論文

Hapa People’s Idenity in Hawaii

ASAKURA Masae

要旨“Hapa” とはハワイ語で「半分」という意味。この Hapa と呼ばれる人々
はもともとはアメリカ大陸からの白人と現地ハワイアンのハーフの人を指す言葉だったが、移民が多く、多民族社会のハワイでは、二つ以上の言語や文化を持つ人々を意味するようになった。ハワイ大学大学院留学時代に出逢ったこの Hapa の人々に、著者が抱いた第一印象は、「分類できない」という感覚だった。日本のような単一民族、単一言語の環境で育った著者
にとって、学校では英語、家では中国語、韓国語、フィリピン語などを操る彼らが自身のことをどのように分類し認識しているのか、とても不思議な存在だった。アメリカでは「What are you?」（あなたは何なのか？）という問いをよく見かけるが、これはどのような人種であるのかという意味である。この問いに Hapa の人々が自分たちのアイデンティティをどのように捉えているのかをこの論文で探求し、実際にインタビューをした
Hapa4人との談話をもとに、環境、文化、言語などの観点から検証した。
Keywords: Hapa（ハパ，ハーフ）, Asian American（アジア系アメリカ人）,
Bilingual（バイリンガル）, Hawaii（ハワイ）, Identity（アイデンティ
ティ・自己同一性）, Multiracial Asians（多民族アジア人）, Majority（多数派）, Minority（少数派）― 59 ―

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No. 31Introduction
The word “Hapa” originally means a half person who is mixed with a white and a
Hawaiian, which comes from Hawaiian words. However, now it means that a person withany kind of mixed blood. When I first went to Hawaii, I noticed that there were so many
Asian faces over there, but they were not Asians but Americans. There were also so many
uncategorized faces which were hard to guess that he or she was even an Asian or a
Caucasian. They were Hapa people who are the majority of the island because of its culturaland ethnic diversity from the time of immigrantion and colonization period in the past. The
reason why I am interested in Hapa people in Hawaii is that interacting and seeing thosepeople prompts me to think about ethnic identity which I never concerned when I was inJapan. As far as I see the environment where I grew up, Japan is linguistically and culturally
homogeneous; therefore, there are not many opportunities for me to contact people withdifferent ethnicities unless I try hard to meet them. So, it was the first time when I went
outside of my county at the age of 19 that I started to think about my ethnic identity byseeing different colors of skin, hair, and eyes of people from different countries. However,at that time, I have to admit that I have assumed people’s identity only based on ethnicity
and their language as I categorized myself based on them. I categorized people into whichcountry they are from or personal appearances such as colors of skin, eyes and hair. My
stereotype of people was usually only based on the ethnicities and language. However,
especially in Hawaii, people’s ethnicity is naturally diverse and some people are bilingualby nature. For example, Chinese diaspora kids, speak English in public but they speak
Chinese to their parents at home. On the other hand, Nikkei (Japanese American) people
only speak English even though they have a root in Japan. Therefore, my way of sorting out
people was not successful on people in Hawaii, especially on Hapa people at all, because
they are so much different from my perspective and had a lot of roots in various cultures andlanguages despite their outlook. I only have one official language, Japanese, which is also
my mother tongue in my country. It is hard to imagine a situation where I would have to use
a certain language to communicate with people in a certain situation. It is very
uncomfortable for me that I cannot place an ethnicity into one category which is supposed
to match with my way of sorting out. Getting to know Hapa people’s experience of language
and culture is unique and helps highlight how people perceive themselves.
In this paper, first I would like to refer to my research questions on those Hapa people.
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Hapa Peopleʼs Idenity in Hawaii

Then I will explain its research method and show findings and analysis, and conclusion will
be shown after that. So this paper is divided into four sections: (1) Introduction, (2) Research
Questions and Methods, (3) Findings and Analysis, and (4) Conclusions and Further
Questions.

