Description: This book discusses contemporary experiences of Japanese Americans in Hawaii through analyses of the nature of their relationship to other ethnic groups. The author argues that as Japanese gradually gained economic and political status they have demonstrated collective resistance to domination, advocacy for themselves and other marginalized groups, and social responsibility to the peoples of Hawaii.
Brief description: Jonathan Y. Okamura is professor emeritus in the Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.
Review Quotes: [The book] demonstrates that from the days of the early plantation society, Japanese American men and women resisted racial oppression through labor organizing and movements to revitalize their cultural identity. In this way, Okamura's work demonstrates the complex interplay between race, class, and gender in shaping the emergent Japanese American ethnic identity. These collective experiences of struggle and resistance laid the foundation for the Japanese American community's transition from a racialized minority to a powerful ethnic group during the quarter century after World War II.--Michael Jin "Hawaiian Journal of History, Vol. 49 (2015)"