Multiracial Sansei: Effects of WWII Camps
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Running head: MULTIRACIAL SANSEI: EFFECTS OF WWII CAMPS
Ethnic/Racial Identity in Multiracial Sansei:
Intergenerational Effects of the World War II Concentration Camp Experience1
Karen L. Suyemoto
University of Massachusetts Boston
Abstract
This paper explores how familial experience of the Japanese American World War II concentration
camps may have intergenerational effects on the ethnic/racial identity development of multiracial
Sansei. The camps affected intergenerational transmission of Japanese American culture to Sansei,
as well as shaping interpretations of racial discrimination and racial acceptance, which then
influenced Sansei’s ethnic/racial identity development. Multiracial Sansei may have unique
experiences in relation to both intergenerational communication and transmission of culture and
racial discrimination that may differentially characterize the intergenerational effects of the camps on
ethnic/racial identity development.
Keywords:
Introductory note:
Karen L. Suyemoto, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Psychology and Asian American Studies, University
of Massachusetts, Boston. Mail to: Karen Suyemoto, Psychology, University of Massachusetts,
Boston, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125. Email: karen.suyemoto@umb.edu. I thank
the Sansei Legacy Project and Sean for inspiring this article. I also thank Grace Kim, Kunya des
Jardins, and Patricia Suyemoto for their feedback that served to improve this article.
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
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Ethnic/Racial Identity in Multiracial Sansei:
Intergenerational Effects of the World War II Concentration Camp Experience
In contrast to monoracial Sansei, Multiracial Sansei, face particular challenges in negotiating
the intergenerational impact of the World War II concentration camp experience in developing their
ethnic/racial identity. The multiracial ethnic/racial identity development research has suggested that
successful ethnic/racial identity development in multiracial individuals is strongly influenced by
positive exposure and familial acceptance of both (or all) cultures that are clearly identifiable (Mass,
1992). Simultaneously, research has also highlighted the Nisei reaction of distancing from their
Japanese cultural heritage and being silent regarding their camp experience (e.g. Kitano, 1993; Mass,
1991; Nagata, 1990, 1993; Nagata & Cheng, 2003; Nakanishi, Tomine, 1991). Given these two
bodies of potentially conflicting literature, how might the multiracial Sansei with familial history in
the camps fare in their ethnic/racial identity development in ways that might be different from the
monoracial Sansei? This paper explores the transmission of cultural heritage and racial acceptance
and discrimination, two issues that may be differentially experienced by multiracial Sansei in contrast
to monoracial Sansei, through: (a) a review of the literature, (b) personal narrative, and (c) a
reflection on findings from in-depth interviews with 4 female and 2 male multiracial Sansei (five of
European-Japanese American heritage and one of African-Japanese American heritage).
Ethnic/Racial Identity
While it is challenging to clearly define ethnic/racial identity, a broad definition focusing
more on ethnicity is identity encompassing the internalized cultural aspects of an ethnic group,
usually a minority ethnic group (Phiney, 1990). A definition focusing more on race refers to identity
formed in reference to the social consequences of being categorized by physical characteristics,
particularly consequences of racism and stereotyping and to affinity with others who have similar
social experiences based racialization (Suyemoto, 2002). For Japanese-Americans, ethnic/racial
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
3
identity may include embracing values, and behaviors associated with the Japanese culture such as
“face,” stoicism, conformity, and collectivism (Uba, 1994), as well integrating personal and historical
experiences of racism.
Ethnic/racial identity development is a social process, emphasizing shared cultures and
experiences of acceptance, rejection, and identification (Suyemoto, 2002). Because the transmission of
the system of meanings is a defining component of culture, ethnic/racial identity development is
inherently an intergenerational process (see Phinney’s review, 1990). Thus, the ethnic/racial identity
of the Nisei and the ways in which they did or did not transmit ethnic culture and values affected the
ethnic/racial identity development of the Sansei.
