Between Two Empires: Race, History, and Transnationalism in Japanese America

by Eiichiro Azuma

The incarceration of Japanese Americans has been discredited as a major blemish in American democratic tradition. Accompanying this view is the assumption that the ethnic group help unqualified allegiance to the United States. Between Two Empires probes the complexities of prewar Japanese America to show how Japanese in America held an in-between space between the United States and the empire of Japan, between American nationality and Japanese racial identity.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, United States, School

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Offers a great critique of “transnationalism” in favor of his own “inter-National” description of the Issei. Also critiques the typical national narrative of Japanese-Americans as a diaspora community within the United States. Very good at showing just how tied to the Japanese empire many Issei were.

[sdw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Between Two Empires examines the experience of Japanese immigrants to the United States before World War II. Specifically, Azuma explores the way immigrants maneuvered between competing nationalisms in their inter-National experience, while Japan tried to renarrate the Issei/Nisei experience for its own purposes. I really enjoyed how this book put Japanese immigrants experiences and perspectives in conversation with what was going on intellectually, politically and economically in Japan. This is a book that certainy demonstrates and explains change over time in both an American and Japanese context. It is a book that both recognizes the agency of its subjects and yet does not overromanticize the power of those subjects. The material conditions are upfront in this work. He tracks the discourse around immigrant morality, the Issei pioneer thesis, and the nisei bridge thesis as constructed by Issei. Both U.S. and Japanese records are employed. The focus appears to be largely Japanese American communities in Central and Northern California. I kept thinking throughout this book that it could not have been written at an earlier time. Many earlier workers assert deep American loyalty to Japanese Americans. This book surveys the complexity of the narratives that immigrants (and immigrant historians) employed in their quest for survival, and their desire to thrive. This book is a must read if you are interested in a transnational studies as it may emerge from an Americanist context.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5-the discussion of the numerous Japanese-American organizations bogged me down a bit in some parts of this, but lots of great information on the pioneer thesis, disjunctures in concepts of identity and racial hierarchy, and the complexities of positionality.

[Evangeline Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

strong account of prewar Japanese community and the forging o f transnational identity between two empires.

[Bonnie]

This is a book Prof. Tsu at Davis recommended to help me understand the research I am doing on Japanese farmers in the Santa Clara Valley.