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Preferred term

hapa  

Definition

  • Hapa is a term that is Hawai'ian in origin and loosely translates to “half” or “mixed.” It came into widespread use in the United States during the 1990s as a way to refer to people of multiracial Asian descent. Entering mainstream usage at a time when multiracial activism and visibility was reaching a zenith before the 2000 U.S. Census, hapa was adopted by people of multiracial Asian descent as a concise, novel, and affirmative way to claim an identity in the face of a U.S. racial schema that, until then, had few positive terms to accommodate them. [Source: Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia; Hapa]

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URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/hapa

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