The Aloha State of Mind: How Hawai‘i Migrants Blur the Lines Between Race and Place

• In Event: 3483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 09. Race, Place, and Identity among Immigrants and Migrants

Abstract

Previous studies of people who move from seemingly “multicultural” societies (i.e. Dominican Republic, Brazil) to the continental U.S. find significant shifts in how migrants view race and their racial identities. After experiencing blatant racism in their host societies, migrants of color reflect on previous, more subtle encounters with discrimination in their home countries and adjust their own identities to meet the United States’ racial categories. Using 44 qualitative interviews, this study examines how intra-national migration from Hawai‘i—which espouses a discourse of racial pluralism akin to that of Latin American countries—to the continental U.S. impacts migrants’ understandings of race. This study finds that while Hawai‘i migrants are instilled with ideologies mirroring Latin America’s, they do not undergo similar changes in how they conceptualize race or their own racial identities. Instead, respondents’ investment in upholding Hawai‘i’s “egalitarian” values preempt them from reflecting on racial issues at home, as well as in their new places of residence. This paper explores how Hawai‘i migrants navigate racialized experiences pre- and post-migration, as well as the consequences of their perspectives.

Author

• Liann Yamashita, Duke University