This article is about a term for a person of mixed ethnic heritage. For for the Hawaiian genre of music, see Hapa haole music. For the psychological theory of health behavior change, see Health action process approach.
The word "hapa" entered the Hawaiian language in the early 1800s, with the arrival of Christian missionaries who instituted a Hawaiian alphabet and developed curriculum for schools. It is a transliteration of the English word "half," but quickly came to mean "part," which could be combined with numbers to form fractions. For example, hapalua is half, hapahā is one-fourth, and hapanui means majority.[2][3]
In Hawaii, the term can be used in conjunction with other Hawaiian racial and ethnic descriptors to specify a particular racial or ethnic mixture.[2][3] An example of this is hapa haole (part European/White).[18][19]
Pukui states that the original meaning of the word haole was "foreigner." Therefore, all non-Hawaiians can be called haole.[20] In practical terms, however, the term is used as a racial description for whites, with the specific exclusion of Portuguese. Portuguese are traditionally considered to be a separate race in Hawaii.[21]
Hapa-haole also is the name of a type of Hawaiian music in which the tune, styling, and/or subject matter is Hawaiian, but the lyrics are partly, mostly, or entirely in English.[22] Many hapa-haole songs had their musical roots in the Western tradition, and the lyrics were in some combination of English and Hawaiian; these songs first gained popularity outside the Territory of Hawaii beginning in 1912–1915,[23] and include titles such as "My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua" and "Sweet Leilani."[24]
Hapa haole is also used for Hawaiian-language hula songs that are partly in English, thus disqualifying them as "authentic" Hawaiian hula in some venues such as the Merrie Monarch Festival.
Controversy
Some see the use of the term to refer to mixed Asian people without any connections to Hawaii as a misappropriation of Hawaiian culture,[25][26] but there are kamaʻāina and Kānaka Maoli who see it as hypocritical to protest anyone using what was originally taken from another culture to begin with.[27][28]
Still others take a stronger stand in discouraging its usage and misuse as they consider the term to be vulgar and racist.[29]
However, the term, unlike other words referring to mixed-race people, has never been a derogatory term when it is used in its original Hawaiian context, although there is some debate about appropriate usage outside this context.[27] As Wei Ming Dariotis states, "'Hapa' was chosen because it was the only word we could find that did not really cause us pain. It is not any of the Asian words for mixed Asian people that contain negative connotations either literally (e.g. 'children of the dust,' 'mixed animal') or by association (Eurasian)."[26]
^"Asian or Pacific Islander (API)" was a US Census classification prior to the 2000 US Census subsequently separated into two categories: "Asian" and "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander".[17]
^Huynh-Hohnbaum & Yoo 2009, p. 437: "The term "hapa" is commonly used to refer to multiracial Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) and originates from a Native Hawaiian word.".
^Bernstein & De la Cruz 2009, p. 723: "Today, 'hapa' is used to describe any person of mixed East and South East Asian or Pacific Islander descent."
^Ozaki & Johnston 2009, pp. 53–54: "Currently, hapa is often used to refer to anyone of a racially mixed Asian heritage, and even more recently to anyone who is of mixed-race heritage (Taniguchi & Heidenreich 2006)."
^Folen, Alana; Ng, Tina. "The Hapa Project: How multiracial identity crosses oceans". soc.hawaii.edu. University of Hawaii at Manoa. Archived from the original on September 18, 2009. Jonathan Okamura, professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa, explained that although hapa is a word that describes all people of mixed ancestry, hapa is primarily used to describe people who are half white and half East or Southeast Asian American.
^Taniguchi & Heidenreich 2006, p. 135: "In the United States, individuals recognized the term as meaning mixed Asian/Pacific Islander or, more popularly, part Asian."
^Easley 1995, p. 76: "'Hapa haole' is a commonly used phrase in Hawaii, employed by all Asian subgroups, but Hawaiian in origin. The phrase literally translates into "of part-white ancestry or origin.""
^"Hapa Haole". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
^Taniguchi & Heidenreich 2006, p. 38: "Prominent figures in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, such as the Trask sisters, have spoken out against the co-optation of the Hawaiian language by Hapa organizations and other 'inappropriate' uses of the term."
Ozaki, C. Casey; Johnston, Marc (2009). "The space in between: Issues for multiracial student organizations and advising". New Directions for Student Services. 2008 (123): 53–61. doi:10.1002/ss.286.
_by_Grace_Hudson,_1901.jpg)
