EURASIAN (MIXED ANCESTRY)

Overview

Philippines

United States

''In the United States, census data indicate that the number of children in interracial families grew from less than one half million in 1970 to about two million in 1990. In 1990, for interracial families with one white American partner, the other parent...was Asian American for 45 percent...''^[9]

US Census

The Eurasian responses the US Census officially recognizes are Indo-European, Amerasian, and Eurasian.University of Michigan. Census 1990: Ancestry Codes. August 27, 2007. [1]

Netherlands

After World War II, most Eurasians of European and Indonesian descent settled (after the overthrow of Dutch colonial rule) in The Netherlands and thereafter in America and elsewhere. Dutch Eurasians were typically Dutch citizens and were seen as having collaborated with the Dutch government by many Indonesians, whereas the Indonesian revolutionary leaders were seen as having collaborated with the Japanese invaders by many Dutch. Both of those perceptions were largely correct. These Dutch Eurasians, also called Indos or Indo-Europeans, have largely assimilated in the Netherlands and, with over 500,000 persons, are the largest ethnic minority in the Netherlands.

Appellations

Most Eurasians in Southeast and South Asia carry European surnames, and the possession of such surnames sometimes indicates European descent; except in the case of the Philippines and certain Hindu/Sikh/Catholic communities in India.
The most common European ancestry among Filipino mestizos is Spanish. While the majority of the small mestizo minority in the Philippines possess Spanish surnames, these surnames are also the most common among the rest of the population as a result of a royal decree ordering they be adopted by all Filipinos. As such, possessing a Spanish surname in the Philippines does not necessarily indicate Spanish ancestry.

Juliana Imai is a Brazilian model of Japanese and Portuguese descent

The most common ancestry and surname of Eurasians is British for those in South Asia; Portuguese for those in Malaysia, Macau, East Timor, and Goa; Dutch and German for those in Indonesia and French for those in Vietnam. In Burma, the Anglo-Burmese reflect the most diverse lineage and include British, Irish, Dutch, French, Portuguese, German and Spanish surnames.
The oldest Eurasian community in the region is in Malacca, in Malaysia; it began when the town was a Portuguese settlement, and many of its residents later moved to Singapore. There were also numerous Eurasians in the Netherlands East Indies, but following Indonesian independence most emigrated to the Netherlands. East Timor, also in Southeast Asia, has a significant and active Eurasian minority known as mestiços (of mixed Portuguese and Tetum ancestry).
In India, the term Anglo-Indian is used and often preferred rather than Eurasian, although this may not only also apply to people with British ancestry, but also Portuguese or Dutch. While ostracised by many Indians during the British Raj, Anglo-Indians enjoy the same rights as other Indian citizens, and there are still seats reserved in parliament for them. Many have emigrated to the UK or Australia. In the UK, well-known Anglo-Indians include Academy Award winning actor Ben Kingsley and singers Cliff Richard (who never confirmed it) and Engelbert Humperdinck, though the latter later moved to the United States, while TV personality Melanie Sykes has an Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Burmese mother. The late Hollywood actress Merle Oberon was also Anglo-Indian, as is the Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje.
Burma (prior to independence) had a large and generally prosperous Eurasian community known as the Anglo-Burmese. They tended to dominate various sectors of colonial and post-independence society in Burma. In following years, many emigrated from Burma or assimilated into Bamar (Burman) society. Today, many Anglo-Burmese live in English-speaking countries (e.g. UK, Australia, and U.S.). Some also moved to India where they have integrated into the Anglo-Indian community. Indian film star Helen is an Anglo-Burmese, while the British actress Kate Beckinsale also has some Anglo-Burmese ancestry.
In North America, some of the descendants of East Asian refugees as a result of French settlers and soldiers during the French colonial period ) or during the Franco-Vietnamese War / First Indochina War ) are racially Eurasian. Additionally, the Korean War and Vietnam War of the mid-twentieth century brought immigrants to the United States and Canada. Modern day Eurasian descendants of East Asians include Maggie Q, Kristin Kreuk, Melissa O'Neil, and Michelle Branch.

Languages

Eurasians will usually speak the native language of their home country, and may or may not speak the language(s) of an ancestral or parental ethnic.
The overwhelming majority of all Eurasians with Filipino ancestry of the younger generations typically speak English as their first language, and have a basic command of at least one Philippine language. Many also speak Lan-nang (Philippine Hokkien), if they also have Chinese ancestry, as well as other European languages like Spanish, German, or French.
The Kristang and Macanese groups have also formed their own languages. The Kristang language is a dialect of Portuguese influenced by Malay as well as Petjo, a dialect compromised of Dutch words based on a Malay grammatical structure.

Culture

Eurasian culture is mostly tied-up with their ethnic affiliation.
In East Asian countries such as China, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan, most Eurasians choose to identify with the culture of the country they live in.
Eurasians in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Laos, and Thailand have developed a separate culture from the rest of the indigenous populations in their respective countries, as they typically are regarded by both the foreign and indigenous communities in their respective countries as a separate entity. Many Eurasians with Chinese ancestry in Singapore nevertheless do share the same culture with their Chinese Singaporean counterparts.
In Den Haag (The Hague), Netherlands, an annual Eurasian festival is organized under the name Pasar Malam Besar.

Identification in the Modern West

An American military family with Eurasian children.

