ASA 114
Week 8
In Tsuda's When Minorities Migrate: The radicalization of the Japanese Brazilians in Brazil and Japan, he explains his years of research and findings on the effects of being a Japanese Brazilian in Brazil versus Japan, while comparing this diaspora to other cultural diasporas. Many of the feelings and experiences are similar to those of Asian Americans, though, not the same. For example, he explains that they are "distinct from those of Japanese Americans because unlike the United States, Brazil does not have many Asian minorities of non-Japanese descent." Another related example is how he describes the way people in Brazil will often shout/call out to a Japanese person as "japones!" This experience of having one's ethnicity (or another Asian ethnicity) shouted is a shared cultural experience between Japanese in Brazil and Asians in America. However, it is not the same due to the fact that Tsuda notes that calling out "japones" is not an act of prejudice and is not considered offensive. This to me is hard to believe after growing up in America where this example would be considered a racist or offensive act. So, how did this term become a normalized act, where it doesn't hold negative connotations?
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