This dissertation is a sociolinguistic study of the ideologies about language, culture and ethnicity among Japanese immigrants and descendants in Brazil (hereafter, Nikkeis) who gather at a local Japanese cultural association, searching for what it means to be "Japanese" in Brazil. This study focuses on how linguistic behaviors are…

Much has been said about the difficulties that Latin American children of foreign Japanese descent (Nikkei) face in the Japanese school system since the implementation of Japan's new immigration law in 1990. The underlying monolingualism and cultural exclusion of the school system are often blamed for these difficulties. However, little detailed…