Japanese American Internment In The U.S.,1941-1945Yellow Suspects In A White Men’s Country

The Japanese internment—the wartime confinement of Japanese Americans—was oneof the most significant events in the United States during WWII. It marked a darkchapter in the nation’s history, when the Otherness of Japanese was articulated andrepudiated by the nation in a most overt way. Such reaction speaks volumes ofAmerican racism and problems concerning national identity in a multi-ethnic society.Given the significance of this event, it’s not a surprise that a great deal of scholarlyeffort has been devoted to it in the United States ever since the1940s, interpretingboth its causes and consequences from various perspectives. By contrast, the study ofthis issue by Chinese scholars is relatively scanty both in quantity and quality. By andlarge, the Internment was partially treated as an integral part of a larger whole, lackingbreath and depth in the analysis of its causal factors and implications. The presentthesis is therefore an effort to address such an inadequacy in the study of this topic inChina. Based on existing scholarship, the thesis attempts to provide a historicalanalysis of Japanese American internment by examining its causes, implementation,impacts and implications.Conceived in this way, the thesis begins with an investigation of the historical context,in which a convergence of wartime exigencies, the dubious status of JapaneseAmericans and deep-rooted racism led to the initiation and support of internmentpolicies. Following that, the thesis proceeds to examine the implementation of thepolicies, namely mass incarceration, loyalty inquisition and conditioned resettlement.By doing so, the underlying ideologies—that is a systematic repudiation of anythingJapanese—can be identified. With these understandings, the thesis tries to provide anobjective and balanced assessment of the impacts and implications of the event,offering Arab Americans’ parallel experience after the9/11attack as an illustration.On the basis of this careful study, the thesis argues in conclusion that the Internment confirms the argument that Japanese Americans were and probably are still notaccepted as true Americans. To put the issue in the larger context of American history,such an event can be interpreted as a logical outcome when a nation, dominated byAnglo-Protestants, adheres to an ethno-culturally exclusive concept of its identity,thus leading to the unfair treatment of its ethno-minorities in times of national crisis.Viewed in this light, the study of this event with such complexity and significancewill help people better understand not only the event per se, but also Americans’entrenched racist mentality and the delicate issue of its national identification.