Ethnic/racial identity is also related to belonging and exclusion and shared or differentiated
social experiences. To identify as Japanese American without conflict implies a felt acceptance by
other individual Japanese Americans and acceptance by the power structure within the Japanese
American group in a given area. Similarly, to identify as American (Japanese American) implies an
acceptance by other individual Americans and by the dominant American social power structure
(currently White European-American-influenced). Finally, ethnic/racial identity is also affected by
larger societal and historical events, especially those that are closely tied to issues of race and
ethnicity, such as the W.W.II Japanese-American imprisonment. The imprisonment is often seen as
the defining event in terms of cultural, group, and personal views of the meaning of being of
Japanese heritage in the United States, especially for the Nisei (Daniels, 1991; Kitano, 1993;
Nakanishi, 1993). Although most Sansei did not directly experience the camps, their ethnic/racial
identity was profoundly affected by the camp experience, through the intergenerational effects of
the camps on individual Nisei and their families, and also through the effects of the camps on the
Japanese American community as a whole.
Nisei Experience and Ethnic/Racial Identity
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
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The Nisei identified as American in their nationality, and in much of their culture (Kitano,
1993). They were far more acculturated than their parents, the Issei; they grew up speaking English,
and with American (meaning Euro-American) education, American popular cultures and values.
However, it is also clear that the Nisei identified culturally as Japanese-Americans: many Nisei
attended Japanese language schools, spoke Japanese at home, and experienced the transmission of
Japanese values, and communication styles from the Issei, especially prior to W.W.II.
Yet, both parts of the Nisei’s ethnic/racial identity had contested aspects, even prior to
W.W. II. In terms of their identification as Japanese Americans, acculturation and the dominant
White American social context led them away from the clear identification with Japanese culture
that their parents had had, contributing to a potential cultural disconnection. The Nisei’s
identification as Japanese Americans was even more contested, as the Nisei were discriminated
against because of their race and not accepted by the American dominant social context, despite
their acculturation (Kitano, 1993; Mass, 1991). In spite of this, the Nisei continued to identify as
American, expecting the rights of American citizens, having been schooled in American values of
equality, democracy, and Constitutional rights (Mass, 1991; Nagata, 1990). When the possibility of
“internment” arose after Pearl Harbor, many Nisei hoped that the order would not apply to them, as
they not only identified as Americans but also were legally American citizens (Kitano, 1993; Nagata,
1990). The inclusion of the Nisei in the order made it explicitly clear that regardless of shared
American cultural experiences and claimed identity, the dominant, White American social structure
rejected the Nisei identification as American.
The war and the camp experience further complicated the Nisei’s ethnic/racial identity
process. As described by Nagata and Takeshita (1998) the camp experience was paradoxical:
Although the camps were seen as a way to accelerate Japanese American acculturation, the people
incarcerated interacted almost exclusively with other Japanese Americans. Strong family ties and
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Japanese values such as gaman (endurance in difficult circumstances) and stoic acceptance (“shakataga nai” or “it cannot be helped”) contributed to the Nisei’s ability to cope with the camp experience
(Nagata & Takeshita, YEAR). Simultaneously, Nisei continued to identify and attempt to explicitly
portray their identification as American both during and after the war: “By trying to prove we were
110 percent American, we hoped to be accepted” (Mass, 1991, p. 161). Sometimes this involved
attempts to distance themselves from their Japanese cultural heritage and emphasize American
values and identity during and after their imprisonment (Nagata, 1993; Tomine, 1991).
This distancing may relate to the silence regarding the camp experience (Miyoshi, 1978;
Nagata, 1993). While the camp experience may have been referred to as a time marker (“before
camp,” “after camp”; Nagata, 1990) or discussed directly in very short conversations (Nagata &
Cheng, 2003), Nisei rarely related the full descriptive and emotional story even to their children
(Nagata, 1993; Nagata & Cheng, 2003; Nakanishi, 1993; Tomine, 1991). Possible reasons for this
silence include: a desire to personally avoid negative emotions or protect their children from
negative emotions and experiences (Miyoshi, 1972; Nagata, 1990; Nagata & Cheng, 2003; Nakanishi,
1993); a fear of discrimination or ostracism from others (Kitano, 1993); a fear of becoming
emotional in front of others or the desire not to lose face by complaining or losing the admiration
for endurance (Miyoshi, 1972); a sense of shame that has been analogized to the experience of rape
victims (Mass, 1991; Nagata, 1990; Nakanishi, 1993; Tomine, 1991); and a recognition that the
silence regarding the camps in the dominant American discourse was externally reinforced (Nagata
& Cheng, 2003; Tomine, 1991).
