Being Biracial

It’s the last episode of season 1 of Being Biracial. Today we’re interviewing each other.

We chat about:

• Having difficult conversations with our parents about the podcast
• A PSA for all the white people listening
• What being Persian means to Kate
• Family gossip
• The racist American visa process
• Kate maybe isn’t a POC and Maria maybe isn’t biracial?
• What being Maori means to Maria
• A place to put your feet
• Building a marae on Aboriginal land
• Finding joy

Mixed Media: Coming of Age in the War on Terror by Randa Abdel-Fattah. The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race by Neda Maghbouleh.

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

If you have any questions or feedback you can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kristina Naray is Filipino/Hungarian and lives in the city of Maribyrnong on the lands of the Wurundjeri people.

We chat about:

• The Subanen people of Mindanao, an indigenous group in Philippines
• Class dynamics in the Philippines, urban v rural, labourers vs non labourers
• The impact of colonisation and religion
• The 80’s version of online dating = pen pals
• Surprising similarities between parents despite ethnic and cultural backgrounds
• Her Dad’s refugee story after Yugoslavia dissolved
• Having to defend your parents relationship
• The Entree Pinays, finding growth and healing in community
• Small town life as a dark brown girl
• Tennis was the place where Kristina was seen for her skills
• Serena and Venus Williams representing diversity in sports
• What it’s like to attend a school with a reputation for being racist
• Leaving home early for the city, and being close to homelessness
• Connecting to culture is connecting to loved ones

Mixed mentions: More on The Entree Pinays: https://www.entreepinays.com/

King Richard - Williams sisters movie

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Kristina Naray

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meena Singh is Yorta Yorta and Indian and is the Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People in Victoria. She lives on the lands of the Kulin people.

We chat about:

• The history of Indian indentured labour in Fiji
• Her dad came to Australia to be a provider for his family
• Her mum always grew up with family and culture
• Asserting her Aboriginality more because of her very Indian name.
• A key mistranslation - Buppa
• FBIs - Fijian Born Indians
• The many ways parents show love - giving you packets of biscuits, cutting up your fruit, and making your bed
• Names that reinforce identity - my Blackest angels 
• ‘Mother’ tongue
• Colourism in India v being proud of being Blak
• Getting a lifelong love of learning from her mum
• The alienating experience of studying law
• Bringing your lived experience into work as a lawyer
• The recipe that is the colonial project
• Child protection involvement in Aboriginal communities and the fact that removal of children needs to be the last resort
• Pre-colonisation community structures

Mixed Media:

The Cummeragunja Walk-Off https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2022/02/03/what-was-cummeragunja-walk

More Meena on SBS Hindi https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/combat-stereotypes-with-stories-melbourne-lawyer-giving-voice-to-aboriginal-communities

Educating Rita, play by Willy Russell

Margaret Thornton https://law.anu.edu.au/people/margaret-thornton

Mari J. Matsuda, ‘When the first Quail calls: multiple consciousness as jurisprudential method’ https://www.northeastern.edu/lawstudentaffairs/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/When-the-First-Quail-Calls.pdf

Our Youth, Our Way https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/inquiries/systemic-inquiries/our-youth-our-way/

Koori Youth Council Ngaga-dji project: https://www.ngaga-djiproject.org.au/

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Meena Singh

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

If you have any questions or feedback you can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elijah Money is Wiradjuri and lives in Naarm/Melbourne on Kulin land.

We chat about:

- White mums and DNA tests

- Embracing healing instead of trauma

- Being tokenised at school

- A white racial guidance counsellor

- Learning how to use your voice

- University is a cringe colonial institution

- Internalised white guilt

- Standpoint theory

- Being Blak is a hot topic atm

- Identity in art leaves us exposed

- White women and the caucasity

- Eli’s drag persona transitioned alongside himself

- Queerness in a pre-colonial context

- The pressure on POC to be overachievers and exceptional, but why can’t we just focus on joy

- Racial and trans fetishisation

Mixed Media: White Woman by Elijah Money, My Wiradjuri Colour by Elijah Money, Stan Grant Senior and his work on Wiradjuri language.

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Elijah Money

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

If you have any questions or feedback you can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marco Cher-Gibard is half-Chinese (but it’s more complicated than that) and lives in Melbourne on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong peoples.

We chat about:

- Learning and relearning Chinese culture

- From the circus to the slums, the Merchant Navy to Batik Bazaar

- His mum was a hippy escaping Footscray

- Not fitting in with your family

- Marco’s artist residency in Beijing

- When your reference point for a place (Singapore) doesn’t exist anymore

- Anything that happens in public in China you can watch

- Portraiture through sound

- Marco Polo

- The privilege of travelling on a western passport, being male but not white

- Taxi drivers are the only people who are welcome to ask “where are you from?”

