eBook

Japanese American Celebration and Conflict

Lon Kurashige

2002

Overview

Do racial minorities in the United States assimilate to American values and institutions, or do they retain ethnic ties and cultures? In exploring the Japanese American experience, Lon Kurashige recasts this tangled debate by examining what assimilation and ethnic retention have meant to a particular community over a long period of time. This is an inner history, in which the group identity of one of America's most noteworthy racial minorities takes shape. From the 1930s, when Japanese immigrants controlled sizable ethnic enclaves, to the tragic wartime internment and postwar decades punctuated by dramatic class mobility, racial protest, and the influx of economic investment from Japan, the story is fraught with conflict. The narrative centers on Nisei Week in Los Angeles, the largest annual Japanese celebration in the United States. The celebration is a critical site of political conflict, and the ways it has changed over the years reflect the ongoing competition over what it has meant to be Japanese American. Kurashige reveals, subtly and with attention to gender issues, the tensions that emerged at different moments, not only between those who emphasized Japanese ethnicity and those who stressed American orientation, but also between generations and classes in this complex community.

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Subject: 1930s / 20th century / american history / asian american / asian history / assimilation / California / Citizens' associations / Citizens' associations -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century / cultural studies / culture / economics / economy / Ethnic festivals / Ethnic festivals -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century / Ethnic identity / Ethnic relations / ethnicity / gender issues / gender studies / historical / HISTORY / HISTORY / United States / General / internment camps / japan / japanese american / Japanese Americans / Japanese Americans -- California -- Los Angeles -- Social conditions -- 20th century / Japanese Americans -- California -- Los Angeles -- Social life and customs -- 20th century / Japanese Americans -- Ethnic identity -- California -- Los Angeles / japanese immigrants / Los Angeles / Los Angeles (Calif.) / Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Ethnic relations / Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Social conditions -- 20th century / Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century / nisei week / political / politics / postwar / race / racial minorities / racism / Social conditions / Social life and customs / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Emigration & Immigration / united states / united states history / us history / wartime
• ISBN: 0520227425, 9780520227422, 9780520227439, 0520227433, 0520926471, 9780520926479