What is a Hapa?
I probably should have defined this term at the start of my blog, when I chose to put my customised picky on it. The following extract is taken from the Wikipedia encyclopedia.
In the Hawaiian language, hapa is strictly defined as: portion, fragment, part, fraction, installment; to be partial, less. It is a loan from the English word half. However, it has an extended meaning of "half-caste" or "of mixed descent". This is the only meaning of the term in Hawaiian Pidgin, the creole spoken by many Hawai'i residents.
Used without qualification, hapa is often taken to mean "part white", and is short hand for hapa haole. The term can be used in conjunction with other Hawaiian racial and ethnic descriptors to specify a particular racial or ethnic mixture. Examples of this include:
· hapa haole (part Caucasian/white)
· hapa kanaka (part Hawaiian)
· hapa popolo (part African/black)
· hapa kepani (part Japanese); the term hapanese is also encountered
· hapa pilipino (part Filipino)
· hapa pake (part Chinese)
· hapa kolea (part Korean)
· hapa kamoa (part Samoan)
· hapa sepania (part Spanish)
· hapa pukiki (part Portuguese)
While the terms haole and popolo are no more inherently derogatory than white or black, they are sometimes used as racial or ethnic slurs. One should be careful using these terms.
Hapa-haole can also be used to describe anything hybrid. Hapa Hula is the name of a type of Hawaiian music in which the tune and styling are typically Hawaiian, but the lyrics are in English or mostly in English.
The word "hapa" is often used to describe a person of partial Asian or Pacific Islander racial/ethnic heritage.
It’s funny how whenever I meet someone of mixed descent (at least part Asian), I always feel like they are related to me. I think years of having experiences that are common to Hapas, has made us bond with eachother. For example, people are commonly mistaken for thinking I am other nationalities or they treat me a certain way because they think I have ingrained habits that are stereotypically associated with these racial groups.
During ‘meet and greet’ time at Riverview, while other people engage in general conversation topics, I almost always get race-related questions like ‘where are you from?”, “are you Chinese”, “have you been here for a long time?”, etc... when it’s the country you are born in and have been in all your life, it some times gets a little annoying!
I guess on the up side, I tend to mix well with both caucasian and asian people … though probably best with other Hapas.
These are a couple of web sites I found particularly interesting….
Eurasuan Nation and Photos of Hapas
In the Hawaiian language, hapa is strictly defined as: portion, fragment, part, fraction, installment; to be partial, less. It is a loan from the English word half. However, it has an extended meaning of "half-caste" or "of mixed descent". This is the only meaning of the term in Hawaiian Pidgin, the creole spoken by many Hawai'i residents.
Used without qualification, hapa is often taken to mean "part white", and is short hand for hapa haole. The term can be used in conjunction with other Hawaiian racial and ethnic descriptors to specify a particular racial or ethnic mixture. Examples of this include:
· hapa haole (part Caucasian/white)
· hapa kanaka (part Hawaiian)
· hapa popolo (part African/black)
· hapa kepani (part Japanese); the term hapanese is also encountered
· hapa pilipino (part Filipino)
· hapa pake (part Chinese)
· hapa kolea (part Korean)
· hapa kamoa (part Samoan)
· hapa sepania (part Spanish)
· hapa pukiki (part Portuguese)
While the terms haole and popolo are no more inherently derogatory than white or black, they are sometimes used as racial or ethnic slurs. One should be careful using these terms.
Hapa-haole can also be used to describe anything hybrid. Hapa Hula is the name of a type of Hawaiian music in which the tune and styling are typically Hawaiian, but the lyrics are in English or mostly in English.
The word "hapa" is often used to describe a person of partial Asian or Pacific Islander racial/ethnic heritage.
It’s funny how whenever I meet someone of mixed descent (at least part Asian), I always feel like they are related to me. I think years of having experiences that are common to Hapas, has made us bond with eachother. For example, people are commonly mistaken for thinking I am other nationalities or they treat me a certain way because they think I have ingrained habits that are stereotypically associated with these racial groups.
During ‘meet and greet’ time at Riverview, while other people engage in general conversation topics, I almost always get race-related questions like ‘where are you from?”, “are you Chinese”, “have you been here for a long time?”, etc... when it’s the country you are born in and have been in all your life, it some times gets a little annoying!
I guess on the up side, I tend to mix well with both caucasian and asian people … though probably best with other Hapas.
These are a couple of web sites I found particularly interesting….
Eurasuan Nation and Photos of Hapas
posted by Mv$H @ 15:59
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