Although many Nisei emphasized their American identification after the war and kept silent
about the camp experience, there continued to be identification with Japanese cultural heritage. The
majority of Japanese Americans returned to the west coast after the camps and rebuilt their ethnic
communities (Kitano, 1993), and maintained a Japanese American community with community
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events, organizations, and activities (Fugita & O’Brien, 1994). Nisei also maintained, consciously or
unconsciously, many Japanese American values and the Japanese high-context, nonverbal
communication style (Nagata & Takeshita, 1998; Tomine, 1991; Uba, 1994). However, these were
frequently not explicitly recognized as culturally Japanese in the Nisei’s attempt to identify as
American. Tomine (1991) states that although the Nisei participants in her study rated themselves
as very American and denied the impact of Japanese culture, they were often surprised by how
Japanese they were when they began talking about Japanese values and coping styles.
The Nisei’s experiences in the concentration camps shaped their own ethnic/racial identities
and their approach to cultural transmission and identity formation for their Sansei children. The
Sansei’s ethnic/racial identity development is characterized by being overtly pushed toward
American cultural identity and covertly pulled towards Japanese cultural identity by their Nisei
parents. The dominant American social context also communicates mixed messages about the
greater worth of White American values, worldview, and identity and the rejection of Sansei as
belonging to this group through racial categorization and discrimination. While the camp
experience is not the sole contributor to this tug-of-war, it accelerated processes of acculturation in
both Nisei and Sansei while simultaneously intensifying and making explicit racial discrimination and
exclusion.
Ethnic/Racial Identity in Multiracial Sansei: Intergenerational Legacies of the Camps
While there is research on the intergenerational effects of the camps for monoracial Sansei,
including communication patterns, ethnic preferences, coping, stress, and intergenerational
relationships (Nagata), no scholarship has examined how the experiences of multiracial Sansei may
be differentially or uniquely affected. They include: further distancing from the Japanese heritage
related to outmarriage; either decreased or increased access to communication and naming of
Japanese culture, values, and camp experiences resulting from one parent being non-Japanese; and
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particular types of discrimination and rejection from the dominant White community, the Japanese
American community, and the extended family.
This paper explores intergenerational effects of the concentration camps for multiracial
Sansei, focusing on two themes related to ethnic/racial identity that are likely to differ between
monoracial and multiracial Sansei: (1) transmission of cultural heritage and (2) racial acceptance and
discrimination. I first briefly review literature about monoracial Sansei. I then describe the
experiences of multiracial Sansei in relation to the theme. Drawing from analytic autoenthographic
methodology (Anderson, 2006), I integrate personal narrative (in italics beginning each multiracial
section) and data from interviews with 3 female White-Japanese, 2 male White-Japanese and 1
female Black-Japanese multiracial Sansei. Half of the six multiracial interviewees had familial
experience with the camps (i.e. their Nisei parents were interned) and half did not, although all of
the Nisei parents lived on the mainland. However, all six participants discussed ways in which the
internment and the racial hysteria of that time affected their Nisei parents and their families. It
seems likely from their responses that some of the aftereffects discussed in interned Nisei apply to
mainland Nisei who were not interned and yet had to deal with the social climate of that time and
place. Participants were recruited through Japanese American and mixed race newsletters associated
with groups in the San Francisco Bay area, and through snowballing. Participants in these
interviews were interviewed in the late 1990s. Interviews were unstructured, exploring participants’
experience of their ethnic/racial identities and their related background. Areas explored included
familial experience about the Japanese American WWII imprisonment and how this experience and
knowledge affected their ethnic/racial identities.
Rather than attempt to describe the modal or average experiences of a population (e.g.
multiracial Sansei), qualitative methodology aims to explore a range of possible responses and issues.