- All of a sudden becoming attractive

- Not leaning on the POC box

- Art about identity is trendy and this could change

Mixed media: ‘Spiderboys’ by Ming Cher, Sax People by Marco Cher-Gibard

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Marco Cher-Gibard

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts Centre, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

If you have any questions or feedback you can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shomudro Das is Bengali/Pākehā and lives in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand).

Shomudro is formally known as Sarita. You’ll hear Sarita during the episode once or twice because they were going by that name during our interview. 

We chat about:

• Our rebellious parents
• Missionaries rebranding as aid workers
• Parents who don’t accept your queerness
• International boarding school life
• The assumption that a good education is a western education
• Honey Birdette working conditions are terrible
• Somatic sexology
• The intersection of social work and sex education in Aotearoa
• Picking which Bangladeshi outfits to wear as a non-binary person
• We are not just biracial
• Shomudro’s one person show Perfect Shade about colourism in South Asia
• Leveraging light skinned privilege to do the mahi (work) around colourism
• Body Haus a queer strip club night to empower queer people of all shapes, sizes and genders
• ‘Marginalised’ is something a white saviour would say before they try and help you
• POC & non-binary are placeholders

Mentions: The Institute of Somatic Sexology in Queensland

Mixed media: BodyHaus co-founded with Kyah Dove and Brown Boy Magik: https://www.instagram.com/bodyhausnz/

Associate Professor Katie Fitzpatrick’s work: Sexuality Education: A Guide for Principals, Boards of Trustees and Teachers (2015)

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Shomudro Das

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

If you have any questions or feedback you can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kiyo Egashira is American and also Japanese/Irish. He lives in the UK.

We chat about:

- Limited connections to the ‘homeland’

- ‘Acting’ white

- Before anything being American

- A moment of silence for Pearl Harbour

- Keeping a lid on racial trauma

- Internment camps in the USA

- The impact of 911

- Hawaii: the racial melting pot

- Non-white workplaces

- Hapa (mixed) people being more normal

- White privilege everywhere (except Hawaii?)

- Getting the Japanese entry form

- White first-names and Japanese middle-names

- Blossom and Fast Eddy

- The pressure of naming your baby

Mixed media: The Sign of the Chrysanthemum by Katherine Paterson

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Kiyo Egashira

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts Centre, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

If you have any questions or feedback you can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nevenka Galic is Croatian/Latina and lives in the city of Maribyrnong on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples.

We chat about:

- Two immigrants who didn’t speak English met in Australia…

- Starting the Peruvian community in Melbourne

- Peruvians knowing how to party

- Visiting Croatia as a child and experiencing a culture shock

- Croatian soccer teams in Melbourne (sports omg)

- Juggling three cultures

- Growing into your strong Croatian name

- Naming your sibling…David

- People's curiosity overriding comfort when asking ‘where are you from’

- Defining yourself as POC when you’re white passing

- Looking ethnically different than your siblings

- The pressure on migrants to integrate

- Feeling at home in Peru

- The Baby-Sitters Club

Mixed media: The photojournalistic project and instagram whereareyoufrom__ by Sabina McKenna

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Nevenka Galic

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

If you have any questions or feedback you can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frankie Lai is Chinese/Australian and lives in Melbourne on the lands of the Wurundjeri people.

We chat about:

- DNA testing

- Choosing to raise kids as ‘white’ and not teach them Cantonese

- The desire to assimilate to avoid racism

- Language and connection barriers with grandparents

- Mispronouncing your own name

- Niche Italian names

- Tattoos as representations of heritage

- People assuming you have no roots to a place

- Excluded yourself from your culture by being vegetarian

- Looking less asian over time

- Worrying about taking up space as a person ‘of colour’

- Tiger parenting

- Why Frankie and Kate are lawyers

- Chinese vs white love languages

- The position of white passing people in racist conversations

- Processing being biracial using the language of being bisexual

- Ethnic family secrets

Mixed media: Subtle Asian traits, The Farewell

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Francesca Lai

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

If you have any questions or feedback you can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abby Sullival is coloured South African/Australian and lives in Melbourne on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong people.

We chat about:

- Whether Abby is biracial

- The education = success pipeline

- Koeksisters (South African donuts)

- Interracial marriages before and during apartheid

- People not knowing where to place her

- Being a model immigrant in Japan

- Diversifying your social media feed

- Being part of a legal system that isn’t for us

- Representation in professional settings

- Her hair journey

- “Don’t make waves”

- I still call Australia home

Mixed media: Incubate Foundation and the Accelerating Potential conference, Zione Walker-Nthenda, Afropunk

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Abigail Sullival

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts, Maribyrnong City Council Community Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

If you have any questions or feedback you can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.