The role of Japanese as a heritage language in constructing ethnic identity among Hapa Japanese Canadian children

The role of Japanese as a heritage language in constructing ethnic identity among Hapa Japanese Canadian children

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Volume 30, Issue 1
(February 2009)
pages 1-18
DOI: 10.1080/01434630802307874

Hiroko Noro, Professor of Pacific and Asian Studies
University of Victoria, Canada

Today, Japanese Canadians are marrying outside of their ethnic community at an unprecedented rate, resulting in the creation of a newly identifiable group of ‘Japanese Canadians’ borne from these interracial unions. Members of this emergent group are increasingly being referred to both by social scientists and self-referentially as Hapa. This term, originally a Hawaiian term, is now a common and empowering tool of self-identification for people of mixed ethnic heritage. Recent sociological research argues that, while the notion of a shared Hapa identity exists, it is less rooted in individual members’ physical appearance or cultural identification and more rooted in their experiences, parental upbringing, and the locality/environment in which they grew up.

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