Although clearly the experiences of this small sample of 7 individuals (6 interview participants and
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myself) cannot be generalized to all multiracial Sansei, my aim is to explore the possible intersections
of multiraciality and intergenerational effects of the Japanese American concentration camps. The
experiences of each individual Nisei and Sansei are very diverse, not only between those who had
direct familial experience with the internment and those who did not but also within each group. In
multiracial Japanese American families, the reaction to internment, the reasons for outmarriage, the
specific family constellation and reactions, and other issues vary tremendously. For example, one of
the most salient variables affecting identity and the effects of the internment camps in monoracial
and multiracial Sansei may be location of community – e.g., whether there was a Japanese American
community and other Japanese American and/or multiracial individuals in the developmental
(childhood and adolescent) lives of Sansei. This agrees with Nagata’s (1993) findings that East coast
and Californian Sansei differ in their reactions to the internment as well as Mass’s (“Interracial”)
findings that location and community affect self-concept development in multiracial Japanese
Americans. As this example demonstrates, many variables other than mono- vs multiracial familial
composition can create differences between groups as well as within groups. Thus, the ensuing
discussion must be treated as an exploration of possible reactions and issues, rather than a
description of the experience of all multiracial Sansei
Transmission of Cultural Heritage and Ethnic/Racial Identity in Sansei
The Nisei received relatively clear communication of their Japanese cultural heritage from
their Issei parents, but the reaction of cultural distancing from the camp experience made the
transmission of this cultural heritage to the Sansei much less clear. However, in spite of the fact that
some Nisei may have explicitly encouraged an American identity for Sansei and distancing from
their Japanese cultural heritage, they did transmit many aspects of this cultural heritage, including
values and coping styles (Kitano, 1993; Nagata, 1993; Nagata & Takeshita, 1998; Tomine, 1991).
Nisei silence about the camp experience is itself more culturally Japanese than American and
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reinforces the high-context, nonverbal style of communication (Miyoshi, 1978; Nagata & Takeshita,
1998). Thus, while the Nisei attempt at distancing from Japanese culture may lead to a lack of
explicit naming and recognition of the Japanese foundation of many of the shared meanings (values,
beliefs, behaviors), the cultural system itself is being transmitted
Thus, the Sansei may internalize aspects of the Japanese worldview without recognizing their
cultural and historical foundations. These internalized yet unnamed aspects may lead Sansei to feel
their cultural difference from White European Americans but have little referent or foundation to
explain this, as expressed by this Sansei participant interviewed by Miyoshi (1972, p. 9):
A lot of things I didn’t know were cultural values...so it was helpful to identify them as
possible things that were culturally derived...If you can identify those cultural things, it gives
you some idea, some understanding of where your parents came from...and if you have a
part of that in you, its not something terrible. It’s something that was passed down to you.
Transmission of Cultural Heritage and Ethnic/Racial Identity in Multiracial Sansei
My father is Nisei and was in Topaz in his early adolescence. My mother is White European American,
from a poor, rural, southern Baptist background. I grew up in a suburb of Boston… It seems I’ve always known the
facts about the camps, but only as a distant historical thing, not a reality with emotions and current effects behind it.
When I was young my father would come to my history classes and talk about Topaz—how many Japanese
Americans were interned, the government rationale, what the food was like (bad), and how the weather was (worse).
But there was little that was personal in these presentations, or in the rare discussion at home. I had no sense of how
the camp experience affected him or his family in terms of feelings, relationships, hopes, or dreams; or how it shaped
who my father was as an individual, as a Japanese American, or as a father. It was not until I was in graduate
school and started asking detailed and explicit questions within the frame of class assignments about culture and
family therapy that I began to learn how the camp experience had affected him. Eventually, my father reflected on how
he made a deliberate effort to distance himself from being Japanese American and from the Japanese American
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
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community, from Japanese values and traditions, from certain family attitudes and expectations that were rooted in
Japanese worldviews. He didn’t see himself as Japanese, or even as Japanese American—he didn’t identify or name
himself that way; he was just “American.” Recently, I asked him about marrying out, and received the answer I both
expected and, perhaps, feared: his outmarriage was related to a desire to have “American” children, with American
values, American traditions, American language, American features and skin (White, or at least, Whiter). He
didn’t want a Japanese partner who not only might pass on her own Japanese influence, but also might increase his
inadvertent passing on of his Japanese familial culture.
Looking back, I can see how these feelings and responses shaped his fathering and begin to understand how
they have affected my own identity. Growing up, Japanese was not really defined--I was Japanese because my father
was Japanese, because of the color of his/my skin or the shape of his/my eyes, because this atrocity called the
“internment” had happened sometime in my family history. But what it meant to be Japanese was a mystery.
Nothing was named Japanese. But there was a sense of being different, of having some things mean more to me than
to my White peers, of knowing some things were Right or Wrong that others didn’t seem to worry about. It was with
considerable relief that I began to learn as an adult that these things had a cultural base, that these were concepts
rooted in history and a collective people with particular and important meaning, that these concepts could be named
with words with cultural meanings--words like “face,” “honor,” shame, “giri (reciprocal obligation),” and “enryo
(modesty in the presence of superiors).”
For multiracial Sansei, the lack of recognition and naming of Japanese ethnic heritage may
either be exacerbated or considerably lessened when compared to monoracial Sansei. In some cases,
as in my family, the Nisei parent’s decision to outmarry may be explicitly related to a desire to
distance from Japanese culture and emphasize American values and family style. Even if the
decision to outmarry is not explicitly related to distance from either the culture or the camp
experience, multiracial Sansei may experience more profound silence and distance from Japanese
culture and heritage within the family. This may be caused by the simple fact that the parents are
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not both Japanese, decreasing the Sansei’s access and experience with Japanese tradition. Even if
the decision to outmarry was not explicitly related to distancing, the intergenerational effect and
communication may be affected. This possibility is reflected in Nagata’s (1990, 1993) work, where
she found that Sansei whose parents had both been imprisoned had significantly more conversations
with their parents about the camp experience than Sansei who had only one parent in the camps.
One could hypothesize that this might be even more so if one parent were not even Japanese
American and thus didn’t feel the familial or racial impact of the camp experience. Difficulty
understanding the Nisei parents’ nonverbal, high-context communication may be similarly affected,
as having a non-Japanese parent who may rely more on verbal content-explicit communication may
lead to even less awareness of the process of nonverbal, high-context communication.
This lack of naming of Japanese heritage, the distance from the culture as well as the
Japanese American community, and the silence regarding the camp experience was discussed by
interview participants. Elizabeth2 stated: “I always knew that I was Japanese, but I didn’t know what
it meant.” Another participant’s experience illustrated how multiracial Sansei who are being raised
by a non-Japanese parent due to divorce or death may have even greater difficulty with identity
issues due to distance and non-recognition of the Japanese cultural heritage. In his case, while the
exact challenges were different from others, issues regarding identity and cultural heritage were
present and, at times, intensified (e.g. struggling with being racially identifiable as Japanese but
having little sense of what that meant and no model to make inferences from). Identity difficulties
may be even further exacerbated in those multiracial Sansei raised by a non-Japanese parent who,
because of inter-family racism or prejudice, have little contact with their Japanese extended family
and/or experience discrimination from their non-Japanese extended family (see section below).
Alternatively, difficulties regarding recognition of Japanese heritage and silence regarding the
concentration camp experience may be decreased for some multiracial Sansei. The non-Japanese
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parent may not be bound by the same cultural values of stoicism and endurance; they may have less
fear of discrimination and less need to show they are “110% American”. They may feel more
comfortable being verbally explicit about sensitive emotional experiences and willing to share their
knowledge about their Nisei spouse’s camp experience with their Sansei children. Laura stated
“...My mom, who is actually the European American one, has always been more the one that’s
presented the experience...she’s the one that’s given me the more hard core version of internment.”
The non-Japanese parent may also actively encourage embracing Japanese culture and be willing and
able to explicitly name those values and traditions with Japanese foundations. Some particpants
discussed how their non-Japanese parents would celebrate Japanese holidays, incorporate Japanese
foods and traditions, and explicitly discuss Japanese cultural values.
Racial Acceptance, Racial Discrimination, and Ethnic/Racial Identity in Sansei
Regardless of how Nisei parents might themselves identify or encourage their children to
identify as a result of the camp experience, the realization of an “American” ethnic/racial identity is
impossible for Sansei (or any Japanese American) as long as “American” means “White” (Miyoshi,
1972). Similar to the Nisei experience, the dominant social environment still does not allow the
Sansei to identify as White American due to racial discrimination, despite their increased
acculturation (Kitano, 1993; Fugita & O’Brien, 1994).
The historical experience of the concentration camps is a reminder that the dominant social
environment did not accept Japanese Americans as true Americans with the associated rights.
Knowledge of this experience, especially if it affected members of the immediate family, may lead
Sansei to feel that it is difficult to accept an American identification with White Americans as the
sole or primary referent group (Nagata, 1991). Nisei silence about the camps may make it even
more difficult for Sansei to discuss and come to terms with the personal and familial impact of this
oppressive experience and its meaning for their ethnic/racial identity process (Miyoshi, 1972;
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13
Nagata, 1993; Tomine, 1991). Like the Nisei, the ethnic/racial identity process of the Sansei is
affected not only by their own choices and affinities but also by the acceptance or rejection by
others. The dynamics of race in the U.S. and the personal, familial, and social legacy of the camps
make an American identity both desirable and impossible. These same issues make a Japanese
American identity both desirable and difficult as well.
