hapa.me -15 years of the hapa project

source: KipFulbeck.com

As I'm still riding on the Asian American identity theme for the past 3 of 4 weeks, I'm going to shift gears a little and update you on my August 10, 2012 entry, The Hapa Project.

Continuing through October 28, 2018 at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles is the exhibition "hapa.me - 15 years of the hapa project".

Taken from the first paragraph from the exhibition page: The word “hapa” is the Hawaiian transliteration of the English word “half.” Much of its current usage derives from the phrase hapa haole, meaning “half white.” The phrase was originally coined by native Hawaiians to describe the mixed offspring resulting from encounters between islanders and White settlers. In subsequent years, hapa (or Hapa) has come into popular usage away from the islands, most frequently embraced by Asian/Pacific Islander Americans of mixed descent.

Some well known Hapa:

• Oiympic swimmers Nathan Adrian, Natalie Coughlin and Jay Litherland
• Actors Keanu Reeves, Chloe Bennett, Maggie Q, and Daniel Henney

For me, I need to make this as a must-see on my next visit to Los Angeles.