changed. When I went back I was different from them matching my older family members my dad's age. You know the old saying, you can never go home. It is quite true. Combine the separation caused by the interracial genes plus the cultural divide with my mother's country of origin along with geographic separation from my birth region and I'm not really Filipino, Filipino American, White, or European American. I am comfortable now being Other able to appreciate all cultures, all races, and the individual experiences of individuals. We are our individual human experience.
That sunshine peeking thru ahh kind of wanted to see natural lighting
Hi I'm a Black British women and I'm watching from the UK I see the words Hafu,Hapa ect as derogatory and racist,depending on how it's used and the context.
Very interesting topic.
Could possibly use the word "hotpot"..😒😶..but that may not work 😅😂!
I love it
Please do not use Hapa, it is a term meant for mixed Hawaiians and has been wildly appropriated by non-Hawaiians.
Thanks for the comment, Tori :) Hope you'll check out our podcast on the term 'hapa' specifically ~ we go right into that :)
Thank you!
I like the term "Double stuffed" because my kids get double the cultures, not 'half.' However, I'm sure porn has ruined that term and I really don't want to Google it without 'oreo' attached to the search term 😳
Amerasian is the US military term for half Koreans who don’t grow up in 1 country ❤😊
I personally believe "hapa" should only be used by people with connections to Hawaii but again a lot of this is just my personal bias because I associate that word with those Asian incel subreddits.
Btw "hapa" is a transliteration of "half" from English to Hawaiian.
People misusing "hapa" as a synonym for "half white half Asian" instead of the correct definition or "mixed-race Hawaiian" is like if people were misusing "two-spirit" as a synonym for "non-binary" instead of the correct definition of "third gender traditionally found in many Native American cultures". It's appropriating an indigenous culture.
Don't even get me started on the nonsensical "quapa" and "octapa" these same people coined, really trying to rip off of "quadroon" and "octoroon".
Do not use term HAPA if you’re NOT HAWAIIAN !!! It’s disrespectful!!
So what’s the answer?
Easy, it's whatever the mixed person identifies with.
@@multiracialstories 👌, r u also mixed?
@@yani674 Yes, check out my podcast called "Multiracial Social" where I talk about being mixed and other things in the mixed community. open.spotify.com/show/4C6p6vcfDNHJiByOo8yRws
Please don't call yourself a "hapa" if you aren't Hawaiian. Many native Hawaiians have protested against non-Hawaiian people using the term and consider it a form of cultural appropriation, especially when Asian Americans already have so much more representation and capital than Pacific Islanders.
😝💚🤗
Halfan... sorry
Cultural appropriation!!!
But You looks full korean to me
This comment in itself encapsulates part of the problem that many biracial/multiracial/multiethnic face, in that people typecast based on their looks. Either you're too white to be this, or not asian enough to be that. You're boxing Becky into a category and an expectation on how she should be or act simply by looking at her face, without considering the many nuances of her identity
I can tell she's half white because of her face and hair
There are some 100% Koreans who look more "white" than you born from 100% Korean parents meaning that Korean and White marriages goes back thousands of years. Be proud who you are.
That's a lie. They get plastic surgery and wear colored contacts.
Monoracial Koreans don't have white ancestry. It's just that some Asian people don't look as stereotypically Asian. For example, I've seen some Japanese people that would look white if you covered up their eyes. And there are some Chinese people with admixture from other groups that results in lighter hair and eyes. Also despite common belief, Asian eyes aren't necessarily smaller they're just a different shape. So Asian people can have naturally big eyes and half of them are born with double eyelids. There are also some with curly hair (such as Sandra Oh), but it's quite rare.