Eurasians, like everybody else, are entitled to define themselves as they see fit. While the discourse on multiculturalism seems capable of conceptualizing societies composed of diverse racial and cultural elements, it does not yet seem to be able to do so with individuals, without pathologizing them.
Eurasians in Asia sometimes encounter discrimination because historically many of their mothers were impregnated by Europeans with the woman often having been raped or engaged in prostitution (the father often having been a soldier). Thus, the children are viewed as illegitimate and something that serves as a shameful marker for many people in that society. While this is not usually the case for Eurasians in the West, issues may also arise there, such as issues around one's cultural loyalties, values, and perceived racial ambiguity (the latter is especially true in the U.S. because of the rule of hypodescent).

Identification by Others

Eurasians who may identify a certain way are not always identified in the same way by everyone else. Often, the one factor that determines how total strangers identify a Eurasian is the degree to which one looks Asian or European. Among those who are familiar with the Eurasian however, other cultural and social factors add to how they would identify the Eurasian. As these are less observable, it is difficult to compile a concise list. In regions where Eurasians have historically been the result of U.S. servicemen, Eurasians have been discriminated against. Eurasians in Vietnam, such as Henry Phan, claim that many Asians consider Eurasians to have been born from prostitutes which is considered negative. Some Eurasians like Asha Gill (Indian/White) claim that "Asians despise us because we get all the jobs" and media portrayals.
Sometimes societies have certain criteria in defining the ethnicity, race or nationality of a person. More than one of these criteria may apply to a Eurasian, causing confusion.

Terminology

There are many other terms that apply to Eurasians.

★ Amerasian (America + Asian) connotes the children of U.S. servicemen with Asian women.

★ Anglo-Indian refers to people of British and Indian descent

★ Bo KaBya/Anglo-Burmese - is the Burmese language notion that is an interracial mixture of Westerner and Asian, in this case, people from Myanmar (Burma).

★ Burgher People People of mixed Sri Lankan and Portuguese or Dutch decent.

★ Hapa haole, or simply hapa, meaning half-foreigner or simply half-something

★ Haafu, which is derived from the Japanese word and their English pronunciation of "half."

★ Konketsuji, the Japanese term for Amerasians.

★ Ai no ko, in Japanese literally means "child of unlike things put together."

★ Bụi đời, is the Vietnamese term for the children of U.S. servicemen and Vietnamese women and literally means "dust of the earth."

★ Colored, a somewhat derogatory term for mixed race, some governments consider Eurasians as non-Caucasians and therefore "''colored''."

★ Con lai, is Vietnamese for "half-breed" or "mixed race."

★ Mỹ lai, is Vietnamese for "American mix."

★ Luk kreung is Thai, derived from luk- child, offspring: son or daughter; smaller sub-part and khreung- half, midway; mid; ½.

★ Hùnxuè'ér (混血儿) is Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) for "mixed blood".

★ Honhyol is Korean, derived from honhap-blend, mixture; hybrid; solution, and hyolgi-blood.

★ Kacukan in malay means cross-breed or mix blood.

★ Serani is Malay for "Eurasian." It is based on the Arabic word "Nasrani", meaning "followers of Jesus of Nazarene (Christianity)" since that the majority of Eurasians are Christians.

★ Indo is a term for European-Indonesian.

★ Filipino mestizo, in modern Philippine usage, it applies to those of part-foreign ancestry, often Spanish.

★ Tisoy, in colloquial Filipino, refers to Filipinos of full or part-White descent, though in recent times has begun to refer to indigenous Filipinos of semi-Caucasian features; the word is actually used as a term of endearment with generally positive connotations

★ Tornatrás is an archaic term used during the Spanish colonial period which once referred to people of mixed Spanish and Chinese descent, as well as those of mixed Spanish, Chinese, and Filipino descent.

★ Wasian (White + Asian) is a slang term for people of both White and Asian decent.

Stereotypes

Eurasians with part European and East Asian ancestry, are often stereotypically portrayed as beautiful in media.^{[11] [12]}

Notes

1. Mestizo, Filipino. Joshua Project.
2. Evert van Imhoff and Gijs Beets (May 2004). "A demographic history of the Indo-Dutch population, ", ''Journal of Population Research'' '21' (1).
3. Anglo. Joshua Project.
4. Who are the ‘Mixed’ ethnic group? National Statistics.
5. Charles Price. The Asian Element in Australia: 1996. Monash University.
6. Eurasian Nation. About Us. 2006. September 7, 2006..
7. Eurasian Community. 2002. September 7, 2006. .
8. http://www.joshuaproject.net/peoples.php?rop3=
9. U.S. Census Bureau, 2000
10. http://www.csupomona.edu/~mreibel/2000_Census_Files/Allen-Turner.doc
11. [2]

12. [3]

See also

★ List of Eurasians

★ List of terms for multiraciality

★ Amerasian

★ Anglo-Burmese

★ Anglo-Indians

★ Bui doi

★ Eurasian Singaporean

★ Luk kreung

★ Melungeon

★ Peranakan

★ Afro-Asian

★ Indo (Eurasian)

★ Filipino mestizo

★ Mestiços (Sri Lanka)

★ Burgher people

★ Bhowani Junction

★ Crimean Tatars

★ Lipka Tatars

★ Turkic peoples

★ Uyghur people

External links

★ AngloIndians.com - Anglo-Indian resources & matrimony

★ Eurasian Association of Singapore

★ Resource on Mixed Asians

★ Malaysian Dutch Descendants Project

★ Maleisie.be article on Malaysian Dutch Descendants