Racial Acceptance, Racial Discrimination, and Ethnic/Racial Identity in Multiracial Sansei
Growing up, I had no contact with the Japanese American community and until college, I had no friends or
acquaintances who were Japanese American. It was not until graduate school that I met another multiracial Japanese
American.
When I was very young, I don’t think I really had an awareness of being Japanese, of being racially different
from my White American peers. My friends and neighbors never said anything about my being different. But when I
was about 8, I was chased home from school on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor day by a group of boys yelling “Jap.”
This was the first of many explicitly racist experiences, ranging from shouted racial slurs to comments on my exotic
looks. Through these experiences, I came to identify as Japanese, based on how others classified me and the
discrimination I endured.
While some could identify me as Asian, a larger group had difficulty placing me, and this made identifying as
Japanese difficult. I was constantly reminded of the fact that I didn’t fit in to the American racial categories.
Strangers in the grocery store would ask me “what are you?”, as would new friends and acquaintances. Occasionally,
my identification as Japanese would not be accepted: “You can’t be, you don’t look Japanese.” At times I would
answer “I’m American” or respond to “where do you come from?” by saying “Boston.” But these responses would
inevitably be met with “no, really, what are you?” The “what are you” question not only confronted me with the fact
that I wasn’t wholly Japanese and identifiable as Asian, but also with the fact that I wasn’t wholly “American.”
There were other issues with identifying as Japanese American. My mother never acknowledged that I was
racially different than she was. Even in spite of the many conversations we had since I began exploring my
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
14
ethnic/racial identity she said things like “I’m so glad I moved away from that neighborhood and all those Asians.”
When I reminded her that I’m Asian, she responded “I don’t think of you that way,” as if that somehow makes me
White. And, while I know that I am not White, I also know that her Whiteness is part of me. This makes it
difficult to apply ideas about ethnic/racial identity that include a period of rejecting White values or people. On the
other side, when I was in college, I attended some events at the Asian club. I don’t know if the feeling I got of being an
outsider and not really genuine came from other members or from within, but I remember feeling as if I didn’t belong. I
didn’t speak Japanese; I didn’t seem to share the same experiences or have the same values and attitudes (or at least I
didn’t know it if I did); I didn’t even know the Japanese names for the foods I ate. I felt like we were speaking about
different things even when we did have similar experiences. I felt like I had to prove that I was truly Japanese and I
couldn’t ever succeed in that.
The ethnic/racial identity process of multiracial Sansei is complex not only by experiences of
racism and exclusion by the dominant White American group, but also by experiences of
discrimination and exclusion by the Japanese American group and by possible exclusion and
rejection from either or both sides of their extended families (Root, 1990). This exclusion echoes
both the White American racism that led to the concentration camps and the tensions within the
camps (especially around the loyalty questionnaire) between those seen as too American and those
seen as too Japanese (CITE). Within the family, multiracial Sansei may experience prejudice from
either the Japanese extended family or the non-Japanese (usually White European American)
extended family. John remembered his grandmother:
She didn’t like, or she still doesn’t like, anybody who’s non-White. So she was furious when
my father married my mother....when it would be Christmas time, she’d bring a Christmas
present for my brother, but not for me, because she kept on accusing my mother of fooling
around, ‘cause she said I looked more Japanese than my brother.
Multiracial Sansei may also experience discrimination within the Japanese American
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
15
community, as echoed by all interview participants. John noted that some multiracial Japanese
Americans had enough Japanese heritage that they could have been imprisoned, but not enough to
participate in activities in the current Japanese American community. Brian directly related his
feelings of exclusion and discrimination in the Japanese American community to the camp
experience:
There was some blatant stuff like rules. You had to have a Japanese surname or you had to
show a birth certificate…[to belong to Japanese American game leagues or be in the Cherry
Blossom beauty contest]....It pissed me off that if I wanted to [participate]...that there was
somebody out there…that could say I couldn’t, or give me grief about it…it’s kind of a
matter of principle, and I think that relates directly back to the internment...that there was
power there to say you know you can’t do this, and you can’t do this, you can’t go here, you
can’t go here, you’re this, you’re not this.
