A critical analysis of multiculturalism and deviant identities: Untold stories of Japanese Americans without nations

Abstract

What part have Japanese immigrants played in multiculturalism in America? How have such immigrants been described in the prevailing multicultural discourse? In recent years, discussions of multiculturalism and Japanese immigrants are increasingly attracting more attention. In fact, Japanese immigrants are now regularly mentioned in American history textbooks as representative “good Americans.” This suggests that Japanese immigrants have become an integral part of multicultural education in the US. However, the history and identity of Japanese immigrants described in these discussions and textbooks do not completely cover the stories of Japanese immigrants in America, especially those who were marginalized and forced to struggle to maintain their distinctive identities. Those aspects of Japanese immigrants depicted in the established discourse of history and identity present only one model for Japanese immigrants. When the immigrants crossed national borders, they encountered complicated struggles over their own identities. How should such a struggle be understood? What does this understanding mean to the contemporary literature of multiculturalism?.