hapa

adj. racially mixed, esp. with an Asian racial background. Subjects: English, United States, Hawaii

Editorial Note: This is “Asian” in the North American sense, where it usually refers to East Asians from China, Japan, Vietnam, and Korea. Etymological Note: Hawaiian hapa ‘half.’

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Citations: 1989 [Sally Oey] Usenet: soc.culture.asian.american (July 28) “Re: Truth and beauty Re: inter-racial dating”: As far as a hapa person sharing my experience, of course there are going to be some things that we both understand, and some that only one of us understands. For example, I couldn’t understand the extent to which a hapa person might experience an identity crisis in terms of having parents of 2 different colors. But that doesn’t keep me trying to understand, and listening to whatever they have to say. 1989 Felicity Barringer New York Times (Sept. 24) “Mixed-Race Generation Emerges but Is Not Sure Where It Fits” p. 22: Faced with a similar question, 5-year-old Gabriella Grosz says, “I’m black and white.” And Cindie Nakashima, a 22-year-old graduate student who once called herself “half-Japanese and half-white,” now uses the Hawaiian word for “half,” saying simply, “I’m hapa.” 1991 Elizabeth Atkins St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Mo.) (June 25) “Students Of Mixed Race Form Bond” p. 1D: At Stanford last year, a group of women who are Asian and white and were in classes together formed HAPA, the Half Asian People’s Association. “Hapa” is Hawaiian for half Asian. 2005 Picolute (Seattle, Wash.) (Feb. 7) “More About Hapa”: Sometime during my sophomore year I stumbled upon MiXeD at UW which lead me to my exploration of Mavin Foundation. I was incredibly excited to hear that there’s a magazine on multiracial backgrounds. I have a vague memory when I was about 10 years old and imagined what it would be like to have a country dedicated to all of us hapa kids. I discovered that Hawaii is as close as it gets.

Posted 21 Feb 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend