Being Biracial

Asimenia Pestrivas is Greek/Filipino and lives in Melbourne on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong people.

We chat about:

- Growing up in Mildura where being mixed was common

- Compartmentalising your friendships

- Learning and teaching a language that isn’t related to your heritage

- Greek naming traditions

- Having a long ethnic name

- Naming and parenting multiracial children

- The yellow power ranger

- Travelling to Greece and the Philippines

- Chatting about biracial life with siblings and friends

- Being called ‘exotic’ is YUCK

- The words we use to describe ourselves are important

- How Kate and Maria decided to name the podcast

- Who gets to be white?

- The difference between having one or two migrant parents

- Asking ‘where are you from?’ in a better way

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Asimenia Pestrivas

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.

Steph Amair is Jamaican/Australian and lives in Melbourne on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people.

We chat about:

- The Jamaican motto “out of many, one people”

- Waves of colonisation in Jamaica

- Being one of the only POC in town

- “I wasn’t black enough” aka internalised racism

- Talking about race in therapy

- Identifying as ‘purple’

- Cringe race related nicknames that call for hard conversations

- Struggling with your hair growing-up

- We find another Scary Spice

- How race & body image translate into Steph’s ceramics

- The history of jerk chicken.

Further reading: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/brief-history-jamaican-jerk-180976597/

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Steph Amair

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.

Monique Nair is Indian/Italian/Polish and lives in Melbourne on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people.

We chat about:

- Coming from Bombay to Bahrain and Mildura to Melbourne

- Growing up with Bollywood

- The Family Law, Ginny and Georgia and Never Have I Ever

- Tokenism v representation

- Why saying you’re a POC out loud is hard

- Not being seen as Indian

- Her mum’s Italian mindset

- Reclaiming your own name

- The many Kate Robinsons

- Having a sibling who is more white passing than you

- The foreigner line in India

- Writing stories based in culture

- Blame and loss in language learning

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Monique Nair

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.

Shuklia is Japanese/Australian and lives in Melbourne/Naarm on the lands of the Kulin nation.

We chat about:

- Japan isn’t as homogeneous as you think

- Being seen as a foreigner

- Japan’s indigenous Ainu people

- Family language policies

- Slice of life autobiographical comics

- Manga's gendered nature

- Fetishisation of Japanese women

- Whether we look like our parents

- Feeling a sense of belonging in Pakistan

- Archie Comics

- Picking an artistic pseudonym

- Art modelling when you’re asian

- Why Madama Butterfly is racist

- Emotional labour for yts

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Shuklia

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts Centre

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and 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.

Jamal Bawazier-Edgecombe is Indonesian/NZ European and lives in Tauranga, Aotearoa.

We chat about:

- Indonesian and Arab ancestry

- Growing up with a single dad

- Being Muslim

- A name that doesn’t look like you

- Parental expectations

- Feeling connected to culture through language

- The things white people say in front of white passing people

- Religion vs. race

- Different voices in different languages

- Code switching

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Jamal Bawazier-Edgecombe

Music by: Green Twins

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts Centre

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

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.

Craig Birch-Morunga is Maori/misc white and lives in Ōtepoti/Dunedin, Aotearoa.

We chat about:

- Being the whitest sibling

- Trauma = anger

- Micro-aggressions at work

- Fake birthdays

- How to lay a Hangi

- Kaimoana (seafood) and fishing quotas https://www.ngaitahuseafood.com/sustainability/quota/

- The parts of yourself you get from parents

- Once Were Warriors

- Dating a white person

- Dame Whina Cooper and the Maori land rights march in the 70’s https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5c32/cooper-whina

- Whakapapa (geneology)

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Craig Birch-Morunga

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

Music by: Green Twins

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts Centre

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

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.

Alayna Kunitake is Japanese/British and lives in Melbourne/Naarm on the lands of the Kulin nation.

We chat about:

- Our parents' controversial relationships

- White passing privilege

- Sushi balls v Sandwiches

- The grudge

- Leaning into being the ‘token’

- Going to a Japanese high school at 14 years old

- Being an idolised other

- Fashion as an act of defiance

- What makes you white?

- Names and having too many of them

- Only child life

- Working in advertising and fighting for diversity

- Gwen Stefani as your example of Japanese representation

- Rina Sawayama

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Alayna Kunitake

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Music by: Green Twins

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts Centre

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

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.

Damian Marquardt is from Canberra and is Chinese Malay/German. 

We chat about: 

- Christmas Island 

- Dragon mothers 

- Cantonese, Teochew, Mandarin, German 

- Hanging out with the “asians” 

- Being ethnically ambiguous 

- German dancing classes 

- Nyonya pineapple tarts 

- Fried Bread 

- Gender roles and masculinity 

- Selecting "other" when filling out forms

- Difference as a source of self-confidence 

- Feeling seen in SBS world news 

- Looking for Alibrandi 

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson 

Guest: Damian Marquardt 

Edited by: Kate Robinson 

Music by: Green Twins 

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts Centre 

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

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.

Alisa Tanaka-King is Japanese/Australian and lives in Creswick on Dja Dja Wurrung country.

We chat about:

- Stereotypes about mixed asian families

- When people say you're lucky to be bilingual

- Looking more Japanese as a child

- Parents crushing your dreams of being an actor

- Being biracial in media

- The grey areas of tokenism

- The most “diverse” person in the room

- The influence of mixed identity on Alisa’s many art practices

- Who can claim traditions? Who can create fusions?

- Japanese week on the Great British Bake-off

- Cultural appropriation v cultural appreciation

- “Stop Asian Hate”

- Playing games with people when they ask “where are you from?”

- Japan as an insular nation

- Naomi Osaka

You can find out more about Alisa’s art here: https://www.alisatanakaking.com/

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Alisa Tanaka-King

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

Music by: The Green Twins

Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts Centre

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

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.

Nick Hermanus is South African/Australian and lives in Melbourne on the lands of the Kulin nation. 

 We chat about:

- Apartheid

- Lilydale in the 90s

- Racist nicknames in school

- The term coloured in South Africa

- Basketball and music as a gateway to identity

- Footscray’s African restaurants

- Maria’s best white life

- Iranian house parties

- Afrikaans and Xhosa

- Cape Malay food and hospitality

- Manaakitanga

- BLM

- New Zealand’s hip hop nationals

- Noodles and the Michelle Obama dress

 Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

 Guest: Nick Hermanus

 Edited by: Kate Robinson

 Music by: Green Twins

 Special thanks: Footscray Community Arts Centre

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

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.