I have recently been introduced to the term Hapa, having read an article concerning a fairly new festival called Hapa Palooza,which is currently happening throughout Vancouver.

This term was entirely new to me, so in addition to reading about the festival,I felt it was important to learn a little more about the meaning and origin of said word. As it turns out Hapa is of Hawaiian orgin, and encompasses anyone of mixed race. That being said, I suppose I could categorize myself as Hapa.

It seems as if the number of people who categorize themselves as such has been growing at a remarkable pace over the years, and many, upon learning the word, find a true sense of community in reaching out to others whom also identify as Hapa.

In our course on Life Narratives, we have just finished lectures on Fred Wah’s “Diamond Grill” and will begin engaging with Maggie De Vries memoir “Missing Sarah” next week. Each of these texts is quite different from one another, however each text is concerned with an ethnically diverse individual. Having said that, each could be defined as Hapa asFred wah is part Chinese and Part Swedish, while Sarah is also of mixed race (black, aboriginal, Mexican American and white).

In reading the texts, I found a commonality between Fred and Sarah came in the form of their liminal nature, a sense of in between-ness that seemed to separate the individuals from fitting in with either side of their ethnic backgrounds.

I have choosen two quotes to illustrate this liminal nature:

“I’m not accepted into the Caucasian social circle nor am I accepted in the black social circle, for I am neither white nor black. The blacks say I act too much like a tie and tails, and whites say I act like a homeboy. I’m stuck in the middle and outside to both. I have no people. I have no nation and am alone” (De Vries,69)

“That’s the mix, the breed, the half-breed, metis, quarter-breed, trace-of-a-bread true demi-semi-ethnic polluted rootless living technicolour snarl to complicate the underbelly panavision of racism and bigitory, across this country. I know, you’re going to say, that’s just being Canadian.” (Wah,53)

It seems as if the concept of not fitting in, or choosing to side with one ethnicity over another was also prevalent amongst the online Hapa Community, that is of course until the Hapa Nation began to see themselves as a collective whole, a nation where all belonged.

I also came across a trailer for a 2010 documentary titled One Big Hapa Family which questions multiculturalism and its existance in a world where many are mixed, and would prefer to identify with all of their herritage, rather than selctive aspects of their herritage.  Although it seems like the term Hapa has the potential to open up dialogues about some of the common feelings of seperation or isolation, as well as other isues concerning the hapa, to both themselves and the world. I find it is interesting to explore this in terms of qoutes from to un-declared Hapa.

Bibliography

De Vries, Maggie.Missing Sarah, a memoir of loss. Toronto: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Wah, Fred. Diamond Grill. Edmonton: NeWest Press. 2006. Print.

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The concept of staying connected with one another has existed within popular culture as an important factor in maintaining community ties, whether they are familial or otherwise, by way of communication using various forms of genres. As the development of the world wide web has evolved, so too has the form of genre used to communicate. No longer relying on the letter or postcard to keep those close to you informed, the vast majority has shifted towards a more technological mode of communication. Utilizing sites specifically designed for blogging (Insert link) or one of the popular social media sites, such as Facebook (https://www.facebook.com ) Twitter, (https://twitter.com/)  Instagram (http://instagram.com/ ), as a means to accomplish the same essential types of communication update.

With a platform such as Facebook, it becomes important to understand that there is a certain element of exclusivity, in that updates shared on the individuals wall, or more recently time line can only be accessed by those also holding an account for the site. This therefore excludes a certain number of potential audience members, from exposure to updates they may have otherwise also shared an inclusion in.

With the creation of a Profile, we must be aware of the information we are providing, and the implications this may have for the content we are than exposed to. In looking at a Newsfeed one becomes more aware of the way in which adds cater towards each individual. Having watched the Ted Talks by Praiser titled “Filter Bubbles” (http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles?language=en), I have become more aware of the complexity of the filters through which we gain access to the contents of the vast depths of the web, and realize that although there is plenty of information available, we aren’t necessarily exposed to a large degree of said information, and instead are sheltered from a large portion of content by some of the sites we frequent the most often. Having learnt more about this, I wonder how it is possible to extend my learning beyond the created filter bubbles of the web, in order to gain more knowledge of the world around me.