About Us
Who We Are and What We Do
We are a group of mixed-ethnicity students at MIT that is interested in issues
affecting people with mixed backgrounds. Our events serve to benefit
others with mixed backgrounds or simply to have fun and connect with
other students through a common understanding.
What is "hapa"?
Hapa
is the Hawaiian word for "half" and was initially a derogatory term used to
describe someone who was half Hawaiian. The phrase "hapa haole" was commonly
used, meaning half white. The term hapa was initially adapted by people of
Japanese-White mixed heritage to describe themselves, and is now used to
describe anyone of mixed heritage with partially Asian or Pacific Islander
ancestry.