What does "hapa" mean?

[Ailina]

When I was growing up, my Filipino dad used to refer to me as "hapa." In our predominantly white community, most people who saw me assumed both my parents were Filipino, but my mother was white. "Hapa" was the word Dad used to explain my bi-ethnicity.

I came across a website recently that suggests the word "hapa" has a very specific meaning--half-Hawaiian, half-something else. In this case, my dad would have been incorrect in applying the term to us.

What's correct? Do most people simply say "mixed" or "half-_____/half-______"? Is Pukui's definition outdated? Does "hapa" have a different meaning than it did, say, 50-, 100 years ago?

[kimo55]

When I was growing up, my Filipino dad used to refer to me as "hapa." In our predominantly white community, most people who saw me assumed both my parents were Filipino, but my mother was white. "Hapa" was the word Dad used to explain my bi-ethnicity.

I came across a website recently that suggests the word "hapa" has a very specific meaning--half-Hawaiian, half-something else. In this case, my dad would have been incorrect in applying the term to us.

What's correct? Do most people simply say "mixed" or "half-_____/half-______"? Is Pukui's definition outdated? Does "hapa" have a different meaning than it did, say, 50-, 100 years ago?



Like many Hawaiian words it can have many meanings. According to the context.

all meexem up insai
is one.
Half Hawaiian half anyting else,
anodda one.
part Hawaiian, most erryting else,
anodda def.

many races in one
still anodda.


and more:
Of mixed blood.
part Hawaiian
Portion, fragment, part, fraction...

If they say
mixed,
they from da mainland.
dey say "hapa", they either like go se sum good kine Hawaiian contemporary music wit two bruddahs, or they steh local, describing da koko.

Pukui never outdated. If you think it's outdated, straighten up, fly right and study it more and help prevent mainland influence and slang from watering down pidgin and/or island language.

[Glen Miyashiro]

"Hapa" is a Hawaiianization of the English word "half", and yes, it was originally used to mean half-Hawaiian and half-haole. Usually it was used as part of the term "hapa-haole".

The Asian-American community has picked up the term "hapa" and uses it to mean part-Asian, part something else, usually white, although I have heard it used to mean Asian-black mixes as well. This has become a really popular meaning on the mainland, where they are trying to find a term that's less derogatory than "half-breed" or "mutt" to describe themselves. :p

Sometimes people confuse "hapa" with the Japanese term "hafu", which also derives from the same English word but specifically means part-Japanese. This one comes straight from Japan, and as far as I can tell isn't in common use in Hawai'i.

[Ailina]

Mahalo, Kimo & Glen, for answering my question. The website I saw (http://www.realhapas.com/hapas.php) suggested the use of "hapa" in any other context other than meaning "half-Hawaiian + half-something else" was disrespectful and ignorant. It got me wondering if I should discontinue using the term "hapa" to describe myself and my siblings.

I don't personally view Pukui as outdated. To me, the text is "gospel"; I rely on it almost exclusively. I do get confused when I see websites--like the one I mentioned--that seem to conflict with Pukui.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Boy, they do sound angry, don't they.

[pzarquon]

Oh boy. I've witnessed some serious trainwrecks linked to that group. See also Wannabe Hawaiians (http://66.70.135.159/wannabes/), which hunts down people declaring themselves of Hawaiian ancestry online and declares them fake unless they state their geneology. There was a bit of a kerfuffle in the hapa community (http://www.livejournal.com/community/hapas/) at LiveJournal... it's been debated in USENET (http://groups-beta.google.com/group/soc.culture.hawaii/browse_frm/thread/3218e73b8286ecb3/e5eaec6b8a4b6887?q=definition+hapa&rnum=1) as well.

"Read the dictionary!" is the cry. My Pukui/Elbert says:hapa. 1. nvs. Portion, fragment, part, fraction, installment; to be partial, less. (Eng. half.) Cf. hapahā, hapalua, etc. Ka `ike hapa, limited knowledge. Ua hapa nā hae, the flags are at half-mast. ho`o.haa. To lessen, diminish. 2. nvs. Of mixed blood, person of mixed blood, as hapa Hawai`i, part Hawaiian.Given the primary definition, and the secondary one which notes that "hapa Hawai`i" means half Hawaiian, I think one can use "hapa" to describe any mixed-race individual, part Hawaiian or not.

I can see where they're coming from, what with Hawaiian lineage once being something to be ashamed of or attacked for. But the word "hapa" has been adopted in good faith, as far as I'm concerned, by a community that is itself also struggling with issues of identity and prejudice. Soon enough, everyone will be hapa, but until then, it's a label I see being used with pride.

[craigwatanabe]

Half-breed, shunned by both sides. Unless your name is Trask

[kimo55]

it's a nickname for that old 50's era cowboy.

[kimo55]

Oh boy. I've witnessed some serious trainwrecks.... Wannabe Hawaiians



Oh.
"Watanabe Hawaiian"

yea, that would be "hapa".

[craigwatanabe]

Actually I don't declare myself to be Hawaiian at all. That would be disgraceful. What I do dislike are those Hapa Haoles that proclaim their lineage to the Hawaiian culture yet hate the lineage from their other half.

I'm 100% Japanese born and raised in Hawaii. My kids are part Hawaiian from my wife.

I've never "felt" the anguish of the Hawaiian and in another post I've even said so in due respect to their plight. Being Kanaka Maoli is a birth right, being of Hawaiian spirit is something that grows within you and has nothing to do with being a wannabe. I'm local and there's nothing wannabe about that. I am true to the lifestyle and don't have to hide behind some fake pidgin talk to understand it cuz braddah I wen grow up keiki time talking la dat.

That's being local, not Hawaiian or Hawaiian wannabe. What's sad is when you see Hawaiians trying to act black or Jawaiian. Wassup with that, now that's messed up.

Hawaiian wannabe, no way. Local...cuz das what I am braddah and proud of it. :) And being local no mean restricted to color or race. Oops sorry Kimo we're not brothers. I didn't want to imply my relation to you in the cultural sense. It was...a figure of speech. Jus ask Don Ho: Hey Braddah!

[kimo55]

no, wasn't saying YOU were.
wannabe
watanabe.
joke.
this time really.
No relation to you.
like that delima song.

[craigwatanabe]

I'm cool with that Kimo :) it's ironic though that I know more about the Hawaiian culture than I do of my own ethnicity, Japanese.DOH!!! :eek:

[BZB]

i had a neighbor back in 2nd grade. She was in 6th grade of course. she was hella fine, half chinese mandariin and half white. Her moms was chinese and pops white. Anyway, peeps call them hapa. so nowadays, whenever is hear hapa, i always think of her. It's gotta be a fine azz grill. then again, there are some fugly hapa's too. yall either turn out hella fine, or fugly. Usually when the moms is asian the kid turns out good, weird huh. As far as the cultural and prejudice side, i can care less, cuz hapa means fine azz girl in my book. So it's a good thing.

