Altered Lives, Enduring Community

Altered Lives, Enduring Community PDF Author: Stephen S. Fugita
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295800143
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Altered Lives, Enduring Community examines the long-term effects on Japanese Americans of their World War II experiences: forced removal from their Pacific Coast homes, incarceration in desolate government camps, and ultimate resettlement. As part of Seattle's Densho: Japanese American Legacy Project, the authors collected interviews and survey data from Japanese Americans now living in King County, Washington, who were imprisoned during World War II. Their clear-eyed, often poignant account presents the contemporary, post-redress perspectives of former incarcerees on their experiences and the consequences for their life course. Using descriptive material that personalizes and contextualizes the data, the authors show how prewar socioeconomic networks and the specific characteristics of the incarceration experience affected Japanese American readjustment in the postwar era. Topics explored include the effects of incarceration and resettlement on social relationships and community structure, educational and occupational trajectories, marriage and childbearing, and military service and draft resistance. The consequences of initial resettlement location and religious orientation are also examined.

Enduring Conviction

Enduring Conviction PDF Author: Lorraine K. Bannai
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 029580629X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Fred Korematsu’s decision to resist F.D.R.’s Executive Order 9066, which provided authority for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, was initially the case of a young man following his heart: he wanted to remain in California with his white fiancée. However, he quickly came to realize that it was more than just a personal choice; it was a matter of basic human rights. After refusing to leave for incarceration when ordered, Korematsu was eventually arrested and convicted of a federal crime before being sent to the internment camp at Topaz, Utah. He appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, which, in one of the most infamous cases in American legal history, upheld the wartime orders. Forty years later, in the early 1980s, a team of young attorneys resurrected Korematsu’s case. This time, Korematsu was victorious, and his conviction was overturned, helping to pave the way for Japanese American redress. Lorraine Bannai, who was a young attorney on that legal team, combines insider knowledge of the case with extensive archival research, personal letters, and unprecedented access to Korematsu his family, and close friends. She uncovers the inspiring story of a humble, soft-spoken man who fought tirelessly against human rights abuses long after he was exonerated. In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

John Okada

John Okada PDF Author: Frank Abe
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295743530
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
No-No Boy, John Okada’s only published novel, centers on a Japanese American who refuses to fight for the country that incarcerated him and his people in World War II and, upon release from federal prison after the war, is cast out by his divided community. In 1957, the novel faced a similar rejection until it was rediscovered and reissued in 1976 to become a celebrated classic of American literature. As a result of Okada’s untimely death at age forty-seven, the author’s life and other works have remained obscure. This compelling collection offers the first full-length examination of Okada’s development as an artist, placing recently discovered writing by Okada alongside essays that reassess his lasting legacy. Meticulously researched biographical details, insight from friends and relatives, and a trove of intimate photographs illuminate Okada’s early life in Seattle, military service, and careers as a public librarian and a technical writer in the aerospace industry. This volume is an essential companion to No-No Boy.

North American Buddhists in Social Context

North American Buddhists in Social Context PDF Author: Paul David Numrich
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047443535
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
The first multi-author collection of social scientific scholarship on North American Buddhists, this volume examines the current state of research and key aspects of Buddhist life and experience in social context. Case studies feature Southeast Asian, Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, meditation-oriented, and socially engaged Buddhists.

Becoming Nisei

Becoming Nisei PDF Author: Lisa M. Hoffman
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295748230
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Tacoma’s vibrant Nihonmachi of the 1920s and '30s was home to a significant number of first generation Japanese immigrants and their second generation American children, and these families formed tight-knit bonds despite their diverse religious, prefectural, and economic backgrounds. As the city’s Nisei grew up attending the secular Japanese Language School, they absorbed the Meiji-era cultural practices and ethics of the previous generation. At the same time, they positioned themselves in new and dynamic ways, including resisting their parents and pursuing lives that diverged from traditional expectations. Becoming Nisei, based on more than forty interviews, shares stories of growing up in Japanese American Tacoma before the incarceration. Recording these early twentieth-century lives counteracts the structural forgetting and erasure of prewar histories in both Tacoma and many other urban settings after World War II. Lisa Hoffman and Mary Hanneman underscore both the agency of Nisei in these processes as well as their negotiations of prevailing social and power relations.

