How is being mixed perceived within your culture?

[shugi]

Yea the way (white) people percieve EA's seems to me to border on arrogance or ignorance. I'm not sure why its so difficult to grasp the concept of EA's. I Usually have to explain the term Eurasian to whites.

Asians know the difference, perhaps because they are more interested.

Lol, when im in the Philippines my apperance changes allot, they dont call me Eurasian - they either refer to me as a Mestizo or "Ay man u look totally Chinese Today"

[PerzanKitCat86205]

Feb 12, 2006 3:32:45 GMT -5 joey said:

On my Black side. I am occassionally reminded that I am not "that white" or that I look more black than I look white. I am mixed 1/2 Polish, 1/4 Indian, 1/4 Black. I find that often these comments come from folks who have issues with their own racial identities, those with a need to bring me down a peg in order to "let me know".

My question is this. Do Eurasians encounter this within their cultures? Are you labeled by your non-white culture, or "reminded" by your European culture of what you are or how you should identify?

Unfortunately, if you hold EAs up to pressures of not being rooted in the white European culture, you can't say you are superior, because that would be rude. I don't know what you're trying to say, actually, just??? Some EAs, like part-Russian or certain kinds of Chinese if they decided to change to European, just live European, and they are considered superior to most Europeans, even if they have dark skin, so there's a line in the family network??

Black culture is also superior. You really can't go that wrong.. No one would be racist against this girl.

I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Really, 1/2 black you can be white in lifestyle I feel. Usu., more than 1/2 black is a compliment. (I know that bc.. or do I??) I don't care what color someone is. Marrying, you just marry someone like yourself in how you chose to be, no problems. It's up to you how much you think about race and culture. I notice a lot Africans have Asian faces being smooth, but of course big eyes?? Some Asians look that way, I mean.. I'm always careful about that kind of thing, I mean, if you're already slick and superior, what can you do??? I think the Africans just have a tan, I don't know.. I don't think whites are Albino, I discovered today, looking in the mirror, since I've been wiping my face every time I go to the rr, + brush my teeth. I feel a lot like a black person in shape but not in the meat.. ? I can't live without the black culture.

[mel]

i'm an indo-dutch-german-chinese-portuguese girl living in indonesia & in my country, they perceive it as a good thing

there hv been more n more mixed ppl in jakarta (i live in jakarta soo i dnt really kno bout the population of mixed ppl in other indo cities) n i gotta say, mixed ppl are like, 90% of the time good-looking which is why many agencies are looking for us mixed ppl to make it big as actors n actresses and such.

when i make new friends, they usually ask like, "are you blasteran?" (blasteran means mixed) n i'd say "yea" and they'd be like "oohh no wonder you look bule" (bule is an indo term for foreigners, mainly white ppl)

what i dnt like is when they make fun of us smtimes they call us "bule" in a teasing way,like i'd be walking somewhere and ppl would jst say like "bule bule" which pisses me off..

[mel]

my friend goes to the british international school,jakarta,and obviously there are a lotta caucasians there,most of them eurasians..she went to a friend's party last wednesday (the birthday guy was indo) and she said tht no caucasians showed up..i wasn't there when she was telling the story to my sister,then my sister asked "wuhh? why? BIS is packed with caucasians and they always show up for a party.." then my friend says, "nawh, michael [the birthday boy] didn't invite them cz all they'd ever do is get wasted in parties and it gets really annoying..and at school they don't take studies seriously either."

she's not the only one who thinks tht though..many indos see caucasians as good-looking rich ppl who go to international schools,wear skimpy,slutty,tight outfits,and smoke,drink,party,and do freesex..so although they do perceive mixed ppl well,smtimes they like to think of us as party animals who can't do anything but look good and hv tons of fun..i feel insulted

[thea]

