Revelations & Resilience: Exploring the Realities of Hapa-ness

What does it mean to be Hapa? Too often, being Hapa/Haafu/Mixed Race is talked about as the tragedy of "not belonging" or the constant burden of "being confused." The social reality of Hapa-ness, however, defies these myths. Join four noted members of the Hapa community in an interactive roundtable discussion to explore the revelations and resilience of Japanese Americans of multiracial ancestry. Topics to be presented and explored include parenting and family life, personal and professional identities, and ethnic community participation. Panelists will invite those in attendance to participate in the discussion and become part of the dialogue as they unveil the meaning of being Hapa within the multi-dimensional world of being Japanese, Japanese American, and American. Don't miss this unique opportunity to tell your own story and defy the myths!

Roundtable Panelist:

Curtiss Takada Rooks, Ph.D. Moderator, Loyola Marymount University
California Japanese American Community Leadership Council, Board member, 2004 Japanese American Leadership Delegation, Hapa Issues Forum Board advisor, National Research Advisory Consortium (NRAC 2000) for the White House Commission on Asian Pacific Islanders and nationally noted speaker on diversity and multiracial identity.

H. Rika Houston, Ph.D., California State University, Los Angeles
Little Tokyo Community Services, Board member, community activist serving on numerous non-profit agency boards and noted researcher on ethnicity, culture and marketing. Author "Between Two Cultures" in No Passing Zone: Voice of Asian-descent Multiracials as well as several articles on multiraciality and parenting

Teresa K. Williams-Leon, Ph.D., California State University, Northridge
Co-editor, Sum of Our Parts: Mixed Heritage Asian Americans, and No Passing Zone: Voice of Asian-descent Multiracials. A pioneer in designing, researching and teaching Multiracial Asian American and multiracial/multiethnic courses and has published extensively on multiracial/multiethnic identity development. Associate Dean, School of Humanities

Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier, Ph.D., Loyola Marymount University
Theologian with pioneering work on ethnicity, multiraciality and identity. Teaches and researches in the areas of Comparative Theology, Theological Anthropology, Faith and Culture, Asian and Asian American Theology, Feminist Theology, Women in Religion, and Hinduism.

Audience members will receive a bibliography of children’s books along with articles/books on multiracial identity.

Organized by the Japanese American National Museum in collaboration with Curtiss Takada Rooks, Special Assistant to the Dean of Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts and Assistant Professor, Asian Pacific American Studies, Loyola Marymount University.

Presented by DiscoverNikkei.org with the generous support of The Nippon Foundation.