[poi cocktail :)]

interesting thread. I always related hapa to being half usually haole. I can now say I'm hafu dis, hafu dat :p

[Glen Miyashiro]

i had a neighbor back in 2nd grade. She was in 6th grade of course. she was hella fine, half chinese mandariin and half white. Her moms was chinese and pops white. Anyway, peeps call them hapa. so nowadays, whenever is hear hapa, i always think of her. It's gotta be a fine azz grill. then again, there are some fugly hapa's too. yall either turn out hella fine, or fugly. Usually when the moms is asian the kid turns out good, weird huh. As far as the cultural and prejudice side, i can care less, cuz hapa means fine azz girl in my book. So it's a good thing.What the hell are you talking about? Are you writing in English? And what's a "fine azz grill" anyway? :rolleyes:

[scrivener]

Being Hapa
JCCH Fifth Floor, Lounge
Tuesday, June 7, 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.

How do you define being hapa in Hawai‘i? Does being an ethnically blended individual influence your identity? What are the positive and negative aspects growing up hapa in Hawai‘i? And finally, how do we parent our hapa children to encourage awareness, responsibility and fulfillment forming their own identities? The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i (JCCH) will raise these and other questions relating to ethnic identity in its public forum, Being Hapa. This informal discussion—the third in the JCCH’s Japanese American Social Issues Series in Hawai‘i—will focus on the Japanese American multiethnic experience in Hawai‘i. Attendees are encouraged to participate in the informal discussion. Admission is free.

There's a little more information here (http://www.jcch.com).

I'm going. Anyone wanna meet at Bubbies afterward to discuss?

[Ailina]

Hi, Scrivener. Of course, I won't be able to attend the discussion because I'm here in Louisiana, but I am intensely interested. Do you know who I could contact about getting an audio or video of the meeting? Maybe a transcript?

[scrivener]

I'll find out Tuesday night. Please p/mail me if I forget to post the info. Thanks!

[Glen Miyashiro]

How do you define being hapa in Hawai‘i? Does being an ethnically blended individual influence your identity? What are the positive and negative aspects growing up hapa in Hawai‘i? And finally, how do we parent our hapa children to encourage awareness, responsibility and fulfillment forming their own identities?I wonder about having a conversation like this in Hawai'i, where so many people are of mixed ethnicities. Unlike in most parts of America, it's not like it's an anomaly here to have ancestors from vastly divergent backgrounds. To the contrary: in high school, I was one of the odd ones in my gang of friends for being "pure" Japanese rather than some kind of mix like most of them were.

[scrivener]

I was one of the odd ones in my gang of friends for being "pure" Japanese rather than some kind of mix like most of them were.

That's interesting. Among my current friends, I am one of three (out of maybe fifteen or so) who are of mixed ethnicity. When we plan get-togethers, I often say to one of the other hapas, "Now that we have this organized, let's call everyone. You call the haoles, I'll call the asians." It works out to about half-half. In my high school class of eighty, I can think of four of us who were half asian, half caucasian. There were a few more of mixed asian ethnicities. I'm going to have to grab my senior yearbook and count.

[Miulang]

Interesting story in today's LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hapas11jun11,1,7184776.story?ctrack=1&cset=true) about the recognition of "hapa" culture on the Mainland. Lucky you live in Hawai'i, where people of mixed ethnicities are more prevalent and common and that really really good looking person who walks by more than likely is a "Heinz 57" mixture of Asian plus lots of other things. ;)

Miulang

[Palolo Joe]

Another instance of ignorant mainlanders jacking something from Hawaiian culture...

If you're gonna call yourself hapa, you should be part Native Hawaiian.

If you're Japanese and Irish (or whatever other mix), you ain't hapa. You're bi-racial, mixed race, whatever... but you ain't hapa.

[pzarquon]

Previously discussed here (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=5202).

There are, indeed, those that feel strongly that the word "hapa," generally translated as "half," shouldn't be used generically to mean any bi-racial or multi-racial mix, but only when one of those parts is kanaka maoli.

I'm not one of those people. Though I'm glad to say my kids are hapa by either the narrow or inclusive definition!

I'm basically happy another Hawaiian word is making its way into American culture... though I guess whether it's "jacking" or naturally "adopting" in the linguistic sense depends on one's point of view! (Pity what happened to "kahuna," eh, Kimo?) I'm also heartened to see that multiracial families are something to cherish and explore, rather than something to be ashamed of.

[kimo55]

the article is headed:
"perceptions of a multiracial group historically made to feel like outsiders."
another whiney irresponsible lil cult trying to blame the world for its plight by approiating an unrealted 'exotic' sounding word for their own warped ends.

again. these crybabies missed the week when schooling taught them that eleanor roosevelt quote. and what it meant.

I don't see the word as generally translated as half. otherwise we would say at morning coffee:
"pass me the hapa hapa..."
It is part of our culture; we know it as meaning mixed islander koko; part Hawaiian, part something else.

a few years from now, we just may say:
"Pity what happened to the word "hapa", eh?!"

[Erika Engle]

Arriving on the Big Island for my high school years, I was informed by my classmates, most of whom were mostly Hawaiian/Hawaiian mix (e.g., Kanaka Maoli), that I am hapa. Some would specify, "Hapa Japanese," but it was THEY who labeled me hapa.

I have heard hapa MOSTLY used, to refer to those of Japanese/Caucasian ethnicity.

I was told by a Japanese national, during a high-school exchange trip to Japan, that using the word "hanbun" (half) in Japanese, was NOT a good way to refer to myself, as it had a negative connotation. "Hah-fu" (Americanized pronunciation of the word HALF, was preferred, he said.

[kimo55]

Erika's elucidation helps me with a point I was trying to make. "hapa" also can be an appropriate epithet flung onto an appreciative caucasian such as myself, BY... a Hawaiian. This instance shows you are hanai'ed. Considered to be part Hawaiian, (not in koko, but in keiki o ka aina) BECAUSE of your longstanding status and localness. Having two Hawaiian stepfathers, I was considered by most all my extended family to be "Hapa" but again, to echo E.E.'s words. it was THEY who gave me the label. and it is somewhat earned. So i see it as an abberation, a cultural theft when various and sundry riffraff of any and all kinds on the mainland toss it around so haphazardly as they do.
On the mainland, I would talk story with many expat islanders as often as we could. It was an instant connect to Hawaii and felt like home. because if my deep appreciation and study of Polynesian culture i have been immersed in for decades, I would end up sharing alotta deep kine stuffs with the ohana.. many's the time a Samoan or Hawaiian friend would say; Kimo, you seem more Hawaiian than many islanders I know!
While on the mainland, i would call up my Mom, and my stepfather (Hapa stepfather; half Hawaiian, half Samoan) would answer. We would end up rappin for an hour or so, and i would forget i was calling up Mom.... before hanging up, he would say, eh kimo, you know more about Hawaii than I do... or many people I know!"
now, to paraphrase the old Bard, I say this more in sorrow than in ego.
this was why i was known to them as "hapa". and yet, I have not one drop of Hawaiian koko.

