2002年09月04日 水曜日
Half and Half: Writers on Growing Up Biracial and Bicultural
by Mizuko Ito
Biculturalism, Books
Edited by Claudine C. O'Hearn
A collection of essays by 18 writers from various backgrounds.
Posted by Mizuko Ito at 2002年09月04日 22:02
Comments
Sounds very Chanpon. What's it like, has anyone read it? <a href="http://www.gladwell.com/">Malcolm Gladwell</a> is one of the contributors I believe.
I read this a few years back and, while I found it interesting enough to send to my sister, I felt that it lacked cohesion--I didn't come away with any new insights into the bicultural/biracial/half/double experience, but that could be because I'm living one of my own. A similar book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0688143474/002-8001220-0613645">Black, White, Other</a>, also a collection of essays detailing biracial/cultural lives, defines such experiences much more successfully, perhaps because they focus on a single intersection--that of black and white--and the spectrum of its manifestations, rather than lumping the experiences of all multisomething people into one book.
I'd love to know if there are any such books dedicated to Asian multiracial/cultural experieces.
I read this book about a year ago and was left feeling relieved for having
the different versions of my story out there and inspired knowing that now
that the groundwork was laid down, I could go futrther in the discussion.
'Half and half' recognizes that being that is not just about mixed
'ethinicities,' that might alter someones appearence, but that it's about
cultural ideas and thoughts mingling in one person and a family. There are
tensions and sparks that are unique to such circumstances. One who is
'purely' one ethnicity could be just as mixed and have similar identity
issues as someone from a multi-something background. It rang true to my
experience of identifying with cultural minorities growing up in Japan. And
after making my transition to North America for my schooling, with my
experience of identifying with many first generation immigrants.
I also liked that the essays took many formats and covered various tones
from optimistic, pessimistic, paranoid, agressive, etc., to only emphasize
the diversity in people's responces to similar circumstances.
I wanted to mention that I found an interesting community for people of dual Asian/European heritage at EurasianNation.com
http://www.eurasianation.com/
Growing up biracial can be very difficult my mother is black and portugese and my father is East Indian from India. I never really fit in the east indian culture because i was not indian enough and i never fit in the black culture because i was not enough black enough. I am now married to a white americian and have a child I get lots of stares when I am with my child because he has blue eyes and blond hair.
Its a never ending battle.
My husband laughs it off but at times its frustrating.