by Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu, Ed.D.
Stanford University, Consulting Professor
School of Medicine & Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity

Edited by Marshall Bennett
Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University

“Are you half Asian?”

I hesitated for a moment before answering, “Yes,” and immediately regretted my evasive, cowardly response. I have never felt “half” anything. I know that I am no more “half Asian” than the “half moon” is half of a moon. Like the moon I am not half, I am whole.

From the time I first began to study identity development in persons of mixed ancestries in a doctoral dissertation at Harvard, the metaphor of the moon has captivated me. In 30 years of research in the United States and Asia I have learned that identities cannot be quantified. Human affiliations and attachments cannot be reduced to percentages. If I explain to someone that I am “half Japanese” and “half Irish,” it is only for the sake of simplifying things for the listener. I have never met anyone who really felt “half” anything. We all feel a more complex sense of having multiple parts that we are learning to accept and appreciate, balancing their influences and blending them into a synergistic whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

I have also learned that we do not want anyone, including parents, to tell us who we are based on their limited vision and restricted understanding. We do not want to be controlled by society’s definitions and labels that place us in categories and classifications. We do not want to be confined to boxes that threaten to divide and separate people. We seek self understanding and connections to our many parts. We embrace ways of living that are authentic, meaning expressive of our true selves. We desire self definition, the ability to name and label who we believe ourselves to be.

When Half is Whole: Multiethnic Asian American Identities is a book of eleven stories of the developmental journeys of people with mixed ethnic backgrounds. They are told as stories rather than in academic language because it is through sharing our stories that we best connect as humans. These stories have been gathered from individuals whose lives blend Asian and American in their families, whether biological or adoptive. Though society tells them that they must keep parts of themselves hidden, like the dark side of the moon, they dare to embrace all of their heritages. Their lives are journeys of self understanding, balancing, connecting, and finding meaning in their roots, discovering connections that bring them into contact with communities, healing themselves and healing others. The stories show how they engage in the process of becoming not “half” this or “half” that but whole human beings.

When Half is Whole is about the changing “face” of Asian American communities and the challenges of expanding their borders to accommodate the new demographics of mixed families. For the rapidly growing number of Asian American and other parents of children who are of different kinds of mixed backgrounds When Half is Whole provides an intimate view into the complex world of identity development. One of the consistent messages I have received from numerous “mixed Asian” people is a sense that parents think they understand their children but in reality do not. Seeing the world through the eyes of their children is much more of a challenge than they realize. Listening to the kinds of stories told in this book is one way of enhancing understanding.

I started out writing a book about Asian/American mixed race people that ranged from Japanese-Norwegian, Chinese-Greek, Filipino-Mexican, and Korean-Iranian. I also included the story of Stanford alumnus Marshall Bennett when I saw the similarities in his story as a “Jewish adopted Korean.” His too is a story of empowerment through making connections with all parts of himself as well as to people with similar stories and backgrounds. While he appreciates recognition of his connections to certain communities, such as the Graduate Student Award by the Asian American Activities Center, he also seeks a third space where he does not need to force himself to fit into neat categories of “Asian” or “Jewish” or “adopted.” Marshall describes his attempts to move beyond boundaries and confining spaces that limit him: “I cut across borders as if they have no meaning.”

Through Marshall’s story I began to realize that these were stories about human development that related to all Asian Americans who have multicultural experiences. Students in my course “When Half is Whole” who are not Asian American have also taught me that these stories relate to them as well. We are all fragmented and made to feel less than whole. We all have parts that others do not see and to which we ourselves have lost connection, deny, or reject. And we are all striving toward wholeness in a journey of healing and development. Everyone can see themselves in the moon, whether new moon, crescent moon, half moon, or full moon, there is much more to us than what meets the eye, and there is always a hidden wholeness.