UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Justice and Its Others: On the Politics of Redress for Japanese Latin Americans A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree Doctorate of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies by Cathleen Kiyomi Kozen Committee in charge: Professor Yen Le Espiritu, Chair Professor Victor Bascara Professor John D. Blanco Professor Ross H. Frank Professor Denise Ferreira da Silva Professor Kalindi Vora 2016 Copyright Cathleen Kiyomi Kozen, 2016 All rights reserved The Dissertation of Cathleen Kiyomi Kozen is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2016 iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the Latin American Japanese deportees and activists still in pursuit of justice. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page………………………………………………………….….. iii Dedication…………………………………………………………….……. iv Table of Contents…………………………………………………….……. v Acknowledgements…………………………………………………….….. vi Vita………………..…………………………………………………….….. xi Abstract of the Dissertation……..………………………………….…….… xvi Introduction: Violence, History, Justice: Toward a Politics of Redress…...…...…..………………….…... 1 Chapter 1: Traces of the Transpacific U.S.-American Empire: A Japanese Latin American Critique....……..………………….. 66 Chapter 2: Delimiting “The Internment”: Subjugated Knowledges and the Disavowal of U.S. Empire…........................................... 108 Chapter 3: Redress as American-Style Justice at the End of the Cold War………………………..……………. 144 Chapter 4: Justice and Its Failures: Global Excesses of the Civil Liberties Act..…………………… 172 Chapter 5: Hauntings and Rearticulations: Time, Space and Arrested Histories in the Pursuit of Justice.....…………………. 235 Chapter 6: (Un)settling Memories: The “Unfinished Business” of Redress….……………………… 287 Appendix..………………………………………………………………….. 339 Bibliography……………………………………………………………….. 340 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is the product of years of learning and collaborations dependent on countless people, both within and outside academia, who have profoundly influenced my thinking and intellectual trajectory. Without their generosity, their support, their insights, this project would not have been possible. First, Professors Michael Omi and David Leonard, from my days at UC Berkeley where I completed my undergraduate work, provided me invaluable guidance, particularly while I was applying to graduate programs. Moreover, my learnings from the courses I took with them formed the seeds of my critical understandings of racial violence and, for all of this, I am forever grateful. At UC San Diego, as a student in the Ethnic Studies Graduate Program, I have had the opportunity and privilege of working with so many brilliant professors over the years—professors both within and affiliated with the Ethnic Studies Department. First and foremost, I thank my advisor Yen Le Espiritu, scholar and mentor extraordinaire, who has generously offered me her personal and intellectual guidance ever since I first started in the program. There are not enough words or ways to adequately thank her for her time, feedback and mentorship. From organizing and hosting countless writing groups to meeting with me over Skype given my long commute, her steadfast support and encouragement has been the constant, most important external factor toward the completion of this project. If ever there were a model to emulate as a scholar, teacher, advisor, it would be her. Denise Ferreira da Silva, who has since left UCSD after my qualifying exam but thankfully remained on my committee, has assumed an absolutely formative role in my development as a scholar. From the two courses I took with her on vi “critical theory” and “race and the law” to a reading and writing group she hosted to her impeccable feedback on this project, I stand indebted to her important work and commitment to push the paradigmatic boundaries of a critical ethnic studies project. Ross Frank, also there for me since I first began my studies at UCSD, has always been a dependable source of wise counsel. For this project, he has not only unfailingly and enthusiastically made himself available to meet or write a letter of recommendation no matter his busy schedule but offered insightful feedback, particularly as the only Native American studies scholar and historian on my committee. I am extremely grateful to Kalindi Vora, Jody Blanco, Victor Bascara (UCLA) all of whom joined my committee later in the project and proceeded to give me generous and productive feedback on how to improve it. I truly appreciate each of their close engagements with my work and look forward to more conversations to come. Finally, though they have also since left UC San Diego, Lisa Yoneyama and Tak Fujitani, who were originally on my committee, both assumed significant and pivotal roles in the shaping of my project—through their own research, the courses I was able to take with them and their always detailed, constructive feedback. I would like to thank them for their generous support and encouragement over the years. Still, none of this would have been possible without the true friendships and collegiality of the students and colleagues I have been fortunate to associate with since our time at UC San Diego. I am so grateful for Maile Arvin, Long Bui, Kyung Hee Ha, Angie Morrill, Kit Myers, Ayako Sahara, Tomoko Tsuchiya and Ma Vang. Kyung Hee, in particular, as my writing partner in the later stages of this project, provided invaluable, detailed feedback on drafts of chapters as well as much needed encouragement. I would vii also like to take this opportunity to thank the many advanced graduate students (now professors) who offered their informal mentorship, especially during my first years in the program—in particular, Jose Fuste, Myrna Garcia, Julie Hua, Becky Kinney, Angela Kong and Traci Voyles. Finally, I would like to thank our Graduate Program Coordinator Christa Ludeking for her assistance and guidance in navigating the many formal stipulations required for successfully submitting the dissertation. Outside of UC San Diego, I thank particularly A. Naomi Paik, whose generous support of my work and unsolicited assistance in sending me records she had of the testimonies given by the Japanese Latin American former deportees at the 1981 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) hearings helped me save much time and resources toward completing chapter two of the dissertation. I am so grateful to have crossed paths with her along this journey and to be able to call her a friend and mentor. I am also grateful to the librarians and archivists who assisted me in my research at the many archives I visited, including Karl Yoneda at the Japanese American National Library in San Francisco and Jane Nakasako at the Hirasaki National Resource Center at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Numerous fellowships and scholarships have supported my research for this project including: University of California (UC) California Studies Consortium (CSC) Graduate Student Research Travel Grant; San Diego Japanese American Citizens League Scholarship; University of California Human Rights Center Fellowship; University of California, San Diego Latino Studies Research Initiative Summer Research Grant; University of California, San Diego Center for Global California Studies Summer Graduate Fellowship; California Civil Liberties Public Education Program Grant; viii California Japanese American Alumni Association Scholarship; and Ethnic Studies Departmental Fellowship, University of California, San Diego. Outside of academia, I am grateful for my friends and family who have supported me unconditionally every step of the way. In particular, I thank Marcela Molina for the quality of her friendship for nearly thirty years. Her enthusiasm and encouragement of my work has been unbounded and carried me through many difficult times. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to my parents, Robert and Julia Kozen, and my sisters and their significant others, Carolyn Wilbur and Mark Wilbur, Kristina Kozen-Lim and Daniel Lim, and Lori Kozen and Joji Maekawa, for all their love and support of this and all my endeavors throughout the years. I thank my partner, Eric Chan, for his crucial role in providing me emotional and practical support during this long journey. Finally, I thank my daughter, Evvy, for offering much needed comic relief at times, detraction and joy and at the same time enormous amounts of patience and understanding so I could write— far surpassing that of a typical three-/four-year-old. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank those associated with the Japanese Latin American redress efforts who willingly granted me access to their archives, their homes, their work and their hearts. First and foremost, I thank Grace Shimizu—undoubtedly and indisputably the key person who has spearheaded JLA redress efforts since the passage of the CLA. Without her, there would be no Campaign for Justice nor this project of which to speak. Grace graciously welcomed me into the organization as a volunteer intern and into her home and archive as a researcher and collaborator.