Its been awhile since I posted, busy with family. How is being mixed percieved in my culture?
Hmmm, well let's see I'm ethnically Filipino but born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area so my perceptions are based mostly on my experience here. I've been to the Philippines several times, and well it seems being mixed is seen in a positive light-i.e lighter skin=attractiveness, will lead to better opportunities in work, and social life. Of course a Eurasian born into a stable family will have better opportunities than a Eurasian born into a broken home, poverty etc. The attractiveness (whatever is considered attractive) factor increases the chances of a below average student or worker to get a ahead socially. Lets face it, a person can be a brainiac but if he/she lacks social skills and the ability to smooze that person won't get too far.
One thing I do find annoying, often Asian born people tend to say my kids look nothing like me. A close family friend of ours (her sister is married to my 1st cousin) tends to call my daughter blondie, or an Americana or American. My daughter has very light brown hair with blond highlights. In my frame of mind and experience I regard her U.S. born daughters as American regardless of appearance/ethnicity. Besides my son and daughter are U.S. citizens regardless of the "race" of their dad. It just seems to Asian bornand raised people that American=white and then black. My husband is the naturalized U.S. citizen, my parents were in the U.S. when he was just a babe in Ireland.
My daughter has the same shape of face and brown eyes, full lips that I have, she just has lighter skin and hair. I have pictures of myself at age 1 and 2 and even my husband can see the resemblance. People change when the grow up stress, weight gain etc.
I think folks tend to notice complexion first before deciphering features.
My son has dark hair and brown eyes as well (both my kids have extremely long lashes from my husband), he has a pointy face like my husband and similar facial expressions.

[finnishguy]

Its totally idiotic to use word "Indian" when you are talking about Native Americans. Indians live in India, nowhere else. Calling Native Americans with a word "Indian" was historical error made by Columbus. Now we know that it was not India where he landed, so why use the wrong term?

[devinsky]

man i'm so mixed that every heritage i have does not want to accept me. i'm just too "watered down" to fit in with anyone. having said that i'm Polish, Tatar-mongol, Metis ( scottish- first nations), irish, german, dutch, ukrainian, russian, jewish, welsh, english and african american. No wonder people get confused lol

[devinsky]

Aug 8, 2008 7:35:47 GMT -5 finnishguy said:

Its totally idiotic to use word "Indian" when you are talking about Native Americans. Indians live in India, nowhere else. Calling Native Americans with a word "Indian" was historical error made by Columbus. Now we know that it was not India where he landed, so why use the wrong term?

Well i consider myself metis(mixed native-non native) but my sister is "treaty indian". she uses the term indians, aboriginals, first nations, and indigenous almost interchangably. i guess it's kind of like the N word, it would go away if people stopped saying it, but it's kind of got almost a comradre about it. in my city(winnipeg) there's the Indian Posse gang, and lots of people use the word indian with pride.

[devinsky]

Feb 18, 2006 19:57:58 GMT -5 ╗ said:

^"Native American" technically should refer to any native of what is now the US, including Hawaiians and Alaskans (Eskimos, etc), but the term is generally used for American Indians (Navajos, Cherokees, for example), and the only reason these natives are called "Indian" is because Columbus (aka Cristóbal Colón ;D ) thought he was in India when he "discovered" America.

Interestingly, these native American Indians actually have Asian blood, because they descend from people who crossed the Bering Strait from Asia into what is now Canada/Alaska. You might've noticed that native American Indians look quite Asian.

exactly man! that's why so many descendants of polish and ukrainian immigrants here in manitoba believe that they are part Native. it's because they have mongol blood and because of this the features are really similar. interestingly enough the Siberian native peoples of russia are very very similar to north american aboriginals in look, language, religion and lifestyle.

All of this is EXACTLY the reason why so many half-White/half-Asian people look Mexican/Latino. I could explain that, but it would make this post longer.

[honeyviper]

Aug 12, 2008 21:35:37 GMT -5 devinsky said:

Aug 8, 2008 7:35:47 GMT -5 finnishguy said:

Its totally idiotic to use word "Indian" when you are talking about Native Americans. Indians live in India, nowhere else. Calling Native Americans with a word "Indian" was historical error made by Columbus. Now we know that it was not India where he landed, so why use the wrong term?

Well i consider myself metis(mixed native-non native) but my sister is "treaty indian". she uses the term indians, aboriginals, first nations, and indigenous almost interchangably. i guess it's kind of like the N word, it would go away if people stopped saying it, but it's kind of got almost a comradre about it. in my city(winnipeg) there's the Indian Posse gang, and lots of people use the word indian with pride.

Agreed. The term is seen really different in the Indigenous community and it's different from place to place.

Having multiple cultures was never an issue on either sides of my family. But that may be because most of the people in my family marry people of other cultures (e.g. my cousin is Mohawk, Ojibwe and British and his wife is from Seychelles; my other cousin is Ojibwe, Irish and German and her husband is Basque, Spanish, British, Finnish, and Estonian).

[mingzayni88]

Here (Bermuda), we follow the one drop rule, which is really irritating. And for non black mixes it's the non-white parent. And I guess it's undecided for mixed ppl who are neither mixed with black or white.