ISBN:
9780816530250
Language:
English
Pages:
XIII, 249 S.
,
Ill., Kt.
DDC:
327.7207309/04
Keywords:
Japanese History 20th century
;
Japanese Ethnic identity
;
Japanese Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
;
World War, 1939-1945 Social aspects
;
United States Foreign relations
;
Mexico Foreign relations
;
Mexiko
;
Japanischer Einwanderer
;
Soziale Situation
;
Geschichte 1897-1945
;
Mexiko
;
Japaner
;
Auswanderung
;
Akkulturation
;
Geschichte 1897-1945
Abstract:
" At the beginning of the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese citizens sought new opportunities abroad. By 1910, nearly ten thousand had settled in Mexico. Over time, they found work, put down roots, and raised families. But until now, very little has been written about their lives. Looking Like the Enemy is the first English-language history of the Japanese experience in Mexico. Japanese citizens were initially lured to Mexico with promises of cheap and productive land in Chiapas. Many of the promises were false, and the immigrants were forced to fan out across the country, especially to the borderlands along the United States. As Jerry Garci;a reveals, they were victims of discrimination based on "difference," but they also displayed "markers of whiteness" that linked them positively to Europeans and Americans, who were perceived as powerful and socially advanced. And, Garci;a reports, many Mexicans looked favorably on the Japanese as hardworking and family-centered. The book delves deeply into the experiences of the Japanese on both sides of the border during World War II, illuminating the similarities and differences in their treatment. Although some Japanese Mexicans were eventually interned (at the urging of the US government), in general the fear and vitriol that Japanese Americans encountered never reached the same levels in Mexico. Looking Like the Enemy is an ambitious study of a tumultuous half-century in Mexico. It is a significant contribution to our understanding of the immigrant experience in the Western Hemisphere and to the burgeoning field of borderlands studies"--
Description / Table of Contents:
Introduction : the Japanese experiment in MexicoJapanese Mexicans, immigration, and the public imagination, 1897-1910 -- Japanese Orientalism and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920 -- Japanese and the post revolutionary Mexico, 1920-1930s -- The long reach of the American empire : U.S. hegemony and Mexican propaganda, 1941-1945 -- Prisoners without chains : the removal of Japanese Mexicans during World War II, 1942-1945 -- El Comité Japonés de Ayuda Mutua : hacienda internment camps and Japanese resistance, 1942-1945 -- Conclusion : I am sixty percent Mexican and sixty percent Japanese.
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
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