Interviews

1. Early consciousness of identity

2. Finding parallels through art

3. Refusing to use a Chinese name to identify as Asian American

4. The Hapa Project

5. Perceptions of uniqueness

6. Defusing myths through The Hapa Project

7. Difficulty responding to the question "What are you?"

8. Lessons learned from The Hapa Project

9. Differing responses by gender to the Hapa Project

10. Identity as a conscious ongoing process

11. Japanese Americans are more aware of their Hapa identity

12. Hapa as his primary identity

13. Discomfort at being labeled by others

14. International dimensions of hapa identity

15. Issues of identity outside of America

16. Imposing identity upon others

17. Changing fortunes of "identity art"

18. The right to say who you are

19. Defining the term "Hapa"

Fulbeck,Kip

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

Hapa as his primary identity

I was born in ’65, I was born two years before the laws went off the books about anti-miscegenation. I was 35 years old before the Census allowed me, for the first time, to check more than one box—that’s ridiculous! Every job application, every school questionnaire was always “pick one” or they give you that “Other” box and ask you to explain. Me and my parents would always write “No! We’re not going to explain!” And to me, it’s like having to choose to be Chinese or “white” as a kid was always this thing like well, it’s like choosing Mom or Dad, and “I guess I like Dad today, and I’ll be white.”

So what happened was, I was told about the word Hapa when I was about four or five. My friends, my cousins from Alhambra, it’s like “Well, you’re Hapa” because they were going to this entirely Chinese American school. “You’re Hapa.” “Okay.” And I didn’t ever really think about it, it was never a big deal to me until I started living in Hawai`i and it’s such a different—it’s such a non-issue in Hawai`i and the awareness is so much greater that I’ll be playing pick-up basketball and people will just say “Hey hapa haole!” you know, they just call you by “Hey, popolo!” It’s just—aware. And so, for me, Hapa was always something that, it just feels like it’s something that makes sense for me. I didn’t like “Amerasian”. I am Asian American, certainly, but I think I’m Hapa first.

hapa identity racially mixed people

Date: May 3, 2006

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Jim Bower

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

Kip Fulbeck was born in 1965 to a Chinese mother and English/Irish father. At age five, he was told by his full-blooded Chinese cousins that he was Hapa. He never gave much thought to the term as a child. As he grew older, faced with the dearth of knowledge relating to mixed-race identity (or worse, the negative connotations associated with it), he began thinking about ways to promote a more realistic and human portrayal of Hapa identity.

Fulbeck chose to explore this issue by creating the Hapa Project as a forum for Hapa to answer the question “What are you?” in their own words and be photographed in simple head-on portraits. He has now photographed over 1000 people from all ages and walks of life. The project is now a book, Part Asian, 100% Hapa (Chronicle Books, 2006) and an exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum from June 8 through October 29, 2006 titled kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa.

Kip Fulbeck has been making films and art about Hapa identity since 1990. Known as the nation's leading artist on the identity, multiracial/ethnicity, and art and pop culture, he has spoken and exhibited his award-winning films, performance, and photography throughout the world. Fulbeck is currently Professor and Chair of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a three-time recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Member Award and also an affiliate faculty member in Asian American Studies and Film Studies. (May 3, 2006)

Read the Discover Nikkei article by Kip Fulbeck:
kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa – an artist’s thoughts