Eurasian People

Throughout the former colonial world, in many instances what are referred to as ‘hybrid communities’ have evolved. In Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas, different groups were born of mixed relations between the colonists and indigenous peoples. In Asia, such groups, commonly known as Eurasians, developed in differing ways. These peoples were regarded varyingly from society to society. Often seen as a privileged class in comparison with the other native peoples, with the current trend in ethnic and post colonial studies, ethnographers, historiographers and sociologists frequently class Eurasians as living in some kind of ‘hiatus’ with allegiances to no one and to nowhere. However, it can be said that these peoples were more loyal to their countries of birth and origin than has been believed. In Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (the former French Indochina), Eurasians evolved from mixed relations between the natives and French rulers. In the Philippines, Mestizos and Amerasians were born of Spanish and Filipino, and American and Filipino miscegenation. Throughout the Indian Subcontinent, Anglo-Indians emerged from mixed relations between the British and other Europeans with Indians, whilst in Sri-Lanka, Eurasians and Burghers emerged as the descendents of Singhalese and Portuguese, Dutch and British unions. In Indonesia, Dutch-Indonesians emerged, descended from colonial Dutch and Javanese miscegenation. In Burma, the Eurasian community evolved through mixed relations between the British and other settlers of European origin with the local Burmese populace, and this community came to be known in two ways: as either the Anglo-Burmans or the Anglo-Burmese.

Today’s Burma, the Union of Myanmar, is a nation situated in Southeast Asia between India and Bangladesh on the west, and Thailand, China and Laos to the north and east. Myanmar stretches more than 2,050 kilometers from north to south, and some 935 kilometers from east to west. With a population estimated at approaching some 58 million and an area of 676,577 square kilometers¹, Myanmar is the largest nation of mainland Southeast Asia and joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1997 amidst worldwide condemnation of its military dictatorship, human rights violations and governmental policies. Formerly known as the Union of Burma, the country was renamed in 1989 shortly after the military, known as the ‘Tatmadaw’, took over control of the country. The said intention for the name change was that the term ‘Myanmar’ better reflected the indigenous name for the country, dubbing ‘Burma’ as the colonial name for the nation. Notwithstanding, it is agreed that both terms are indeed correct appellations for the country, ‘Burma’ being the informal, spoken term, and ‘Myanmar’ equating to the literary form of the name for the country. However, minority groups such as the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB)² all oppose the name change as an indirect and subtle means of domination by the largely Burman-controlled military government. The country is officially divided into fourteen administrative units, seven States (Pyeneh) and seven Divisions (Taieen). The States are named for the dominant racial group inhabiting each territory, thus being Shan, Karen-Kawthulé, Kayah, Chin, Mon, Arakan (Rakhine) and Kachin. The Divisions are primarily located within central Burma and populated by the Burman majority and are Rangoon (Yangon), Mandalay, Tenasserim (Tanintharyi), Magwe (Magway), Sagaing, Pegu (Bago) and Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady). In practice, the States were traditionally autonomous, whilst the Divisions were governed centrally. The current Divisions and States more or less correspond to the British methods of governance of the country whilst they ruled, the Divisions making up what was once known as ‘Ministerial Burma’ and the States corresponding to the ‘Frontier Areas’.

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>> Dean Burnett <<

But ironically, ever since she can remember, Hartley had heard her Chinese counterparts saying the same thing about her. As a child, she was surrounded by cooing relatives and friends who would admire her more Caucasian features. “They would comment on how fair my skin was,” she remembers, “or say they wished the bridges of their noses were as high as mine.”

The legacy of colonial shame carried by previous generations of Eurasians has long since disappeared from the public imagination. Today, the adjectives associated with Eurasians are more likely to be “exotic,” “stunning,” and above all, “beautiful.”

Beauty has emerged as one of the most pervasive stereotypes about Eurasians. As early as 1921, British writer W. Somerset Maugham described Ethel, the half-caste protagonist of The Pool, as being “adorably pretty” and resembling “something not of this earth” but more like “the spirit of the pool.” This fascination with Eurasian beauty and exoticism continues today. Even in the forums of EurasianNation you can read numerous breathless accounts from males worshiping “hapa booty.”

“I grew up in Japan being told by virtually everyone (adult and children alike) that I was either beautiful or cute because I was ‘ha-fu,’” says Abbie Yamamoto, 23, now a graduate student at Berkeley University.

Eurasian beauty is often attributed to the European influence, particularly among Asians. “It’s because of the Caucasian features that they admire me so,” explains Yamamoto. “They look at me and tell me the clichés over and over again about how big my eyes are and how ‘high’ my nose is.”

Many Asians have even taken drastic measures to try to recreate these Caucasian features on their own faces. Blepharoplasty, the eyelid incision that creates the canthal fold, has become a veritable rite of passage for young females. Plastic surgeons say it is the most common procedure elected by Asian women in North America and Asia, followed by rhinoplasties (nose jobs) and breast augmentation. In the Philippines, a new plastic surgery technique has been invented to mimic the “high” Caucasian nose. According to Salon.com, surgeons insert a flexible plastic tube, called “the Cleopatra,” up women’s noses. The procedure can jack noses upwards anywhere from 3 to 13 millimeters.

Ironically, the Eurasian face, despite its obvious Caucasian ancestry, has become the face that sells Asia. TV commercials use Eurasian models to peddle everything from designer jewelry to sanitary pads. TIMEasia.com reports that in Indonesia, a magazine with a Eurasian on the cover will sell two or three times more copies than one featuring a purely local model. And on Channel V, the Asia-wide music television channel, almost every single VJ is Eurasian.

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>> Carmen Van Kerckove <<

The trend may seem little more than an effect of 21st century globalization. As more individuals of mixed descent achieve fame (think Norah Jones and Tiger Woods), it seems natural that society would embrace the mixed look. Media exposure, however, doesn’t fully explain the perception of hapa beauty.

Eurasians may possess genetic advantages that lead to greater health and, as a result, enhanced attractiveness. That’s according to a study, the first to find that hapa faces are rated as more beautiful than European or Japanese faces. Researchers say the finding may extend to other racial mixes as well.

The experiment by Gillian Rhodes, a psychologist at the University of Western Australia, found that when Caucasian and Japanese volunteers looked at photos of Caucasian, Japanese and Eurasian faces, both groups rated the Eurasian faces as most attractive. These visages were created by first digitally blending a series of faces from each race into “composites” to create average, middle-of-the-road features typical of each race. Past studies show that “average” features are consistently rated as more attractive than exaggerated features such as an unusually wide forehead or a small chin.

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>> William Lee Adams <<