[tutusue]

As this thread points out, hapa means different things to different people. And, is that ever true in my business! When I get casting specs that ask for 'hapa' I have to trace the origin of those specs and ask exactly what 'hapa' means to that person. To some it's a 'mix'...even a Chinese/Japanese or Asian/African-American mix, for example. To others it's 'hapa-haole'; be it Pacific Islander or Asian. It's an interesting topic.

[kimo55]

just as
tiki
or kahuna
or
mahalo
means different things.
point is. NOW it is attributed with too many disparate definitions. just as once
kahuna
meant one thing and it was universally understood, here in Hawaii, what it meant, and other cultures would leave the word and concept alone. until cali surf culture in the 60's grabbed hold of it. then all hell broke loose.
yes. many words of Hawaiian origin mean many different things to too many people nowadays. and more's the pity.
Wikiwiki is now wiki and means an online encyclopaedia.
akamai
means cool.
and it also means
a mainland internet content delivery system.

bllleeaaaaccckkkh!

[Hi Tone]

I'm fine with the word "hapa" evolving.

[kimo55]

ya missed a letter "d" in there somehwere...

[beaker]

On the mainland mixed race people are the norm, whether they know/recognize/acknowledge it or not.
I prefer to call myself a "mutt".

['i'iwipolena]

Reading that article was just weird, since the word hapa was used about ten times to simply mean "of mixed ethnicity," and not one who is part Hawaiian and part Caucasian, which has been its traditional use here. Granted, the definition that hapa takes on in the article is not necessarily incorrect, since it can mean someone of mixed blood, and not just apply to part Caucasian Hawaiians, but it is really awkward to hear the word used alone to mean mixed blood. If someone were part Chinese and part white, the person could say he or she was hapa Pākē, hapa haole, but not just "hapa" standing without a modifier. Some might argue that since the word "hapa" is from the English word "half," it originated outside of the Hawaiian language and, therefore, should not be limited to its primary use among Hawaiian speakers; however, the word hapa developed extended meanings beyond simply "half" within the context of the Hawaiian language, and one of these meanings happened to be mixed race, and when said alone as "hapa" it came to mean part Caucasian Hawaiians.

Not that I'm condemning the use of the word hapa to apply to all people of mixed ethnicity, but as more and more people with no connection to Hawai'i are introduced to the word hapa according to its fashionable meaning in articles like the one provided above, that's the definition they're going to learn first. And, just as other words which have been taken out of the context of the Hawaiian language have developed folk etymologies, like has been done with the word "haole," the same will inevitably happen with the word "hapa," if it hasn't happened already.

[Mahi Waina]

"Pride" in something that takes no effort on your part? This discussion is both meaningless and divisive. Why should anyone feel pride or shame for being the way they were born?

I just enjoyed a HAPA concert. Is Barry Flannagan's expertise at slack-key guitar any less because he's Irish? I don't think Nathan feels that way.

[pzarquon]

"Pride" in something that takes no effort on your part? This discussion is both meaningless and divisive. Why should anyone feel pride or shame for being the way they were born?A fair point, and one MadAzza, among others, made recently in another thread. Sure, feeling "pride" for something that you had nothing to do with -- the ethnic background of your parents -- sounds ridiculous. But even if it makes no logical sense, I can't flatly state that such pride is wholly without merit. Who am I to discount someone else's feelings, for one? ;)

I don't immediately see someone who is proud of being, say, half Chinese, half haole as being ridiculous. In a sense, I think someone who says they are "proud to be {x}" is really saying, "proud to be {x} in this time and place." That is, "proud to be {x} when others may think being {x} is something to be ashamed of." This same type of minority expression is expected and even natural in a variety of contexts, not just race.

Given the pressure to assimilate, given that not too long ago being only "one percent" non-white meant you weren't "one of them," I can't entirely begrudge someone who says, "I'm {x} and {y} and am comfortable with both." Am I ridiculous for feeling some pride that my kids comfortably navigate both Catholic and Zen Buddhist rites? Maybe.

Having been born and raised in Hawaii, it was actually hard for me to understand the kind of thinking that still exists out there. My wife frequently recounts the tale of when she had taken our daughter to visit her mom in central Florida. Our daughter and another neighborhood kid were playing happily on the slide, and that kid's mother and my mother-in-law were having a pleasant chat.

At one point, the other woman got quiet, and leaned in close to whisper in my mother-in-law's ear. "Is she..." she said, barely pointing at my daughter, "...oriental?" Forget the whole "oriental" thing (even I have to remind myself that it's not a PC term) -- the fact that she whispered it like she would've said "puppy kicker" or "terrorist" was absolutely hilarious.

I think what most folks take issue with is the expression of ethnic pride to the detriment of others. That is, not just "{x} Pride," but, "Eat My {x} Pride, Losers!" And I certainly think there's a lot of that going on. I certainly don't take the ten-inch high lettering on the overtinted back window of a chromed-out Hummer as an expression of humility, you know?

As to the main topic of "hapa"? I wholly understand and respect those who feel as 'i'iwipolena does, that "hapa" should mean half or at least part Hawaiian, not part whatever. (Online "prove you're Hawaiian!" vigilante groups, like those noted in the earlier thread (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=5202), are the folks I do take issue with.) Considering all the other awful things that have happened to indigenous cultures, it's a fair point to want to preserve the language.

But since "hapa" is itself a borrowed word, and since "hapa" is understood generically to mean "half" (whether Korean/Hawaiian ancestry or water and cream in a recipe)... since the Pukui/Elbert Hawaiian dictionary definition lists this generic usage first, and the ethnic mix usage second -- even then, saying hapa Hawai`i means "half Hawaiian" -- I don't mind that "hapa" has been, in a sense, borrowed back. Half Hawaiian, hapa Hawai`i, half Japanese, hapa Kepani, it's all good.

Indeed, instead of "hapa," "hafu" could have been the word that popular American culture adopted -- "hafu" having apparently taken a similar trans-Pacific journey. But at least "hapa" has evolved to have largely positive connotations, while "hafu" has not.

[Mahi Waina]

Am I ridiculous for feeling some pride that my kids comfortably navigate both Catholic and Zen Buddhist rites? Maybe.


You ABSOLUTELY should feel pride. And I would feel pride if my son, born Catholic, showed the enthusiasm, effort and respect to learn and participate in the rites for Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or Wicca. Or learned slack-key, the Hawaiian, Chinese or Russian languages, cooking lumpia or lasagna, etc.

I would feel sad and angry if anyone downplayed his efforts because he isn't a "real" Hawaiian, Russian, or Filipino. If somebody wants to get a tattoo and call himself a Hapa, who is getting hurt?

[kimo55]

If somebody wants to get a tattoo and call himself a Hapa, who is getting hurt?
well, think of how those feel who ARE hapa and justifiably wear tattoo of aukmakua when others who are not hapa call themselves that, and wear Hawaiian shark teeth tattoo when they have no aumakua, of course and esp, their aumakua (which they don't have, nor do they know the word) is NOT the mano. and they walk around telling everyone this is a real authentic Hawaiian tattoo. when it's just simply a cartoon of waves and some squiggles on an armband.


