Why I Write Multicultural Stories
Pictured: My grandma (Japanese/Okinawan) and grandpa (Scottish/Irish American), 1950’s
Rooted in my own heritage as a second generation American with mixed heritage, many of my stories often explore identity, belonging, and the nuanced experiences of being the child or grandchild of immigrants. Being diaspora is its own experience, and our often mixed identities are worth sharing. Due to my own family’s story, I also tend to include the effects of assimilation, but that’s not always the case.
My grandma moved to the United States and raised both of her sons here with my grandpa, eventually becoming a U.S. citizen herself. I love my grandma and understand why she leaned so hard into assimilation; she wanted her kids to have the best possible life, and she felt that would be easier if they were only American. It’s the story of so many immigrants, so I know my family isn’t the only one affected, but it did spark a curiosity in me to explore where my family came from. It’s also reflected in my writing, in big and small ways, because I cannot divorce one part of myself from the others, and my writing always contains personal experiences.
Why I Think Multicultural Stories Are Important
I suppose broadly, multicultural narratives are a celebration of diversity, and that in and of itself makes it worthy and important. These kinds of stories invite readers into worlds shaped by various cultures, perspectives, and traditions—often blended together to create something entirely its own. Through my writing, I try to explore the unique stories mixed identity can bring to the world. My Japanese/Okinawan heritage and Scottish/Irish American experience are worth embracing and celebrating, especially when mixed-race and mixed-culture families aren’t always represented in media. Toss in the German from my mother’s side, and I’m just a big ol’ melting pot.
As a second-generation American, I use writing to look a little more closely at the nuances of a cultural identity shaped by the experiences of my parents and their parents. The struggle to balance the heritage of ancestors with the realities of growing up assimilated (in my case, to the U.S.) is a central theme in some of my stories, even when not explicitly stated as such. It's a look at the questions, struggles, and exploration inherent in being part of two or more worlds. It’s pretty apparent in the first book of The Manifold Chronicles, my as yet unpublished upmarket dystopian fantasy series, where Sen learns that his parents kept their entire life before Benteo from him. Towa and Bunsaku did this for the same reasons my grandma raised my dad with little access to her Japanese culture, and it was interesting to write those scenes and gain deeper understanding for the choices my grandmother made. Sen, like my father (and therefore me), grew up knowing nothing of his ancestral world, and I hope to add more of his journey with this discovery later in the series, especially as he’s been able to reconnect and visit his family’s homeland.
Taking a more macro approach, I also think it’s worth acknowledging that, in a world marked by rapid changes and globalization, there's a risk of cultural erosion if we don’t share our experiences. My mom’s side of the family is German, and aside from food and high alcohol tolerance, have lost most of their culture after generations of living here in the United States. I make no claims about Japanese representation (or German, Scottish, Irish, or otherwise), but rather representation but I still think that’s important, especially as more of us are living in societies where mixed heritage and racial identity is becoming more prevalent. As we continue to interact globally, I hope we’re able to keep a hold of some of our cultural heritage in real, meaningful ways.
Through my stories and my characters, I’m able to create tangible evidence of my mixed culture through the lens of an assimilated child/grandchild, ensuring that these experiences (and what I understand about my inherited but estranged heritage) endures somehow. I recognize that my perspectives are twice-removed at this point, so my primary focus is on what this experience is like, knowing about my Japanese heritage through the stories my grandmother eventually shared, and the research I’ve been able to do into my specific family. My grandfather was a genealogy guy, so I’ve got far more information on that side of my family to work with, and my German family is so far removed from Germany at this point it’s hardly noteworthy, but all parts of my lineage are important to me.
I grew up really struggling with identity, in part because I didn’t look like my peers, especially in small town Ohio. Now, I seem to be getting whiter and whiter in appearance as I age (just ask my kids lol), but it doesn’t change the impact of being mixed during childhood. I grew up in predominantly white areas for the most part, and I think it’s important to look into the impact of assimilation on cultural identity for people like me, while showing the humanity behind the decisions and actions our parents and grandparents made where this is concerned. Stories can explore the complexities of navigating between cultures, examining the losses and gains that come with the assimilation process, without as much defensiveness when it’s told within a fictional container.
Multicultural narratives allow for an exploration of intergenerational dynamics, too, which are often even more complex and complicated in immigrant families. I focus heavily on generational trauma and the way things impact people based on their age and role in the family. So, I’m often showing the interplay of traditional values passed down from ancestors and the evolving perspectives of successive generations born into different cultural contexts. It just gets even more complicated when the older generation comes, quite literally, from another culture entirely.
Inclusivity is a guiding principle in my writing because diverse voices are not only important, but essential. We are all better off when we explore narratives beyond our own cultural spheres. Increased understanding and empathy are natural byproducts of inclusivity, and I think that’s always a good thing. But hopefully, despite the specificity of the experiences I write about, I am also intentional enough about writing universally that I still produce relatable stories. The characters' struggles, triumphs, and journeys of self-discovery hopefully resonate on a human level, whether the reader is of a similar background or not.
My decision to write multicultural characters is part self-exploration, part commitment to honoring my cultural heritages, and part gentle advocacy for diversity. I hope my work invites readers to consider the places where identity intersect and intertwine, as we’re all—for better or worse—the products of not only our genetics, but our cultures.
Happy reading, and happy exploration!
