TY - JOUR
T1 - Recovering Heritage and Homeland
T2 - Ethnic Revival Among Fourth-Generation Japanese Americans
AU - Tsuda, Takeyuki
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Alpha Kappa Delta: The International Sociology Honor Society.
PY - 2015/11
Y1 - 2015/11
N2 - In recent years, fourth-generation Japanese American youth have been attempting to recover their ethnic heritage and reconnect with their ancestral homeland. This ethnic revival is a response to their continued racialization as "Japanese," which has caused them to become concerned about their overassimilation to American society in an era of multiculturalism where cultural heritage and homeland have come to be positively valued. As a result, they are studying Japanese, majoring in Asian studies, living in Japan as college exchange students, and participating in Japanese taiko drum ensembles in local ethnic communities. Although this return to ethnic roots is a more serious commitment than the symbolic ethnicity observed among white ethnics in the past, it indicates that ethnicity remains involuntary for racial minorities, even after four generations. The case of later-generation Japanese Americans demonstrates that cultural assimilation does not preclude the continuation and active production of ethnic difference.
AB - In recent years, fourth-generation Japanese American youth have been attempting to recover their ethnic heritage and reconnect with their ancestral homeland. This ethnic revival is a response to their continued racialization as "Japanese," which has caused them to become concerned about their overassimilation to American society in an era of multiculturalism where cultural heritage and homeland have come to be positively valued. As a result, they are studying Japanese, majoring in Asian studies, living in Japan as college exchange students, and participating in Japanese taiko drum ensembles in local ethnic communities. Although this return to ethnic roots is a more serious commitment than the symbolic ethnicity observed among white ethnics in the past, it indicates that ethnicity remains involuntary for racial minorities, even after four generations. The case of later-generation Japanese Americans demonstrates that cultural assimilation does not preclude the continuation and active production of ethnic difference.
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U2 - 10.1111/soin.12095
DO - 10.1111/soin.12095
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84944733262
SN - 0038-0245
VL - 85
SP - 600
EP - 627
JO - Sociological Inquiry
JF - Sociological Inquiry
IS - 4
ER -