For multiracial Sansei, these experiences of discrimination from within the Japanese American
community may complicate the development of a positive ethnic/racial identity and coming to
terms with societal discrimination and racial politics as exemplified in the camp experience. Many
Sansei still prefer ethnic organizations and familial experience of the camps increases Sansei’s
expressed preference for interacting with Japanese Americans, rather than White Americans
(Nagata, 1990). However, experiences of discrimination within the Japanese American community
may hinder multiracial Sansei’s access to or use of resources (e.g. groups or events organized to deal
with the effects or implications of the camps).
The identity development of multiracial Sansei may also differ from monoracial Sansei in
relation to negotiating the effects of racism and the dominance of the White European American
culture. Many ethnic/racial identity models (e.g. Helms; Atkinson, Morton & Sue) propose a stage
where individuals actively reject White European American culture, identity, and community and
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
16
instead immerse themselves in their ethnic minority culture, identity, and community. For
monoracial Sansei, this stage may be catalyzed by learning about the injustice of the camps and the
oppression this embodies. For multiracial Sansei, rejecting dominant White identity or values may
mean rejecting a part of themselves and their families. Laura discussed how intergenerational effects
of the camp experience affected her ethnic/racial identity in ways different than someone who was
monoracial Sansei:
I think that it’s always complicated matters for me, that I have all these people who are
White, who love me and who I love…..There was never this period where I could just sort
of be comfortable in just hating White people. That was never a real healthy option for me,
where for other people, it could potentially be a really comfortable place to be at.
Reflections on Healing
When I was in graduate school, I began to ask questions that I’d never asked before. What does it mean to
be Japanese American? What does it mean to be multiracial? Why was so little named in my family? What was
the camp experience really like, and how did it affect my father and his family? Around this time, my father, my
stepmother and I took a trip that included a pilgrimage to Topaz. There, I heard stories that I hadn’t heard before
and experienced what the environment was actually like, enabling an imagination of my father’s experience. After
graduate school, I began to link my professional work with this questioning, by embarking on a research project
exploring ethnic/racial identity in multiracial Japanese Americans. This has been a healing process for me, enabling
me to address some of the issues of transmission and racial exclusion and acceptance, both through my own research
and through conversations with my father. This process has helped me better find my place, understand my history,
and understand how the concentration camp experience has shaped my family and myself through the generations. I
think that this process has also been a healing one for my father, as my questions have led him to reexamine his
experiences and identification. Recently, he said to me that he now he does think of himself as Japanese and can take
some pride in this, and that this is partly a result of my questions and his desire for his children to feel pride in
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
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ourselves and our heritage.
Talking about the concentration camps and the Nisei and Sansei experience of being
Japanese American in a society dominated by White European American views is part of healing for
those involved (Miyoshi, 1972). Learning about the camps and the racial basis for imprisonment
and exclusion may act as a catalyst for ethnic/racial identity development in younger Japanese
Americans, increasing the salience of being Japanese American and opening the door to exploring
one’s Japanese heritage. During W.W.II., being Japanese American meant being alien and
imprisoned. Now, perhaps being Japanese American partially means coming to terms with the
historical and cultural event of the concentration camps and the effects on one’s current place in
both minority and majority communities.
Conversations regarding the concentration camps and the experience of Japanese American
take place at both the familial and community levels. Family conversations about the camp
experience can open the door to the many ways in which this experience has intergenerationally
shaped the meaning of being Japanese American and ethnic/racial identity development in Nisei,
Sansei, and the current Yonsei and Gosei generations. Conversations within the Japanese American
and larger Asian American community are also important. These conversations not only validate
familial conversations, but also explore how the long-term, intergenerational effects of the
concentration camps are a community concern, rather than an experience idiosyncratic to a single
individual or family. Community conversations contribute to healing through sharing, exploring the
broader historical context, understanding how the past influences the present and the future, and
planning for how Japanese Americans will develop and contribute in the future. These conversations
include considering the camp experience in relation to current race relations and social policy (e.g.
the treatment of Arab Americans post 9/11). Nakanishi (1993) argues that the camp experience
should serve as a reason for maintaining a group identity as Japanese-American and as the basis for
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
18
developing a unique contribution to American society:
…[T]o identify as a Japanese American is to recognize the distinctiveness and enduring
impact of our shared collective experience of surviving through and gradually coming to
terms with the internment....We must come to see that the unique contribution which we as
Japanese Americans can make to American society is not the adding of a so-called ‘foreign’
ingredient to the proverbial American melting pot, but instead to share and forever apply
our distinct vantage points of this society and of this government, which are based on our
unique internment experience....To be a Japanese American, I believe, should mean that the
internment remains at the forefront of our collective memory, and the basis of the most
distinct contribution that we can make to this society (pp. 30-31).