Research Questions and Methods
I am interested in how Hapa people perceive themselves in terms of language and its
culturally diverse background. Speaking Japanese and being ethnic Japanese is a very big
part of identifying myself for me. I would rather say that I only have those factors tocategorize myself compared with Hapa people’s rich background. To collect informationand get to know about Hapa people, I conducted four interviews: 1) Ms. Julia Simon who is
Chinese and White Hapa, 2) Mr. Joseph Morton who is Pilipino and White Hapa also Julia’s
boyfriend, 3) Ms. Jenny McLaughlin who is Philipino and White Hapa, and 4) Mr. Patrick
Anderson who is Korean and White Hapa. In interviews, I talked to my interviewees inEnglish and Koreans, whichever is comfortable for interviewees. Each interview is 90
minute long. Fortunately it was not hard to pick up those Hapa interviewees because they
are majority around there in Hawaii. However, I picked up those participants carefully byconsidering each background especially where they are originally from. Two of them arefrom the mainland U.S. and one is from Hawaii and lastly the other one has a military
background, which means he has a lot of different places he spent when he was a kid.
Identity may be conceptualized and operationalized in different ways such as census orother government forms, by the simple question “What are you,?” or by asking how strongly
they identify with a racial group or groups. (Khanna, 2004) So, on this research interview,
basically I keep asking this question: “What are you?,” which actually comes up in a bookPart Asian, 100% Hapa as well. This is a book which has intimacy, beauty, and powerfulself-expression of Hapa people with simple head-on portraits. Hapa people describe how
they perceive themselves with their own words to answer the question “What are you?” This
question might be too direct way of asking identity instead of “Who are you?” However, it
would focus on more non-biased perception. Therefore, I interviewed Hapa people byasking “What are you?” and interestingly they explained it to me with their own words andpoints of view.
Consequently, several findings have emerged through the research. Here are some― 61 ―

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No. 31findings which I separated into two categories: 1) Reflections of how people treat you, and 2)
Language and identity. In the following chapter, those findings will be analyzed withspecific research facts.

Findings and Analysis
1) Reflections of how people treat you
All of interviewees said that they never thought about their identity until they weretreated differently by people from other non-Hapa people. For example, one of interviewees
Julia told me that she never felt that she is something different until she went to themainland U.S. to go to a college. At that time she was placed into a dorm where students ofcolor lived with international students from different countries just because she has a Asianlooking face. She didn’t mean that she was offended to be a student of color or aninternational, but she was just shocked how people in the mainland treated her in a different
way from other normal white American students. She was born and raised in Hawaii andpeople around her are mostly Hapas. Teachers, people at customer service, and otherstudents in a class room treated her indifferently at all. So those experiences with outside
people gave her an opportunity to think about who she is. Then when I asked her “Who areyou?”, Julia told me that she has a strong identity as being “Hapa”:
I went to the school in the mainland, because I wanted to see something different
world from Hawaii, and I was kind of tired of living this small island….but thoseexperienced and people’s different attitude actually changed my way to see theenvironment in which I was grown up. I used to think Hawaii was so small and always
behind from the mainland…like a music, fashion…But, I started to appreciate
Hawaii’s rich cultural diversity and environment. Being a part of Chinese and being apart of American, both are a big part of myself. So I would say being Hapa is my
identity.

As Julia experienced, the opposite case happened to Jenny. She was born and raised in
the mainland, California. She was always a kind of target to be pointed out as something
different from the majority of white group. People assumed her to be a Mexican most of thetime because she has a little dark skin. One time when she was walking on the street, a little― 62 ―

