Growing up and building a life in Washington State, Malie Chanel remembers filling out forms and applications and having to identify herself as an Asian, or at best, Asian Pacific Islander.
The point was that, as a Samoan American, she was not Asian and certainly did not feel that way. Asian Americans did not view her as such, even though much of the larger society viewed her as such.
“It really destroys who you are as your native self,” Chanel, senior services director for the Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington, told Federal Way. “It’s an honor to call myself Pasifika.”
The increasing use of the term Pasifika reflects a community drive to recognize Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders as distinct from Asian Americans—not only as an expression of identity, but also as a means of addressing disparities between the two populations. to grab. Putting them together, proponents say, places Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders at a disadvantage in terms of health and economic resources, given the community’s small numbers and unique concerns.
According to the U.S. Department of Human and Health Services, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders make up only 0.4% of the U.S. population, including about 355,000 in the state of Hawaii.
Where did the term originate?
Pasifika – a transliteration of “Pacific” – originated in New Zealand, where government agencies coined the term in the 1980s to describe growing communities of indigenous migrants representing the Pacific diaspora – places like Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, the Cook Islands and other areas of Oceania.
“For census counts, Pasifika is an important category of people in New Zealand, after Europeans, Maori and Asians,” said Roland Hwang, a professor of Asian/Pacific Islander American studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
While the term has also been adopted in Australia, its usage in the US is in part a statement of identity reflecting a broader trend of Americans questioning the terms forced upon them by outsiders. For example, the Pacific Ocean, as well as the Oceanic subregions of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, were all named by European explorers.
“For so long, Pacific communities have been framed by other people looking in,” said Lana Lopesi, an assistant professor of Indigenous race and ethnic studies at the University of Oregon in Eugene. “It is very important for Pacific communities in the US to take control of their own representation. The increasing use of the term Pasifika is part of this.”
Where is the term used?
Pasifika is largely a West Coast phenomenon, reflecting where the NH/PI population is most concentrated.
“I don’t hear it much here on the East Coast,” says Stephen Sheehi, director of the Asian & Pacific Islander American studies program at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
It has been used by organizations serving the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations and community advocates. In its 2022 report on how immigrants are portrayed on American television, Los Angeles-based Define American noted that while Asian American and Pacific Islander immigrant characters were on the rise, “Pacific Islander, from Pasifika, lacks representation and is often erased from broader AAPI conversation.”
Brandon Fuamatu, development manager for United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance, or UTOPIA, an organization serving queer and transgender Pacific Islanders in South King County, Washington, said the word is a beacon that indicates who recognizes and acknowledges Pacific Islander identity .
“It encompasses us as people of the Pacific,” Fuamatu said, adding that his observation shows that the word has been embraced mostly by people of Polynesian background. “It’s not a perfect word; it will not be adopted by every Pacific Islander culture. We are constantly trying to find ways to connect without erasing the differences we have, which are unique.”
Why is the distinction important?
Community members say that in addition to being a statement of identity, pasifika is a term for empowerment that distinguishes Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders from Asian Americans, with whom they’ve often been lumped together since the U.S. Census Bureau named the category Asian American has expanded to “Asian Pacific Islander”. in 1980.
The community has fallen under umbrella terms such as Asian Pacific American and Asian American Pacific Islander. Meanwhile, said Hwang of the University of Michigan, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, led by Native Hawaiian Krystal Ka’ia, has popularized the use of the term AANHPI.
Such groupings, while originally designed to promote inclusiveness, have instead led to inequalities.
“The amount that goes to AAPI groups is small and the amount that goes to Pacific Islanders is even smaller,” said Fuamatu, who is both Chinese and Samoan. “Many groups receive funding that should go to both, but there is no representation from NH/PI. Not to blame those groups, but it is because of those conditions that funding is uneven. It’s a tough fight.”
The COVID-19 pandemic also illustrated the disparity, as the Pacific islanders experienced much higher death rates than most populations – but due to the overlap, there was little data to illustrate the crisis.
In June 2021, the National Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Policy Council — a group of state-based Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander coalition leaders who advocate for community health and social justice — issued a statement calling for the data of Native Hawaiian/ Separating Pacific Islander from that of Asian-American communities is one of the top priorities.
The group asked other entities with such umbrella terms to consider rebranding, noting that President Joe Biden last year renamed the country’s AAPI Heritage Month celebration “Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month.”
Last February, leaders of the Seattle Asian American Film Festival in Seattle apologized to the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community for using the term in their programming as an overarching description of the overall Asian American community, when it is not a true had “meaningful, equitable relationships with Pasifika”. communities.”
“We deeply apologize for not conducting our due diligence and are committed to being supportive allies to the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community,” the organization’s statement said.
Ellison Shieh, the festival’s co-director, said while the gesture inspired similar self-examination among other organizations serving the Asian American population, it also prompted backlash from other members of the community who felt strongly about the historic activist effort. who had brought recognition to both. populations.
The response, while largely local, “still serves as a springboard to a larger conversation about the work the Asian-American community needs to do to help uplift and support NH/PI people both locally and nationally,” Shieh said.
What can Pasifika do for the NH/PI community?
Fuamatu recognizes the historical challenges faced in gaining recognition for the AANHPI community.
“There used to be nothing,” he said. “But we’re in a time and space where disaggregation of that term needs to happen because we’re seeing so much disparity in funding.”
Chanel, of the Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington, said that before the organization launched three years ago, many in the community refrained from seeking necessary services because they felt uncomfortable going to Asia-focused agencies.
“They felt neglected,” she says. “Many people were marginalized and felt unable to find resources to strive and survive. When this organization opened, it was kind of a beacon of light for the diaspora of Pacific Islander people here. We were bombed.”
Chanel said that for those like her, who recognize the partnership they share with Asian Americans but seek a distinct identity at the same time, embracing the term Pasifika is a powerful step toward shedding the damage of colonialism.
“Here on the west coast, it’s where the land meets the sea, and the sea is us,” Chanel said. “When we look at the Pacific, that’s home. That’s where our ancestors navigated and windsurfed, so Pasifika is a wonderful way to embrace our identity.”
