| Chapter 1: | Reconsiderations of Race, Ethnicity, and Identity: Transnational Migrants in Post–World War II Global Society |
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All migrants, of course, find distinct differences between their originalsocieties and the one where they currently reside. And while they livein a new nation, they keep connections to their old home. In this book weexamine the particular manifestations of this in the Japanese case: Nikkeiand Japanese at home and abroad.
However, images of “home” often become reconstructed in the minds of transnational migrants in special ways because they lack direct daily interactions with people from the ancestral country. Many times images of home become exaggerated. Coming from an alleged “beautiful” and “great” nation, migrants from the same country tend to associate with each other in their new societies (where they are often facing daily problems). By coming together in activities and organized events, the group reforms images of its homeland and, through them, individuals are able to construct and reform their sense of “self” and “other.”
The host nation's public view of the migrants' home country also constructs an image in their minds. People of the host nation call the immigrants' culture “ethnic,” as seen in everyday discourse when referring to things like “ethnic food,” “ethnic music,” or “ethnic heritage.” This mainstream characterization is used without thought or malice, even though the migrants themselves might be uncomfortable, say, to find their regularly used cooking ingredients in the “ethnic food” aisle of the grocery store. The migrants, then, become “ethnic minorities” both because they are referred to as such, but also because that is how they come to see themselves.
We tend to think that the concept of ethnicity has been with us for long time. However, it is actually a very new notion. The term “ethnicity,” together with terms like “ethnic community,” “ethnic group,” “ethnic minorities,” and “ethnic identity,” has been used habitually only since the 1960s. The more such terms have been used, the more scholars have started asking: What are the differences between “ethnicity” and already existing terms, such as social class and race? For example, in 1967, in his book Race Relations, Michael Banton stated that ethnicity was formed by the members of the minority groups themselves and race was a public classification of those minorities by those outside the group. However, this claim has many exceptions. For instance, ethnicity is also used for public actions like “ethnic cleansing” in