INTERVIEW: Jason Fung, Author of ‘Beyond Eurasian and Hapa’ |
INTERVIEW: Jason Fung, Author of ‘Beyond Eurasian and Hapa’
Hapa Mama: Asian Fusion Family and Food
2015-02-02
I recently had a chance to interview Jason Fung, author of the upcoming book Beyond Eurasian and Hapa. Fung is a 34-year-old mixed-race (Chinese and Caucasian) person who went to high school and college in the U.S. is currently living in Hong Kong. His book draws upon his own family experiences, as well as history, to examine the different terms we use to describe multiracial Asians.
HM: What are your thoughts about the terms “Eurasian” and “Hapa”? How are they good descriptors and how do they fall short?
JF: These terms are really broad, and mean different things to different people.
For example, Macau has Eurasians; India has Eurasians (aka Anglo-Indians); Hong Kong and Sri Lanka and Burma have Eurasians. There are other definitions for the term, but as far as I define it “Eurasian” means one thing: a bloodline traceable to original European colonials. Macau Eurasians, for example, see themselves as utterly distinctive. Even if you are Portuguese-Chinese mixed they still won’t accept you as “Eurasian” by their standards if you were not from the accepted colonial bloodlines.There are plenty of fascinating “Eurasian” stories, surrounded by a rich material culture but “Eurasian” is too singular and closed…
“Hapa” is a term I really want to like. I really do…
Read the entire interview here.
Tags: Grace Hwang Lynch, Hapa Mama, Hapa Mama: Asian Fusion Family and Food, Jason Fung