English | Thai
I was born in Birmingham to a Brummie mechanic and a Thai Tai Chi and meditation teacher. My mom is from Bangkok, Thailand. My dad is from Birmingham, UK. My identity constantly evolves. I find it limiting to try and find one word to sum up my existence which is why I always resent filling in those equal opportunity forms. There’s never a box for me and I refuse to tick ‘other’. I’ve always used ‘half Thai’ and even now when pushed for a shorthand it can be useful, but for the past few years I’ve been going with Thai English as I wanted to move away from identifying as a fraction. My parents were great at exposing my brothers and me to different aspects of our heritage, so I grew up for the most part thinking our experiences were pretty normal and didn’t really think of us being different to anyone else. My mom would teach us Thai, we would chant and meditate before bed, and as my maternal grandparents were Chinese we would celebrate Chinese New Year as well as Thai festivals. We would go to Sunday School on some Sundays and on others we would go to Buddhist temples and this was all very normal for us. Growing up as a very ‘White’ looking Eurasian kid was confusing at times. A recurring theme was that sense of belonging, or lack thereof; not quite feeling like I belonged in this country and that same sense of detachment in Thailand, while at the same time having a deep affinity with both. I experienced racism in Birmingham growing up, which made me feel like an outsider there, and then when I would go to Thailand I’d be made very aware of just how foreign and unThai I was. As an adult, while my identity is somewhat amorphous, I’m happy to say I’m at a stage where I’m happy and extremely proud of my ethnicity. Looking forward the world is only going to get more and more mixed and that can only be a good thing. I’m grateful for the vast and enlightening experiences I’ve had, and the openness that comes with having two cultures. I think mixed-race people have such a unique perspective of the world and have a lot to contribute, so the more the merrier.
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