Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family

Photography and memory seem to be inextricably bound up with each other, as photographs can invoke memories which help to excavate past moments with vivid details. Yoshiko Uchida in her autobiography, Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family (1982), delves into her past experiences through the lens of counter-memory, i.e. the memory of the minor and the subjugated. The Japanese-American author strives to recover the past by means of photographic images which—blended into written reminiscences— uncover yet another plane of articulation. Individual memory has enabled the author to chisel her own identity with textual and photographic means of self-expression. Constructing her autobiographical confession, Uchida also draws upon the collective memory of the war internment of the Japanese and Japanese Americans, which inevitably shaped her present self. A set of photographs which accompanies her account testifies that the ocular dimension can be as powerful as the textual one. Each photograph contains a stratum of data which deprives the text of its autonomy and grants it an equal status of signification.

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Association of Filial Responsibility, Ethnicity, and Acculturation Among Japanese American Family Caregivers of Older Adults

Journal of Applied Gerontology ◽

10.1177/0733464815581484 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 296-319 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Christina E. Miyawaki

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Qualitative Interview ◽

Japanese American ◽

American Family ◽

Filial Responsibility ◽

Host Countries ◽

Self Identity ◽

Interview Guide ◽

Acculturation Level

Challenges of filial caregiving practices by 1st-generation immigrants due to differences in caregiving values between their home and host countries are well documented. This study explored the filial responsibility of later generation Japanese American caregivers of older adults. Acculturation and filial responsibility were measured using the Suinn-Lew Asian Self Identity Acculturation scale and Filial Values Index, respectively. A qualitative interview guide was developed using Gordon’s assimilation theory, and 21 caregivers ( M age = 68 years, 86% female, seven in each generation) were interviewed. Despite the 3rd-generation caregivers’ high acculturation level, their filial responsibility scores remained high. Qualitative interviews also revealed later generation caregivers’ strong filial responsibility and continued caregiving involvement. Unexpectedly, caregivers’ own future expectancy of care included placement in mainstream residential facilities rather than ethnic-specific settings. Findings point to the need to develop caregiver services that consider later generation caregivers’ culture and level of assimilation.

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Japanese American family photography: A brief report of research on home mode communication in cross‐cultural contexts

Visual Sociology ◽

10.1080/14725868808583617 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 12-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Richard Chalfen

Keyword(s):

Cross Cultural ◽

Japanese American ◽

American Family ◽

Cultural Contexts

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