"who is getting hurt" conveys the same thoughtlessness when outsiders steal Maori identity when they use Maori Ta Moko. The Maori tattoo is sacred family lines; geneology, and many thoughtlessly use visual aspects of it as designs for tattoo. Maori are very offended by that and no degree of Pakeha whakatoatoa (white arrogance) would justify it. "Whites are distinctly known for not asking, for assuming how they see the world is how others do so also. Whites bastardize our spirituality and culture. This conveys great disrespect for another's culture." These are the thoughts of many Maori and other islanders. And you ask "who is getting hurt when you take other's tapu imagery...."

[Mahi Waina]

[QUOTE=kimo55]
"Whites are distinctly known for not asking, for assuming how they see the world is how others do so also. Whites bastardize our spirituality and culture. This conveys great disrespect for another's culture." QUOTE]


K den,

Can we get rid of all the Japanese Elvis impersonators?

[kimo55]

not until you quote correctly.

[kimo55]

Can we get rid of all the Japanese Elvis impersonators?
only when they do the hula during their performance.

[Leo Lakio]

On the mainland mixed race people are the norm, whether they know/recognize/acknowledge it or not.
I prefer to call myself a "mutt".What about "poi dog"? Is there a particular ethnicity that I need to have in my mixed-blood makeup before I can use that term to describe myself?
(At least the "dog" part can be attributed to the Chinese zodiac, in my case.)

[nachodaddy]

What about "poi dog"? Is there a particular ethnicity that I need to have in my mixed-blood makeup before I can use that term to describe myself?
(At least the "dog" part can be attributed to the Chinese zodiac, in my case.)

I used to know quite a few people who's nickname was 'poi-dog'. It was a term of endearment, not a racial slur. Not sure if it went the way of 'oriental'.

Is is still used in general conversation????

[Leo Lakio]

an appreciative caucasian such as myself, BY... a Hawaiian.

because if my deep appreciation and study of Polynesian culture i have been immersed in for decades, I would end up sharing alotta deep kine stuffs with the ohana.. many's the time a Samoan or Hawaiian friend would say; Kimo, you seem more Hawaiian than many islanders I know!

he would say, eh kimo, you know more about Hawaii than I do... or many people I know!"

this was why i was known to them as "hapa". and yet, I have not one drop of Hawaiian koko.
This is an excellent case of a moving line of qualification. I could say some of the same things (about my deep appreciation and study...and full-blooded Hawaiians have told me that I am "more Hawaiian than some of the Hawaiians they know"), but even then, I would not think to put myself anywhere near kimo55's level. We're both Caucasian, yet with strong connections to Hawaiian and other Island culture. I dare not pass myself off as being "of Hawai`i," though I doubt many would begrudge kimo55 that designation.

He is also one of the first to come forward with a passionate defense of Hawaiian ways, and to attack those who use the culture in ways that he feels are not appropriate - as I have been told on a number of occasions, no one has more zeal than the convert.

But at the same time, are there still some who would say that he cannot use "hapa" to describe himself, that being "hanai'ed" still isn't enough? They could argue that it is simply his lack of Hawaiian blood, nothing more. Can you begrudge them their attitude in this matter? It's not such a simple one to answer.

[kimo55]

He is also one of the first to come forward with a passionate defense of Hawaiian ways, and to attack those who use the culture in ways that he feels are not appropriate - as I have been told on a number of occasions, no one has more zeal than the convert.
Ah, but I am not a convert. and moreso, the sentiments I convey are to a large degree echo'ed elsewhere. I am not the first, nor the last. and most emphatically, i am not fighting a battle I have no place in. I have been on all sides of the exploitation of Polynesian culture. have seen every side of it. This is a fairly decent postion to be in, it helps you know well whereof you speak.
many authors, cultural practitioners and activists help me form the basis of these sentiments which are my own and they are confirmed and reinforced from much talk with many kupuna here, that are active in other avenues... just not as vocal in the manner I am. and of course, not seen on HT, as much as they are working "behind the lines".
Other kupuna and teachers have elucidated areas of cultural insentsititivity and i asked them to elaborate , and I learn what are the sore spots and also they assist me with wording, what is seen as pono, what is not, in the eyes of the well... "keepers of the culture"...
hey. what I'm goin do with what i learn, eh?! As a loudmouth obnoxious (yea, palolo joe, I know; understatement...) vocal dude with a video camera and a relatively captive audience, and scorpio tendencies, i gotta do what I gotta do.


still some who would say that he cannot use "hapa" to describe himself, that being "hanai'ed" still isn't enough? They could argue that it is simply his lack of Hawaiian blood, nothing more. Can you begrudge them their attitude in this matter?
As I say, I don't call myself hapa. ( I quote myself: "this was why i was known to them as "hapa".") or hanai'ed. extended family, general ohana and friends have used that to describe. i don't walk around with a "I am hapa" shirt on. anymore than i would walk around with "Hawaiian at heart" or Kiss me, I'm Hawaiian" shirt. (which i have seen on ebay. ugh.)

how can someone begrudge someone else's perception which is based on decades of life in these islands? I don't wear any epithet of Hapa, as some badge. I illustrated it is used here in this way. To enforce the indigenous keiki o ka aina employment of the term. But I do not call myself hapa.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

language has funny barriers. When speaking in Hawaiian of someone's ethinicities, we use the term hapa all the time, as in "'o wau 'o Kalani a he mea hapa Pukiki hapa Pilipino au" (I am Kalani and I am half Portuguese and half Filipino). Through olelo that IS how one would address the subject, and no one would blink an eye at appropriating terminology.

The idea of "being more kanaka than most kanaka I know" rankles my ire. Personally, I am of the ability to speak lovely English (mahalo to the DOE and a strict grandmother educated at Roosevelt H.S.), but never would it occur to me that my mannerisms and behavior are more English than most Englishmen Prince Charles knows.

[kimo55]

The idea of "being more kanaka than most kanaka I know" rankles my ire. Personally, I am of the ability to speak lovely English (mahalo to the DOE and a strict grandmother educated at Roosevelt H.S.), but never would it occur to me that my mannerisms and behavior are more English than most Englishmen Prince Charles knows.
yep. but that's what i heard. It wasn't meant as a slight to any kanaka from the source. as much as "Wow. you island style. You representin'! these odda blalah's ovah heah, all mainland kine, now."
and that was cool.
at least that's what i heard. and any otherwise depreciative or sinister ulterior undercurrents were invisible to me....

[Pua'i Mana'o]

I know that no one here is the first to say it/hear it said. It has been around for a loooong time. It still rashes my ass...one day though I might not let it.

[kimo55]

... to say it/hear it said. It has been.... I might not let it.
uh. we been talkin about alot here. clarify for an old feebleminded ranter... what is this "it" ?

[Miulang]

But I also think I can understand why Mainland "hapas" (meaning half Caucasian, half Asian) are now starting to feel less like second class "half breed" cousins to full blooded whatevas as their representation among the general population increases.

