June 6, 2006
Congratulations on having your collection of photographs published. I’ve looked through the book and am happy to know that the “hapa voice” is beginning to create its niche in American society through efforts like yours. However, I still feel unsettled – not just about your book but what it brought out for me.
What was your intention of the depth of the message through your photo collection? It seems like the “hapa community” is being clumped together as one “genre” of people, disregarding the particular identities of people and their cultural experiences. It’s not enough for the half Japanese half white person to state he/she is so to another half Japanese half white person because their experiences can be drastically different. One’s ethnic/biological makeup doesn’t mean that they necessarily represent that/those particular culture/s.
I am half Japanese and half white/Jewish and quite honestly, it pisses me off when biologically similar people pride themselves in being what they are biologically and have no clue what it means to be culturally so.
Thanks for reading and for the opportunity to rant. Hope it stimulated some thoughts on your end. Looking forward to hearing your response.
I may join the event at the JANM on Saturday.
Sincerely,
Victoria Kraus