Hapa Peopleʼs Idenity in Hawaii

kid asked her mother with pointing out her, “Why she looks different?” and the mother told
her kid, “If you are naughty, you gonna be like that.” What is “like that”? The mother told
her kid as if Jenny were something bad as a result of punishment. I cannot believe that
actually happened to this real world. Is being different in terms of skin color that much big
deal? Jenny told me that it frequently happened to her in the environment she grew up andthose experiences actually pushed her to think who she is, too. However, I insist that it’svery stupid to deal with people by their skin color or outlook, but I realized I am one ofthem who always sort out people based on their appearance as I categorized myself in aforeign country.
On the other hand, Jenny comes to feel more comfortable since she got in Hawaii.
Being Hapa is very natural to everyone there. More than that, being mixed with three or four
different ethnicities is very common in Hawaii. Therefore, she doesn’t need to be bothered
by a special attention from people around her while she is in Hawaii. As a Korean and White
Hapa, Patrick also talked about this difference on how people treat him in the mainland or in
Hawaii. He was used to be asked, “what half are you?” He always had to explain that his
mother is Korean and his father is American. But while he is in Hawaii, people don’t evenask him this question, because he is very “usual” in Hawaii.
As Thompson says, multiracials of Asian descent have a variety of choices available
for self-identification: however, this “choice” may become obscured by others who may bequick to categorize based upon their own monoracial template of racial understanding(Thompson, 2000). The place to be involved is a big factor to create people’s own
perspective either positively or negatively. Obviously Jenny and Patrick show their comfort
to be in Hawaii compared with the mainland U.S.
2) Language and identity
Language shapes part of someone’s impression. This was what I strongly perceived
while I was interviewing Patrick Anderson who is a Korean White Hapa again. He was bornand raised in the U.S. but his mother was Korean so that he always could have an access to
Korean language and culture. He can speak both Korean and English although his Korean is
not as fluent as his native language English. When I talked to him, he first used English only.
But once he changed language from English to Korean, he sounded a very different person.
He explains like this:
Although English is most comfortable to tell what I’m really thinking, but I use Korean― 63 ―

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when I talk to Korean friend and professors. Why? I think language shapes cultures,too. So I feel more comfortable to use a certain form of Korean speaking when I talk toelder people. English sometimes sounds too light. But I also didn’t know thatdifferences until I actually get interacted with Korean people from Korea though…

The same thing happens to me, too. When I speak in English, I tend to talk very fast.
When I speak in Japanese, I talk very slow. Comparing to English, Japanese makes mycharacter closer to the one I perceive myself. I even feel consciously that I act like adifferent person depends on which language I use. Besides, as Patrick explained to me,which language should be used to communicate people with highly affects whom you
communicate with. Being Hapa means sometimes bilingual by nature. Language transmits
its culture and implication so that Hapa people unconsciously could understand both sides
of different cultures. Being Hapa has automatically two different personas which are by thename of language. Language is an inseparable companion of identity.
Julia also told me that she saw a different aspect in her mother when she talked torelatives and family in Chinese in China. She thought her mother’s way of talking in
Chinese sounded assertive and aggressive. It’s not because she can’t understand what shesays. Although Julia could understand conversational Chinese, she was raised in the U.S. in
English at home. Especially her father is an American so her family tends to use English
which most members can understand. So she was used to communicate with her mothermostly in English. Seeing her mother in different language must have given Julia different
impression.
I had a similar experience. When I talk to someone who was older than me, using
English to communicate with them is a little bit awkward. Because Japanese has a honorificways of speaking. Although English might have polite forms, I still feel uncomfortable touse English which has a decisive and directive tone. Language plays an important role in
how to communicate with others and how to express oneself.
I used to believe that identity was shaped by language and ethnicity as I categorized
myself. However, those Hapa interviewees have shown that while these affect identity tosome extent, other factors are involved as well. These factors are not always easy to see atfirst, and sometimes it takes stepping outside of the situation to get a better view. I became
more Japanese by being in Hawaii, just as they were forming their own identity by looking
at it from an outside perspective through the interaction with people from different― 64 ―

Hapa Peopleʼs Idenity in Hawaii

community and background. At the same time, I realized that how silly it was to sort out
people into certain categories by only their outlook and its language. Even though it is easy
to categorize people, people have a different perspective and create its own identity no
matter how they look. As one of girls who shows up on a book Part Asian, 100% Hapa
says, as a response to “What are you?”, “I am a person.” This answer stuck me very strongly
and I figured out that there are no points to sort out people only based on their outlook andbackground. We are all the same person and we don’t need to be categorized into a certain
group. I would rather to say that we should not categorize others and we should not be
categorized by others.
I also used to believe that where we were born and where we were raised occupies themain factors to perceive our identity. But I am inclined to think there are more factors thatshape our own identity. From the interview with Hapa people, one is highlighted which is “asense of belonging”. This sense could give a person a clear guide as to where they are. One
of interviewees Joseph describes like this:If I chose which places is my hometown, I would say Hawaii. It’s just because ofpeople here and environment here gives me more feeling of “belonging”. I am notfrom here, I am not a loco boy but still the way people treated me, is very different
from the mainland. I like it. It’s different from being in a military, too. Besides, there
are a lot of Hapa people like me in Hawaii.

It is not easy for Joseph to decide which cities and places are a hometown because hehas moved to several places such as Guam, Saipan, and several Asian countries with hisfamily. Doing military service could also give him “a sense of belonging,” but it’s not stablefeeling and it only happens when he was in a military life which was located in temporary
places and different countries. It seemed that he didn’t want to talk about his identity. He
told me that he was no one else or nothing to response to a question “what are you?” at the
beginning of my interview. However, as we talked about places he used to live before andHawaii’s unique perspectives with rich cultural diversity, he gradually started to think about
how he perceives himself through the environment which he is actually in now.

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Conclusions and Further Questions
Identity has multiple aspects including culture and religion as well as language.
However, as long as I perceive those Hapa people, “a sense of belonging” is a very
important factor when they tried to see where they are and what they are. Since being Hapa
cannot really be shifted to one side of both ethnic and cultural background, the environment
and the way in which people treat them highly affected their identity. Hawaii seems to be avery ideal place for everyone who want to be anyone else they define because of its richcultural diversity and people’s sense of appreciation for those differences.
Through this research, new questions have come up to my mind, which is that identity
is not necessarily to be good. The factors to perceive our own identity has both good andbad aspects. One of interviewees, Jenny, told me an interesting story of why she feels
uncomfortable sometimes to some extent in Hawaii. When she was in the mainland, she
usually joined a Pilipino or Mexican group. For both in a positive and negative way, shealways got an attention from people of a different group. Even though most of the time
people’s attention to her implies curiosity or exclusion towards someone different, she got
used to be treated differently very much. However, it is totally different in Hawaii. She
rarely gets attention because everyone is different which is very natural there. However, atthe same time, it makes her think about “I am one of them, nothing special.”“A sense of belonging” is a very important factor to perceive identity but at the sametime, it might give people lower self-esteem. People tend to prefer to be something different
from others, so that being Hapa in Hawaii has both positive and negative factors which arevery similar feeling of my experience in Hawaii. I was tired of being Japanese when I was
in Japan before, but when I was in Hawaii I realized I feel comfortable to be categorized
into “Japanese” to some extent.
To the end of this research, according to Tina, racial categorization of people cansometimes, through not always, ‘trump’ or override ethnic designations. That is, people’s
ethnic identities may be subsumed within broader racial identities which are imposed byothers. (Tina G Patel, p.124). People might want to be categorized to a greater or lesser
extent to see their identity more clearly.
References
Fulbeck, K (2006). Part Asian 100% hapa. SF: Chronicle Books― 66 ―

Hapa Peopleʼs Idenity in Hawaii

Jule, A. (2007). Language and Religious Identity: Women In Discourse. NY: Palgrave Macmillan
Khanna, N. (2004). The Role of Reflected Appraisals in Racial Identity: The Case of Multiracial
Asians. Washington: American Sociological Association
Patel, T. (2009). Mixed-up Kids?:Race, Identity and Social Order. Plymouth, Devon: Russell House
Printing
Thompson, B. (2000). Fence Sitters, Switch Hitters, and Bi-Bi Girls: An Exploration of Hapa andBisexual Identities. Columbus: University of Nebraska Press― 67 ―