If the "hapas" in California all lived in Hawai'i (which has the greatest number of mixed-raced people), I don't think they would have the same issues with race that they face up here. It's the "funny, you don't look [fill in the blank]" that really gets tedious. It's especially obvious when your last name is of a certain ethnicity (hence, you're supposed to "look" a certain way) and you don't look like like what people expect (as in PZ's example with his daughter in FL). Invariably they will wonder if you were adopted or wonder how you ended up with a surname that doesn't quite match what they expect.

You would rarely get that kind of questioning in Hawai'i.

Miulang

['i'iwipolena]

I figure that if using the term hapa to apply to themselves helps them resolve some of their issues and feel less like second class citizens, then what the hell..., and anyway there's not that much that I could really do to stop it.

There are going to be some tweaked out myths about the origin of the word hapa as the word spreads. For example, someone might start saying that hapa comes from hā (stalk) and pā (fleeting) which they will work out to mean 'fleeting stalk,' and they'll start saying that the word was originally a pejorative term for mixed race Hawaiians since they had parentage from the outside and would no doubt leave Hawai'i. I really hope I didn't give one of those Huna guys any ideas about manipulating the word, but they're off topic.

[kamuelakea]

Another instance of ignorant mainlanders jacking something from Hawaiian culture...

If you're gonna call yourself hapa, you should be part Native Hawaiian.

If you're Japanese and Irish (or whatever other mix), you ain't hapa. You're bi-racial, mixed race, whatever... but you ain't hapa.

I agree with you that this is driven by the desire to take something that these mainland groups see as a "negative" and cloak it in a term that is associated with a "positive" ie the paradise of Hawaii. Something sad about taking a non-negative Hawaiian word like Hapa and attaching it to this self help identity crisis California therapy group.

They could deal with their mixed-race issues calling themselves anything they want. Doesn't need to be Hapa since just about none of these people are even part-Hawaiian.

Language always changes and people will do whatever they want with words, that's how new languages are born. But for me Hapa means Hawaiian and Haole.

And Japanese/Haole or Chinese/Haole is Amerasian or Eurasian, not Hapa.

More than 2 races? Cosmopolitan. multiracial or mixed.

['i'iwipolena]

Language always changes and people will do whatever they want with words, that's how new languages are born. But for me Hapa means Hawaiian and Haole.

That is a good point. It really shouldn't cause a big commotion among those of us who use the word to refer to those of Hawaiian and Haole ancestry, as long as we remember what it means to us.

[pzarquon]

Something sad about taking a non-negative Hawaiian word like Hapa and attaching it to this self help identity crisis California therapy group.Er... except I'm pretty sure the more inclusive -- that is, "incorrect" to some -- use of "hapa" started here. That is, we probably used "hapa" to mean half or part Hawaiian initially, but got lax ourselves. ('We' meaning people in Hawaii versus people in California, although certainly many people in Hawaii obviously maintain the stricter definition.) I'm pretty sure that even when I was in elemetary school, classmates who were half Japanese, half Caucasian were called "hapa." Erika's experience earlier in the thread is similar.

You're right that there are other terms, from multiracial to Amerasian to Eurasian, to describe various mixes. But frankly, the kinds of mixes we see are only going to get more and more complex (until we're all one happy, muddy grey!). "Hapa" has probably been seized upon, as well, for being so adaptive. Whether you're half this or a quarter that, you're "hapa."

Again, not "correct" use to some folks... but actually I think it's quite fitting that a Hawaiian word (that was an English word anyway) was so easily adopted to mean something diverse, tolerant, colorful. Just like we say we want everyone to be.

[kimo55]

Something sad about taking a non-negative Hawaiian word like Hapa and attaching it to this self help identity crisis California therapy group.

something sad about warping the word's original status, too.

the article sez:

"Hapa — originally a derogatory Hawaiian word for half-breed — has been embraced as a term of pride."
In all my years in Hawaii NObody here has regarded the term "hapa" as derrogatory. This is simply an instance of a small minority whining about their plight and gimme some sympathy because after all, we have attached an innapropriate but exotic sounding label onto our sad sack heads and now we want attention cuz we think, as the headline sez, "perceptions of a multiracial group historically made to feel like outsiders." yes. WE are spey shull and those others MADE us FEEL something bad. boohoo.

[Paul]

But for me Hapa means Hawaiian and Haole.


So Hawaiian and Japanese, Hawaiian and Filipino, or Hawaiian and any other non white ethnicity would not be Hapa? This could be true because I've never heard of a Hawaiian/Japanese or Hawaiian/black person refered to as Hapa. They are just called local or Hawaiian. I think some Haole features such as light colored skin need to present for the Hapa label to be applied. Very racist wouldn't you all say? This classification seems to put the mixed Hawaiian/Haole above the Hawaiian/X ethnicity. The former is given a special name while the later is just a generic Hawaiian.

[Leo Lakio]

I know that no one here is the first to say it/hear it said. It has been around for a loooong time. It still rashes my ass...one day though I might not let it.That's an understandable rash. As I noted earlier, I've heard it said to me (and about me), but that doesn't mean I'm comfortable with it - this is the first time I've brought it up, and that was only in the context of kimo55's posting (and I apologize for putting you in the "convert" category, kimo.)

When someone local says that to me, I generally shrug it off and move on to another topic - I don't want to get a big head over it, and I don't want someone to think I'm trying to pass myself off as "local," either. Yes, I do a lot with the Hawaiian community here, and in very public roles, but I try to be clear that I am a late-comer to learning about Island ways. I've learned a lot, I've absorbed a lot, I share a lot --- but the path ahead is much longer than the road travelled to date.

[kimo55]

Very racist wouldn't you all say?
nope. using that label falls into the modern "everything gotta be pee see".

[manoasurfer123]

I liked it when Tiger Woods described his ethnicity on Oprah as:

"Cablinasian"

African American/Chinese/Native American/Thai/ and Caucasion :eek:

[Paul]

nope. using that label falls into the modern "everything gotta be pee see".

I don't understand. pee? A Hawaiian who is part Haole get's to have the label and status of Hapa applied to them but a Hawaiian who is part Chinese is not a Hapa. Why do we make this distinction if not out of racism?

[kimo55]

ya may as well have said:

" I don't understand. into? "

[kamuelakea]

Very racist wouldn't you all say? This classification seems to put the mixed Hawaiian/Haole above the Hawaiian/X ethnicity. The former is given a special name while the later is just a generic Hawaiian.


I don't see it as racist. Simply historical fact that Hawaiians first interbreeded with Haoles and so it must have been a big deal at the time. Must have been amazing for Hawaiians to see these babies in the early 1800s that looked totally different from what they had seen for their entire lives having been totally isolated for thousands of years.

Same thing for the word Haole being used to describe the Caucasian foreigners even though Asians are equally foreign. Nothing inherently racist, just a result of Caucasians being the first foreigners. So it stuck.

[Paul]

I don't see it as racist. Simply historical fact that Hawaiians first interbreeded with Haoles and so it must have been a big deal at the time. Must have been amazing for Hawaiians to see these babies in the early 1800s that looked totally different from what they had seen for their entire lives having been totally isolated for thousands of years.