Japanese American Ethnicity

Japanese American Ethnicity PDF Author: Takeyuki Tsuda
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479821780
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
Introduction: Ethnic heritage across the generations: racialization, transnationalism, and homeland -- History and the second generation -- The prewar Nisei: Americanization and nationalist belonging -- The postwar Nisei: biculturalism and transnational identities -- Racialization, citizenship, and heritage -- Assimilation and loss of ethnic heritage among third-generation Japanese Americans -- The struggle for racial citizenship among later-generation Japanese Americans -- Ethnic revival among fourth-generation Japanese Americans -- Ethnic heritage, performance, and diasporicity -- Japanese American taiko and the remaking of tradition -- Performative authenticity and fragmented empowerment through taiko -- Diasporicity and Japanese Americans -- Conclusion: Japanese Americans ethnic legacies and the future

Asian American Society

Asian American Society PDF Author: Mary Yu Danico
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1483365603
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 2104

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Book Description
Asian Americans are a growing, minority population in the United States. After a 46 percent population growth between 2000 and 2010 according to the 2010 Census, there are 17.3 million Asian Americans today. Yet Asian Americans as a category are a diverse set of peoples from over 30 distinctive Asian-origin subgroups that defy simplistic descriptions or generalizations. They face a wide range of issues and problems within the larger American social universe despite the persistence of common stereotypes that label them as a “model minority” for the generalized attributes offered uncritically in many media depictions. Asian American Society: An Encyclopedia provides a thorough introduction to the wide–ranging and fast–developing field of Asian American studies. Published with the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS), two volumes of the four-volume encyclopedia feature more than 300 A-to-Z articles authored by AAAS members and experts in the field who examine the social, cultural, psychological, economic, and political dimensions of the Asian American experience. The next two volumes of this work contain approximately 200 annotated primary documents, organized chronologically, that detail the impact American society has had on reshaping Asian American identities and social structures over time. Features: More than 300 articles authored by experts in the field, organized in A-to-Z format, help students understand Asian American influences on American life, as well as the impact of American society on reshaping Asian American identities and social structures over time. A core collection of primary documents and key demographic and social science data provide historical context and key information. A Reader's Guide groups related entries by broad topic areas and themes; a Glossary defines key terms; and a Resource Guide provides lists of books, academic journals, websites and cross references. The multimedia digital edition is enhanced with 75 video clips and features strong search-and-browse capabilities through the electronic Reader’s Guide, detailed index, and cross references. Available in both print and online formats, this collection of essays is a must-have resource for general and research libraries, Asian American/ethnic studies libraries, and social science libraries.

Asian Americans

Asian Americans PDF Author: Pyong Gap Min
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1452264473
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Offering a broad overview of the Asian American experience, Asian Americans provides an accessible resource for all students interested in the expanding and important Asian American population. While historical information is provided for each group, the main focus is on the variables and issues that impact Asian American life today. The scholars who author the chapters look at topics such as labor force participation and economic status, educational achievements, intermarriage, intergroup relations, and settlement patterns. Photo essays help to enhance the presentations.

Making Home from War

Making Home from War PDF Author: Brian Komei Dempster
Publisher: Heyday.ORIM
ISBN: 1597142794
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
The sequel to the award-winning From Our Side of the Fence—personal stories of life after the WWII internment camps from twelve Japanese Americans. Many books have chronicled the experience of Japanese Americans in the early days of World War II, when over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, were taken from their homes along the West Coast and imprisoned in concentration camps. When they were finally allowed to leave, a new challenge faced them—how do you resume a life so interrupted? Written by twelve Japanese American elders who gathered regularly at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, Making Home from War is a collection of stories about their exodus from concentration camps into a world that in a few short years had drastically changed. In order to survive, they found the resilience they needed in the form of community and gathered reserves of strength from family and friends. Through a spectrum of conflicting and rich emotions, Making Home from War demonstrates the depth of human resolve and faith during a time of devastating upheaval. “I remember my release from Manzanar as scary and intense, but until now so little has been said about this aspect of the internment experience. This is an important book, its stories ground-breaking and memorable.”—Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, author of Farewell to Manzanar “A deeply moving accounting of life after imprisonment, its lingering stigma, and the true meaning of freedom.”—Dr. Satsuki Ina, producer of Children of the Camps

The Gateway to the Pacific

The Gateway to the Pacific PDF Author: Meredith Oda
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022659288X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
In the decades following World War II, municipal leaders and ordinary citizens embraced San Francisco’s identity as the “Gateway to the Pacific,” using it to reimagine and rebuild the city. The city became a cosmopolitan center on account of its newfound celebration of its Japanese and other Asian American residents, its economy linked with Asia, and its favorable location for transpacific partnerships. The most conspicuous testament to San Francisco’s postwar transpacific connections is the Japanese Cultural and Trade Center in the city’s redeveloped Japanese-American enclave. Focusing on the development of the Center, Meredith Oda shows how this multilayered story was embedded within a larger story of the changing institutions and ideas that were shaping the city. During these formative decades, Oda argues, San Francisco’s relations with and ideas about Japan were being forged within the intimate, local sites of civic and community life. This shift took many forms, including changes in city leadership, new municipal institutions, and especially transformations in the built environment. Newly friendly relations between Japan and the United States also meant that Japanese Americans found fresh, if highly constrained, job and community prospects just as the city’s African Americans struggled against rising barriers. San Francisco’s story is an inherently local one, but it also a broader story of a city collectively, if not cooperatively, reimagining its place in a global economy.