METAMORPHOSIS OF THE YELLOW: JAPANESE IMMIGRATION FROM “YELLOW PERIL” TO “RACIAL DEMOCRACY”

Abstract

Taking the 1946 Constituent Assembly and the 1958 Legislative Session as landmarks, this article examines the radical transformations experienced by Japanese immigrants and their descendants in the first years after World War II. While in 1946, Japanese immigration was nearly prohibited constitutionally, in 1958 the federal legislature is marked by celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of this immigration to Brazil. Based on the speeches of congressmen, I aim to identify how and on what grounds they drew boundaries separating or not the Japanese immigrants and their descendants from Brazilian nationality. The study of the legislative branch will also allow us to verify the consequences of each vision in the concrete proposals presented, discussed and voted in Parliament. The changes in the conceptions of race and nationality that dominated the debates and deliberations in the Brazilian federal legislature at each moment will be central to the understanding of the process.