Race is Not the Half of It - One Panamanian's Story
Episode 12 - August 13th, 2020
Michelle Hines is many things:
Panamanian, Bi-Racial, an Engineer, an Expat, a Mother and more.
Michelle grew up in Panama.
Because of its culture of being a melting pot of races, her parents bi-racial relationship, it ends up, was nothing to talk about. Race was not the half of it as you’ll hear.
She eventually left her Panamanian bubble, married someone from a different culture, and now she’s a mom. How does all of this influence how she approaches international life? And how does it impact how she will talk about race in the future?
Let’s start the conversation.
*Trigger Warning
While discussing race, Michelle explains the categories used in Panama and other Latin cultures to describe bi-racial, mixed race people: Mestizos and Mulato/Mulatto. In these cultures, these words are neutral.
However, in the USA, the term Mulato/Mulatto is now defined as dated and offensive. I left this part of the conversation in the podcast because the person who is using the terms is from a culture where they are neutral and it is how she identifies herself.
Resources
Evoking the Mulato by Black Public Media
A documentary series with mixed race/biracial people in the USA.
Michelle's Family
Episodes with Working Moms
Contact
