Unsettling Japanese Canadianness in Vancouver: Negotiated and Hybridized Identity
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UNSETTLING JAPANESE CANADIANNESS IN VANCOUVER: NEGOTIATED AND HYBRIDIZED IDENTITY by KOZUE MATSUMOTO B.A., TSUDA COLLEGE, 2002 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Educational Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December, 2010 ©Kozue Matsumoto, 2010 ABSTRACT This research examines the identity construction processes and negotiations of members of the Japanese Canadian community in the Greater Vancouver area. In particular, it attempts to answer the following research questions: How do members of the Japanese Canadian community in the Greater Vancouver area construct, negotiate, and hybridize their identity in relation to their respective situations, such as people around them, their community, and the wider society? In particular, how do membership of the community and activities help construct their identity? This research looks at the concept of identity as relational, an on-going internal and external negotiation process, and hybrid based on the arguments of Bhabha (1990, 1994), Fuss (1995), Hall (1990), Nagel (1994) and Weeks (1990). This study also seeks to understand the informants’ relationships with their environment, employing the argument of Lowe (2004) and Spivak (1987) as well as the concept of the “third space” proposed by Bhabha (1990). Based on these perspectives, this research collected the identity construction stories from several Japanese Canadian community members through interviews. With a purposeful sampling strategy, the informants were selected based on their interests and engagement in the cultural and social side of the Japanese Canadian community in Greater Vancouver, and the variety of their ethnic background—in other words, the different ways of being to some extent Japanese. Based on the informants’ stories, this research argues that 1) the informants’ identities are hybrid and constructed through diverse processes and negotiations, including what they call themselves; 2) the informants and communities put efforts toward the deconstruction of “dominant” and “minority” dichotomous positioning with the combination of a sharing-oriented process and strategic essentialism; 3) community space plays a role as a third space for its members. From these arguments, this research also questions the concept of ethnicity and Canada’s multicultural ii policy based on ethnicity since there are many people and phenomena that cannot be explained with this concept. iii PREFACE This study was approved by the University of British Columbia Behavioural Research Ethics Board. The certificate number of the ethics certificate was H09-01344. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... xi DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Research question ................................................................................................................ 2 1.3. Significance .......................................................................................................................... 3 1.4. Outline of thesis ................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2: JAPANESE CANADIAN HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................. 6 2.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 6 2.2. Before the Second World War: Struggles to gain civil rights as Japanese Canadians ........ 6 2.3. During the War: Japanese Canadian identity destroyed ...................................................... 7 2.4. 1945-1977: Negotiations again after the War ...................................................................... 8 2.5. Since the 1970s: New negotiation of Japanese Canadian identity ..................................... 10 2.5.1. The redress movement: The diversity of Japanese Canadian community .................. 10 2.5.2. Reactions of others: External negotiations ................................................................. 14 2.5.3. Struggles as Japanese: Internal negotiations ............................................................... 15 2.6. The current situation of Japanese Canadians: New negotiations ....................................... 17 2.7. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ......................................................................... 21 3.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 21 3.2. Theoretical framework: Identity ........................................................................................ 21 3.3. Identity as a process ........................................................................................................... 24 3.4. Identity negotiation ............................................................................................................ 26 3.5. Identity and hybridity ......................................................................................................... 28 3.6. Dynamics between minority groups and the dominant group ........................................... 30 3.7. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 33 4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 33 4.2. Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 33 v 4.3. Methods.............................................................................................................................. 34 4.4. Data analysis ...................................................................................................................... 37 4.5. Informants’ demography .................................................................................................... 38 4.6. Limitation ........................................................................................................................... 41 4.7. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................................................... 43 5.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 43 5.2. James .................................................................................................................................. 43 5.2.1. Background and growing up ....................................................................................... 43 5.2.2. Experience in Japan .................................................................................................... 44 5.2.3. Community ................................................................................................................. 45 5.2.4. Identity ........................................................................................................................ 48 5.3. Ken ..................................................................................................................................... 49 5.3.1. Background ................................................................................................................. 49 5.3.2. Growing up ................................................................................................................. 50 5.3.3. Experience in Japan .................................................................................................... 50 5.3.4. Community ................................................................................................................. 51 5.3.5. Identity ........................................................................................................................ 54 5.4. Toko ..................................................................................................................................