In week 2, we talked about Color-ism and the structure of "situational Identity". This week and with the weekly reading "Part Asian, 100% Hapa: A Retrospective" by Kip Fulbeck , we learned that being "Hapa" was first becoming mixed Hawaiian and white but later on referred to becoming mixed Asian. We see that that people of mixed race have a hard time struggling within "mono-racially minded" communities like for example the presentation this week where they shared the video called "In-Between", produced by WongFu Productions. Mixed race people can be shown an advantage because they look a similar ethnicity like whoever has a lighter skin color that can pass as "white" or detrimental from another ethnicity as depending on their upbringing or situation around them they have to adapt to the norms of who they are. It might be confusing for some because as seen in the Wong Fu video, the main character becomes lost as he was told he was not "Asian" enough. Oddly enough, he had to be socially situational within his Asian heritage. Hence he had to use "Situational Identity" in the midwest because he was not grown up with his own ethnicity in his community.
I felt that I can relate being "Hapa" because some of my family members are living in Michigan. They at least do not have a lot of Filipinos within the community because a majority of the Filipino community lives in coastal towns like San Francisco, New Jersey, Los Angeles or even in Louisiana. They might have had to use situational identity because they were not grown up in a multi-cultured town that has their own ethnicity. Colorism could have taken place but they had to adapt in order to survive working in a semi-mono racial town.
No comments:
Post a Comment