Same thing for the word Haole being used to describe the Caucasian foreigners even though Asians are equally foreign. Nothing inherently racist, just a result of Caucasians being the first foreigners. So it stuck.

It's racist in the sense that Hawaiians seem to put the Haole on a pedestal above other ethnic groups. To be part Haole makes a Hawaiian special. To be part Chinese does not. I agree. It must have a big deal when Hawaiians first made contact with Haoles. They must have seemed like gods to the Kanaka Maoli. A degree of this Haole worship continues to this day with the use of the word Hapa.

[kimo55]

no, paul i dunthingsew. uh uh.
never heard of this. Not one shade of it. not so much as a semblance or one iota.

[craigwatanabe]

I'm going on a limb by assuming that the term Hapa Haole means part Hawaiian part Caucasian. So is it safe to assume just the word Hapa means part Hawaiian and you could then use that term for other ethnicities such as Hapa Filipino, Hapa Japanese, Hapa whatever?

Or does Hapa simply mean "part" or "half"? If that's the case then you could use the word Hapa for any mixed ethnicity not limited to Hawaiian or Haole. Just because it's a Hawaiian word that doesn't mean it's limited to Hawaiian ethnicity.

[pzarquon]

Hawaiians think more highlyof Caucasians than other ethnic groups? Um... If one were to ascribe any tendencies towards racial profiling or preference to Hawaiians or even locals, I really don't think anyone would put haole at the top of the "worship" list!

That said, kamuelaka's theory as to why "hapa" might more commonly apply to half Caucasians than half Chinese, or why "haole" ended up largely equivalent to "Caucasian" is so simple, it works for me.

Craig, I think we were in the neighborhood of your question upthread. Some folks feel "hapa" -- "half" -- should mean that one of those halves, or at least some portion, is Native Hawaiian. I say, since the Pukui/Elbert dictionary says "hapa Hawai'i" is "half Hawaiian," that "hapa Kepani" (half Japanese) or "hapa haole" (half Caucasian) makes perfect sense.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

I found Hawaiian newspapers as early as 1866 "...me na kaikamahine hapa Pake" (with the young half-Chinese girls).

This article (http://nupepa.org/gsdl2.5/cgi-bin/nupepa?e=q-0nupepa--00-0-0--010---4----text---0-1l--1haw-Zz-1---20-about-%22hapa+pake%22--00031-0000utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=nupepa&cl=search&d=HASH76e1e978cfad1ae8aaffb3.5) talks of the census, and its title is "there number of Americans in Hawai'i has increased" (1925). In it, hapa isn't used to conclude the "other half is Hawaiian". Hapa is half of whatever ethnicity ( one sentence describes those half Chinese and half something else).

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Hawaiians think more highly of nobody than any other group. The fact that I have Chinese sugarcane worker, Irish whaler, British businessman and Hawaiian akua in my genealogy--and that mine is a typical mix--speaks for that point. :p

[Jonah K]

Hmm. Sit in front of the computer and discuss the history of the "multiracial Asian movement" and it's appropriation of the term hapa or go to the beach? :confused: The beach wins! :D

Haunani-Kay Trask, Teresa Williams-Leon, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Cynthia Nakashima, Velina Hasu Houston, Maria Root, Yen Le Espiritu, Reggie Daniel, Don Nakanishi, UCLA's Asian American Studies Center, UH's Center for Hawaiian Studies, and countless others are all to blame. During the early 1980s, few would have envisioned "hapa" courses on the curriculum at Amherst, UCLA, USC and other colleges and universities. Sadly, kanaka maoli scholars and intellectuals have had virtually no input on the content of these courses.... :(
http://www.amherst.edu/~nsharma/courses/amst80/Syllabus.html

"Hapa" clubs also weren't envisioned...
http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/hapa/mix.html

[kaneohegirl]

when I was growing up hapa was HALF... you was half something wether it was haole, japanese, hawaiian, chinese, whatever... you were half an half... an it never carried a stigma of being hapa anything.... was better to be hapa then to all haole thats for sure... so for me hapa will always mean half!.... thats what I grew up with that the definition I know thats how I use it when I speak.

[Mahi Waina]

The South had legal definitions going all the to 1/128th part Negro. Remember the Octaroon Ball?

Why not come up with strict definitions to end this controversy?

1/2 Hawaiian = hapa

1/4 = koaka

1/8 = walu

So you could be hapa haole koaka pake walu pukiki walu pilipino

[Paul]

Hawaiians think more highlyof Caucasians than other ethnic groups? Um... If one were to ascribe any tendencies towards racial profiling or preference to Hawaiians or even locals, I really don't think anyone would put haole at the top of the "worship" list!


Maybe the Haole is not worshipped as much these days but that's the way is was in the past. The Kanaka Maoli themselves threw away their culture and tried to become Haole as much as possible back then. They became christians, wore european style clothes, gave themselves european names and the Kanaka Maoli women intermarried with the Haole men like crazy. Even the royalty did this. I suppose they thought they were improving the blood. But I don't blame them for doing so in the face of what seemed to them a vastly superior culture. I'm saying remnants of this mentality still exists. It's not so much worshipping anymore but a feeling of envy or jealousy.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

The South had legal definitions going all the to 1/128th part Negro. Remember the Octaroon Ball?

Why not come up with strict definitions to end this controversy?

1/2 Hawaiian = hapa

1/4 = koaka

1/8 = walu

So you could be hapa haole koaka pake walu pukiki walu pilipino

I would say that I am hapawalu Pake, hapawalu Kelemania, hapaha Ilelani and hapa Hawai'i (hapa-walu: 1/8, hapaha: 1/4, hapa: half), which is how I learned my fractions in Hawaiian. If I would say that I was 3/4 of something, it would be koluhapaha (three hapa four).

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Hmm. Sit in front of the computer and discuss the history of the "multiracial Asian movement" and it's appropriation of the term hapa or go to the beach? :confused: The beach wins! :D

Haunani-Kay Trask, Teresa Williams-Leon, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Cynthia Nakashima, Velina Hasu Houston, Maria Root, Yen Le Espiritu, Reggie Daniel, Don Nakanishi, UCLA's Asian American Studies Center, UH's Center for Hawaiian Studies, and countless others are all to blame. During the early 1980s, few would have envisioned "hapa" courses on the curriculum at Amherst, UCLA, USC and other colleges and universities. Sadly, kanaka maoli scholars and intellectuals have had virtually no input on the content of these courses.... :(
http://www.amherst.edu/~nsharma/courses/amst80/Syllabus.html

"Hapa" clubs also weren't envisioned...
http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/hapa/mix.html

as much as I am reluctant to rely upon scholars and intellectuals to guide a 'correct' path for social change, it is curious to me that hapa it lived as a "part-Asian and American born" identity in these links that you submitted.

They need a term, like Spanglish.

[Peshkwe]

There's so many to choose from too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terms_for_multiraciality

Me...I be Metis

[Jonah K]

as much as I am reluctant to rely upon scholars and intellectuals to guide a 'correct' path for social change, it is curious to me that hapa it lived as a "part-Asian and American born" identity in these links that you submitted.

