A Japanese-American teacher's personal experience with diversity helped her second graders value their differences and appreciate their similarities. Teachers of all ethnic backgrounds bring their views, values, dreams, and cultural baggage to the classroom. Teachers should consider what they represent and how they themselves view ethnic…

In 1942, less than four months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent United States entry into World War II , nearly 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living along the west coast of the United States were ordered to evacuate their homes and sent to internment camps. The evacuees, separated from their extended families, former…

This conference paper describes how the phrase "picture bride" is used as a metaphor in ethnic poetry. It is used in poems which concern female creativity in the areas of art and housekeeping. The phrase represents the fusion of concepts and ideas which are usually thought of in juxtaposition with each other. These concepts and ideas are…

Poets Ray Young Bear (Mesquakie), James Mitsui (Japanese American), James McAuley (Irish-American), Alex Kuo (Chinese-America) and Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Sioux) participated in this forum on the legacy of culture and the creative process. Genres, culture, and definitions of ethnicity were discussed; and an audience participation question-and-answer…

Focuses on problems in sexuality and physical self concept related to being Japanese in a society dominated by Caucasian values. Includes poetry on the Japanese American experience. (GC)

Japanese Americans in suburban Orange County, California, are widely dispersed geographically and have frequent opportunities to integrate totally into mainstream society. Nevertheless, ethnicity survives and flourishes for many. The mechanisms by which ethnicity is developed and maintained by Japanese Americans residing in predominantly white,…

Discusses the discrimination against and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and reminds readers that Congress and the Supreme Court approved the mass discriminatory action. Draws a parallel to current discrimination against Iranians in the United States. (GC)

Defines the "circle of ethnicity" as a logical paradox that grows out of the relationship between Japanese American and Euro American language, thought, and culture. From psychological and metaphysical perspectives, discusses how the paradox confronts every Japanese American striving for personhood in United States society. Includes author's…

Explores the relationship among the self-image of third-generation Japanese-American males, sexual dynamics within corporations, and their managerial behavior. Argues that ethnic and sexual stereotypes influence Japanese-American participation in the management of U.S. corporations, and that membership in "corporate communities" has…

There is a growing movement to demand reparations for Japanese incarcerated in American concentration camps during World War II. The movement is progressing at a period when those in power are reacting against programs that support Asian Americans. Americans must not ignore the issue as they did 40 years ago. (Author/MJL)

"Farewll to Manzanar" (Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James Houston), autobiographical account of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, might be used in a writing class to help students think deliberately about race and ethnicity. Writing about the book and researching the history surrounding it could serve to…

This paper reviews the results of a survey of institutions of higher education which offer coursework focusing on Japanese Americans and emphasizes the program in Japanese American Studies at San Francisco State University. The results showed a distribution of twenty-eight courses offered at fifteen institutions in California, Washington and…

The Japanese Americans are numerically the largest of all the Asian American ethnic groups. In contrast to the other Asian American groups in the United States, the Japanese Americans are predominantly native born. Although first and second generation Japanese Americans had been subject to intense employment discrimination before World War II and…

The arguments in favor of and against monetary redress for survivors of America's wartime internment camps are presented. Pro-redress arguments emphasize the injustices done the victims. Anti-redress arguments focus on the duties for citizenship and the reasonable actions politicians might have concluded were necessary to win the war. (PS)

While an individual in his own culture is expected to have a stable self concept, one who is placed in a totally different context may experience difficulties because ideas about self in the old society are no longer appropriate in the new one. In order to survive, the individual has to redefine his self concept to make it more functional in the…