Choose Your Own Identity

Title

Choose Your Own Identity

Description

Bonnie Tsui in this essay in The New York Times Magazine describes her struggle to explain the concept of race vs. culture and heritage to her 5-year old son, triggered by his comment, "You're Chinese. I'm not. But I eat Chinese food." Tsui is a Chinese American married to an American white man of English-Dutch-Irish descent and this essay includes her reflections on the evolution of "white" as well as the HAPA project. Hapa was a previously derogatory term for mostly half-Asian peoples but has now been claimed by the group. In the end, Tsui concludes that the best parents can do is to listen to what/who their children tell them they are.

The HAPA Project is a long running multiracial identity project created by the artist Kip Fulbeck, http://kipfulbeck.com/the-hapa-project/

Creator

Bonnie Tsui

Date

December 14, 2015

Type

Text

Coverage

United States

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Citation

Bonnie Tsui, “Choose Your Own Identity,” Antiracism Digital Library, accessed March 29, 2024, https://sacred.omeka.net/items/show/135.