They need a term, like Spanglish.
I agree. However, there was a "trade-off" of sorts that took place between some kanaka maoli activists and some Hawai'i-educated future leaders in the "multiracial Asian movement." I've already mentioned some of the major players, so you can probably figure out what happened. ;)

['i'iwipolena]

The South had legal definitions going all the to 1/128th part Negro. Remember the Octaroon Ball?

I wouldn't know. Hawaiians had nothing to do with the enslavement and subjugation of the African people.

[Mahi Waina]

I wouldn't know. Hawaiians had nothing to do with the enslavement and subjugation of the African people.

That's a good thing, but we all can learn from history. My post was meant to be sarcastic. When anyone starts quantifying racial proportions, only perversions can result. In New Orleans, young mixed-race women were trotted out at Octaroon Balls to be put on display for scions of wealthy plantation owners, who would keep them in townhouses and lavish them with clothes and jewelry.

It's a biological fact that humanity is only one species. Measuring RGD (Random Genetic Drift) is meaningless, divisive and cruel.

[kimo55]

Interesting story in today's LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hapas11jun11,1,7184776.story?ctrack=1&cset=true) about the recognition of "hapa" culture on the Mainland. When I first glimpsed this article i though "what a hoax!" How many people will be caught up into this cultural spinal tap practical joke?!
But then I slowly realized the cold hard depressing dirty sordid truth. It is still another example of people fully unrelated to Hawaii and its culture, in a wholesale thoughtless blatant manner, still yet again, stealing another concept, another bit of the Hawaiian identity, an aspect of Hawaiian culture, its language, and using it for their own sick pathetic selfish ends.

Through all the decades of living here, I have NEVER heard "hapa" misused in this manner.

If one happens to be a mix of Korean, Jewish and Irish, then they are Korean, Jewish and Irish. If one happens to be a mix of Korean Mexican, then they are Korean Mexican. Same with Japanese Causasian.
But they are most empahtically NOT "hapa"
The word is Hawaiian and for all my life here, it has meant to everyone here in Hawaii, that one is part Hawaiian and part something else.

This is still another of many instances where mainlanders appropriate aspects of Hawaiian culture and re-use it like an old dishtowel in a wholly other manner than what it was created for. This revisionist history, this complete wholesale manner of redefining words from a land that has been stolen from by outsiders for far too long... and using it in a foreign land for another puropse, this reprehensible habit of oustsiders taking a culture's words, concepts, religious icons and warping them, redefining them for their own use will never be justified no matter how many newspaper articles or books or self help groups promulgate this pernicious lie.

This has gone on too long and islanders are quite fed up with it.
"Mahalo" now means nothing more than a way to open and close an 0nline post or letter.
"Kama'aina" is nothing more than "spirit". (Oh, I am kama'aina because i am "Hawaiian at heart".
ugh.
Of course, kahuna, the keeper of the secrets, has, thanks to Cali Surf Culture and the american pop culture machine, been run into the ground to a depressingly cheap level. And charlatains are pushing a sham-anistic goofy thing called Huna on the fools with more money than sense.

Komai tells us in the article: "It's a history and culture we want to perpetuate..." yea. How about the true history and culture this word and its mana is being stolen from?!
Leave Hawaii alone.

"Hapa — originally a derogatory Hawaiian word for half-breed — has been embraced as a term of pride."
Yea? in what circles? Only in Kip Fulbeck's. And to promilgate this deception is another form of Polynesian piracy that has gone on far too long.
In all my years in Hawaii NObody here has regarded the term "hapa" as derrogatory. This is simply an instance of a small minority whining about their plight and gimme some sympathy because after all, we have attached an innapropriate but exotic sounding label onto our sad sack heads.
"perceptions of a multiracial group historically made to feel like outsiders." They are MADE to feel like outsiders?!?! This whiney "poor me, I am being discriminated against! " mentality is the worst form of irresponsible immaturity.
These people who commit multiple sins of blaming the world for their lot in life, approriating another unrelated far away culture's words and concepts and completely warping them beyond recognition should spend more time growing up, being more accountable and getting ahead rather than trying to get even at some mythical bully keeping them down. You would think by now they used ownership language and developed some sense of responsibility. Instead it's "look what they MAKE us feel!"
Remember Eleanor Roosevelt's words: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

There is mention of someone who decided to start the "Hapa Issues Forum", a groundbreaking group to raise awareness of mixed-race Asian American.
Fine and dandy. Then start an Asian American issues forum. Talk about the July or the january issue all ya want. But don't force your strange publication on the rest of us. (Asia?! Why not use "hafu" instead of hapa?!)
Let this be the first of the REAL "Hapa Issues Forum" wherein Hawaii takes BACK one of the many stolen concepts that are disrespecting and watering down their culture.

[Whitepoint3rchum]

I wouldn't know. Hawaiians had nothing to do with the enslavement and subjugation of the African people.


Whoa no way, NEITHER did my ethnicities! How utterly strange another fellow whose ancestors did not have anything to do with African enslavement.

(You do realize it was almost exclusively the English/Spanish that had to do with the North American slave trade-not the whole of caucasians right? Good, cause my folks were to busy being subjugated by the Brits themselves. In fact, it happened much earlier to them than it happened to the Africans)

[pzarquon]

Through all the decades of living here, I have NEVER heard "hapa" misused in this manner. [...] The word is Hawaiian and for all my life here, it has meant to everyone here in Hawaii, that one is part Hawaiian and part something else.Kimo, your confidence in speaking for everyone in Hawaii, or at least in making sweeping statements of absoluteness, is part of what makes you Kimo, I know. Along with your extreme protectiveness of an indigenous culture that you've obviously adopted (but largely not claimed as your own)... but. People born and raised here have used "hapa" incorrectly, by your definition. Including people who are part Hawaiian. You can say these people are misguided or morons, but you can't say they don't exist.

I'm part Hawaiian, but freely admit to being pretty atypical (or, yes, "ignorant" or "totally subjugated by the colonizing power," depending on who you talk to). But growing up, in interactions with folks of all backgrounds, "hapa" basically meant "multi-ethnic," usually half-half mixes, and most commonly when Caucasian was part of that mix.

I'm definitely familiar with the narrow, strict, true-Hawaiian-only definition of "hapa" that some are advocating, and as I said, I see their point. But it's hardly the universal or uncontested truth. This wide-ranging discussion just one piece of evidence to that effect.

[kimo55]

Kimo, your confidence in speaking for everyone in Hawaii, or at least in making sweeping statements of absoluteness, is part of what makes you Kimo, I know. Along with your extreme protectiveness of an indigenous culture that you've obviously adopted (but largely not claimed as your own)...

well, that's just hapa true.

I adopted what I grew up with and what adopted me. I do claim it as my favorite cause célèbre.
and the absoluteness quotient is a requisite, since if ya speak meekly and carry a small stick ya rarely get heard.

People born and raised here have used "hapa" incorrectly, by your definition.
well, I don't say it is incorrect, i do support the earliest use of it that I have heard. But yea, i have heard it used to mean mixed. But mixed koko. of an islander. Which is as much to say, ok, yer living in Boston. yer Korean and Swedish. ya simply ain't hapa.

