Multiculturalism In One Word 'HAPA' By Kristen Lee

537 Words3 Pages

Culture is what everyone has and it makes everyone unique and different. Some start to educate themselves on their own culture based on what they see around them. Others learn from their parents like being taught a language then later in life they can speak it fluently. Learning early places them in a group of people with similar cultures or if their open-minded, a group with people of different cultures. In texts “Multiculturalism explained in one word: HAPA”, “What is cultural identity?”, and Two kinds, it shows how culture affects how one would view the world.
In Kristen Lee’s interview/essay “Multiculturalism explained in one word: HAPA”, she talks about how her being of multiple cultures affects her everyday life. “I was viewed as a local because some of my racial features fit the Hawaiian template” (Lee 54). Other Hawaiian locals viewed her as one because she looks like one of them, she was proud to be a HAPA in Hawaii. Although, she feels as though the Asians frown down on her. “…that can be a problem for Asian people who pressure me to prove the legitimacy of my Chinese heritage” (Lee 54). They think that if she’s Asian she’s supposed to speak their language but she was born in America where the most common language is English. …show more content…

“Children begin to develop a sense of identity as individuals and as members of groups from their earliest interactions with others” (Trumbull and Pacheco 9). Children start learning about their culture from when they were young so they knew a lot about it and maybe even where it originated. “Most of the time, our own cultures are invisible to us, yet they are the context within which we operate and make sense of the world” (Trumbull and Pacheco 10). Culture does affect viewpoints and not knowing of said culture could hinder someone’s ability to understand the