How do multiracial Sansei (or Yonsei or Gosei) participate in these dialogues? Sometimes
they may not, as exclusion within the Japanese American community may lead to decreased
opportunities for multiracial individuals to participate at all in these conversations. Some multiracial
individuals may feel that the focus on the camps is looking towards the past, not the future, that the
focus on the camps happens instead of a focus on issues such as the changing face of the Japanese
American community characterized by increasing outmarriage and multiracial Japanese Americans.
But there are many reasons why it is important to invite multiracial Japanese Americans to join the
dialogue regarding the camps and their long-term effects on individuals, families, and the
community. Multiracial individuals bring unique experiences relevant to balancing assimilation and
cultural knowledge, as well as alternative models of discussing the camp experience from their nonJapanese parents.
One of the most important reasons to invite the voice of multiracial individuals in the camp
dialogue is because to deny this voice is to continue the silence and denial of the long-term impact
of the camp experience. The camp experience contributed to increased assimilation, which is a
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
19
major contributor to outmarriage and, of course, to multiracial children. Embracing the existence
and voice of multiracial Japanese Americans is one way to explore the changes wrought in the
Japanese American community that may be related to the camps. In addition, multiracial
individuals’ experiences of exclusion in the Japanese American and/or dominant communities
echoes the historical experience of exclusion; the Japanese American community needs to explicitly
acknowledge that multiracial Japanese Americans are not a “foreign” ingredient in the Japanese
American community, just as Japanese Americans generally are not a “foreign” ingredient in the
larger American community. This acknowledgement could encourage an exploration of the
meaning of race and how it has been constructed throughout recent decades.
Current outmarriage rates make it clear that the future of the Japanese American community
is as a multiracial community. While Nakanishi may be correct that the experience of the
concentration camps has shaped a distinct vantage point that can be the foundation of a unique
contribution, this agenda also needs to incorporate the changes within the Japanese American
community related to the increase in multiracial individuals. How the Japanese American
community integrates (or does not) multiracial individuals can, I believe, become part of our “unique
contribution” to American society and is directly related to the experience and long-term effects of
the concentration camps. Inviting multiracial individuals to contribute to the dialogues regarding
the camps can contribute to intergenerational healing in individuals, families, and the community as
a whole and perhaps act as a bridge to bring together past, present, and future issues within Japanese
American individuals and the community.
Ethnic/racial identity in Multiracial Sansei
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Notes
1
. There is some controversy or uncertainty about the best language to use to describe the
camp experience during W.W.II. Although “internment” or “relocation” are most commonly used,
I chose to use “concentration camp” like the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the
Japanese American National Museum. “Relocation” is not appropriate, as relocation means simply
changing areas and resettling—it does not mean being placed behind barbed wire with armed guards
at the exits. “Internment” is also problematic, as it refers to “a well defined legal process by which
enemy nationals are placed in confinement in times of war” (Daniels,1991). Daniels notes that the
incarceration of Japanese immigrants and non-U.S. citizens immediately after Pearl Harbor was
internment but the imprisonment of almost 100,000 U.S. citizens because of how they looked and
because of a more powerful group’s desire for economic gain does not fit the definition of
internment.
The use of “concentration camp” is controversial because of the links to the Nazi death
camps. Clearly the U.S. concentration camps were not death camps. However, the Encyclopedia
Britannica states that concentration camps are “for political prisoners and members of national or
minority groups who are confined for reasons of state security, exploitation or punishment, usually
by executive decree or military order”; it makes a distinction between concentration camps, prisons,
Prisoner of War camps, relocation centers, and death camps and uses the Japanese American
experience as an example (Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008). In addition, the term concentration
camp is the one that was used by U.S. officials, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, at the
time, although the government quickly changed its public language in order to make the camps more
acceptable. To not use the actual term maintains the mythology that the U.S. has never had these
types of prison and, as the web page of the Japanese American National Museum
(http://www.janm.org/nrc/accfact.php, retrieved April 11, 2008) states: “This extensive and
persistent use of euphemisms not only worked to sidetrack legal and constitutional challenges but,
more insidiously, functioned to gain the cooperation of its victims as well as deceive the American
and worldwide public.”
2
. All names have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants.