Hapa
Encyclopedia
Hapa is a Hawaiian language
term used to describe a person of mixed Asian
or Pacific Islander
racial or ethnic heritage.
, hapa is defined as: portion, fragment, part, fraction, installment; to be partial, less. It is a loan from the English
word half. However, in Hawaiian Pidgin
(the creole
spoken by many Hawaii
residents), hapa has an extended meaning of "half-caste" or "of mixed descent". Mary Pukui and Samuel Ebert
's Hawaiian Dictionary define hapa as: "of mixed blood, person of mixed blood as in hapa hawaii, part Hawaiian." The word hapa has moved into mainland English
.
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:
Pukui states that the original meaning of the word haole was "foreigner". Therefore, all non-Hawaiians can be called haole. In practical terms, however, the term is used as described here as a racial description with the specific exclusion of Portuguese. Portuguese were traditionally considered to be a separate "race" in Hawaii.
Hapa-haole also 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.
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
term used to describe a person of mixed Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
or Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...
racial or ethnic heritage.
Etymology
In the Hawaiian languageHawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
, hapa is defined as: portion, fragment, part, fraction, installment; to be partial, less. It is a loan from the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
word half. However, in Hawaiian Pidgin
Hawaiian Pidgin
Hawaii Pidgin English, Hawaii Creole English, HCE, or simply Pidgin, is a creole language based in part on English used by many "local" residents of Hawaii. Although English and Hawaiian are the co-official languages of the state of Hawaii, Pidgin is used by many Hawaii residents in everyday...
(the creole
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
spoken by many Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
residents), hapa has an extended meaning of "half-caste" or "of mixed descent". Mary Pukui and Samuel Ebert
Samuel Hoyt Elbert
Samuel Hoyt Elbert was a linguist who made major contributions to Hawaiian and Polynesian lexicography and ethnography. Born on a farm in Des Moines, Iowa, to Hugh and Ethelind Elbert, Sam grew up riding horses, one of his favorite pastimes well into retirement. After graduating from Grinnell...
's Hawaiian Dictionary define hapa as: "of mixed blood, person of mixed blood as in hapa hawaii, part Hawaiian." The word hapa has moved into mainland English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
.
Used without qualification, hapa is often taken to mean "part White
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
", and is short hand for hapa haole
Haole
Haole , in the Hawaiian language, is generally used to refer to an individual that fits one of the following: "White person, American, Englishman, Caucasian; American, English; formerly, any foreigner; foreign, introduced, of foreign origin, as plants, pigs, chickens"...
. 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/whiteEurasian (mixed ancestry)The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....
). - hapa kanaka (part Native Hawaiian).
- hapa Inikiki Amelika (part Native AmericanIndigenous peoples of the AmericasThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
). - hapa popolo (part African/black).
- hapa kepani (part JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
); the term hapanese is also encountered. - hapa pilipino (part FilipinoFilipino languageThis move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...
). - hapa pake (part Chinese).
- hapa kolea (part KoreanKorean languageKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
). - hapa kamoa (part SamoanSamoan languageSamoan Samoan Samoan (Gagana Sāmoa, is the language of the Samoan Islands, comprising the independent country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language—alongside English—in both jurisdictions. Samoan, a Polynesian language, is the first language for most...
). - hapa (hi)sepania (part SpanishSpanish peopleThe Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
/white and LatinoLatinoThe demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
). - hapa pukiki (part PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
/white).
Pukui states that the original meaning of the word haole was "foreigner". Therefore, all non-Hawaiians can be called haole. In practical terms, however, the term is used as described here as a racial description with the specific exclusion of Portuguese. Portuguese were traditionally considered to be a separate "race" in Hawaii.
Hapa-haole also 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.
See also
- AmerasianAmerasianIn its original meaning, an Amerasian is a person born in Asia, to a U.S. military father and an Asian mother. The term has sometimes been used to describe a person in the United States of mixed Asian and non-Asian ancestry, regardless of the circumstances....
- MultiracialMultiracialThe terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...
- Afro-Asians
- Luk khrueng
- Race of the Future
External links
- Hapa Voice: A Celebration of Multiracial Identity
- Everything Hapa - The intersection of Eastern and Western Cultures
- Psychology Today: Mixed Race, Pretty Face? by William Lee Adams
- CNN's Betty Nguyen on Hapa Identity "Growing Up Hapa"
- Orange County Register: Hapa Nation by Valerie Takahama
- The Hapa Collection at Discover Nikkei
- Los Angeles Times: "Hapas" find a voice in emerging culture by Teresa Watanabe
- The Hapa Project: A Book Project on Multiracial Asian/Pacific Islander Americans
- MTV News: "Hapas Define Themselves"
- AsianWeek: "Hapa Issues move Into the Spotlight" by Stacy Lavilla
- Yes, We're Together: "OCD: Obsessed With Culture Disorder" by Atinuke Diver - 2011 Harvard Hapa "So What Are You Anyway?" Conference