American-Japanese Ethnic Identities:
Individual Assertions and Social Reflections
Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu,
Tokyo University, International Center
This study explores the ethnic identity development that occurs during adolescence and early adulthood for persons of Japanese and American ancestry. It focuses on the process of identity assertion and reflection by analyzing what kinds of ethnic identities are asserted by individuals and how others receive or reflect these identity assertions. The paper begins with an outline of how developments in the sociocultural environments in Japan and the United States have influenced identity assertions. It then describes the particular kinds of ethnic identity choices that are made and the ways in which these identity assertions are responded to by others.
The methodology utilized semi-structured interviews with forty-seven individuals with Japanese mothers and American fathers between the ages of 18 and 38 in Japan and the United States. The data indicates that American-Japanese have contributed to and benefited from sociocultural changes in Japan and the United States that have positively affected their ethnic identities. They are likely to regard a monoethnic identity as normal and desirable, but their assertions of a monoethnic identity can be problematic, as they are often met with a lack of acceptance by others. Prevailing, irrational racial classifications based on the "one-drop rule" of blood assign American-Japanese to the groups supposedly lower on the racial hierarchy. However, their position on the boundary of ethnic groups leaves American-Japanese in ambiguous territory and subject to being defined by others in various ways that may be against their own will. More recently, the importance of asserting all aspects of one's ethnic heritage has been promoted as a healthy alternative for multiethnic people. Increased recognition and the improved social climate has encouraged American-Japanese to assert a multiethnic identity, as they find it generally more acceptable than in the past. However, the social politics of race continues to make these assertions of a multiethnic identity problematic and individuals attempting them still encounter potential barriers to acceptance. Individuals engaging in multiethnic identity assertions actively challenge ethnic boundaries and divisions and contribute to social change while involved in their own identity struggles.