[Jonah K]

"Hapa — originally a derogatory Hawaiian word for half-breed — has been embraced as a term of pride."
Yea? in what circles? Only in Kip Fulbeck's. And to promilgate this deception is another form of Polynesian piracy that has gone on far too long.
In all my years in Hawaii NObody here has regarded the term "hapa" as derrogatory. This is simply an instance of a small minority whining about their plight and gimme some sympathy because after all, we have attached an innapropriate but exotic sounding label onto our sad sack heads.
"perceptions of a multiracial group historically made to feel like outsiders." They are MADE to feel like outsiders?!?! This whiney "poor me, I am being discriminated against! " mentality is the worst form of irresponsible immaturity.
These people who commit multiple sins of blaming the world for their lot in life, approriating another unrelated far away culture's words and concepts and completely warping them beyond recognition should spend more time growing up, being more accountable and getting ahead rather than trying to get even at some mythical bully keeping them down. You would think by now they used ownership language and developed some sense of responsibility. Instead it's "look what they MAKE us feel!"
Remember Eleanor Roosevelt's words: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

There is mention of someone who decided to start the "Hapa Issues Forum", a groundbreaking group to raise awareness of mixed-race Asian American.
Fine and dandy. Then start an Asian American issues forum. Talk about the July or the january issue all ya want. But don't force your strange publication on the rest of us. (Asia?! Why not use "hafu" instead of hapa?!)
Let this be the first of the REAL "Hapa Issues Forum" wherein Hawaii takes BACK one of the many stolen concepts that are disrespecting and watering down their culture.
Back in the early 1980s, Teresa Williams-Leon (a pioneer in the push to use the term "hapa" to describe "mixed-race" Asians outside of Hawai'i) was a undergraduate student at UH Mānoa. One of Teresa's professors was Haunani-Kay Trask, who bestowed the label "hapa" on her and encouraged her to study "mixed-race" Asians in grad school. Teresa's choice of grad schools at the time -- UCLA, was particularly fortuitous in that it had a pioneering Asian American Studies Program that was in the throes of expanding its horizons to include "non-traditional" Asian and Pacific Islander groups, such as "mixed-race" Asians, Pilipinos, Vietnamese, Thais, Samoans, Chamorros, etc. After getting her master's degree in Asian American Studies, Teresa obtained in Ph.D. in sociology from UCLA and eventually became a professor at Cal State Northridge, heading its Asian American Studies program. Unfortunately, the "Hawaiian sovereignty" movement in the form of Ka Lāhui Hawai'i and other groups, preoccupied kanaka maoli scholars and intellectuals who missed an opportunity to quash the misappropriation of the term "hapa" before it was embedded in the "Asian American Studies" lexicon. :cool:

A little north of UCLA, UC Berkeley professor Ron Takaki (who grew up in Palolo Valley), stated that "Asian American history begins in Hawai'i" and he makes the case in his 1983 book, "Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawai'i." So in essence, "Asian American Studies" can be viewed as a offshoot of Hawaiian Studies. Viewed in that prism, it could be argued that the use of the term "hapa" to describe "mixed-race" Asians is permissable. ;)

Although I used Teresa Williams-Leon, Haunani-Kay Trask, UH Mānoa, and UCLA to illustrate how the term "hapa" came to be linked to "Asian American Studies", similar things happened at other colleges and universities with other folks, such as Cynthia Nakashima. In addition, writers such as Nora Okja Keller, Jessica Hagedorn, Diana Chang, Kiana Davenport, Marie Hara, and Velina Hasu Houston, have all greatly contributed to the promulgation of the term "hapa" in "Asian American Studies." :cool:

For another take on this, here's a link to the somewhat defunct "Real Hapas" website....
http://www.realhapas.com/

[Miulang]

Mahalos for the citations and links, Jonah. I think the California "hapas" are just trying to fight against the rest of the people who think that labels (as in your ethnic origin) define who you are. People are far more "race conscious" on CONUS than in Hawai'i, especially when you look don't have the right skin tone or eye configuration with which one is familiar.

Miulang

['i'iwipolena]

Whoa no way, NEITHER did my ethnicities! How utterly strange another fellow whose ancestors did not have anything to do with African enslavement.

(You do realize it was almost exclusively the English/Spanish that had to do with the North American slave trade-not the whole of caucasians right? Good, cause my folks were to busy being subjugated by the Brits themselves. In fact, it happened much earlier to them than it happened to the Africans)

You're reading too much into what I wrote. Mahi Waina merely made a reference to the American south, asking if anyone remembered the "Octaroon Ball," and I replied with a 'nope,' so Mahi Waina clarified the subject. That was the extent of the discussion.

[Jonah K]

Mahalos for the citations and links, Jonah. I think the California "hapas" are just trying to fight against the rest of the people who think that labels (as in your ethnic origin) define who you are. People are far more "race conscious" on CONUS than in Hawai'i, especially when you look don't have the right skin tone or eye configuration with which one is familiar.

Miulang
No problem. I observed the rise of "hapa consciousness" by some of these folks first-hand and enjoyed telling some of them that although I had a few ancestors of different ethnicities, the only ones that really counted were the kanaka maoli ones and an Irishman that once worked as a carpenter. ;) Even though I was probably more "qualified" to refer to myself as a "hapa" than someone whose ancestors only hailed from Japan and Beckley, West Virginia, I refused to be labelled as such. Somewhere down the line, someone probably assumed that the term "hapa" was derogatory because some ethnically-mixed kanaka maoli refused to use it to refer to themselves. :D

Of course, interesting things in the "Hawaiian sovereignty movement" were beginning to happen at the time.... ;)

[pzarquon]

So in essence, "Asian American Studies" can be viewed as a offshoot of Hawaiian Studies. Viewed in that prism, it could be argued that the use of the term "hapa" to describe "mixed-race" Asians is permissable.Thanks so much for the history lesson, Jonah K. It does explain much, and makes perfect sense. I don't think "hapa" was stolen or misappropriated at all. It just migrated and evolved, as words and language do. It is interesting that it might have an identifiable academic basis.

As for that Real Hapas online vigilante site, I wrote about "them" (mostly one particularly miltant person) in the earlier "hapa" thread (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=5202). It'd be funny, if it wasn't so scary! ;)
I think the California "hapas" are just trying to fight against the rest of the people who think that labels (as in your ethnic origin) define who you are.By creating another label? :D Well, at least it's a self-adhesive sticker, rather than slapped on by some inconsiderate skate shop punk.

[PoiBoy]

No such thing as "hapa". People like to redefine to fit in....and some redefine to exclude.

No hapa.

[Palolo Joe]

No such thing as "hapa". People like to redefine to fit in....and some redefine to exclude.

No hapa.

Bull. If you're a mix of Native Hawaiian and something else, you're hapa.

[1stwahine]

Bull. If you're a mix of Native Hawaiian and something else, you're hapa.

I agree.

No and's, if's or butt's.

Auntie Lynn:D