P9-02 Japanese Immigration Narratives from/to the South


Call for papers

Themes


Convenor

Adriana Capuano de Oliveira
PCHS/UFABC

Abstract

The opening of papers receiving to the proposed panel refers not only to the researches related to the migration of Japanese territory to the South, but also from those to Japan. Since the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the first Japanese immigrants began to leave Japan, to work in Hawaii, first receiver port of these immigrants. Since then, several treaties of friendship, trade and navigation are signed between Japan and other countries. In 1873 it was signed the first treaty of friendship between Japan and a Latin American country, being the Peru this pioneer among Latin American and Japanese diplomatic relations. Five years later, in 1878, it is the turn of Mexico. After that, Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia.

After nearly a century of this migration from Japan to Latin American, their descendants begin to return to Japan in the late 1970s, and more significantly in the 1980s and 90s. In this century of history, within families and with abrupt changes that the twentieth century was able to provide, we highlight some aspects that deserve attention in this panel. The generational issue, of families whose grandparents are Japanese migrants and whose grandchildren are Latin American migrants again, the language issue, the issue of customs, values ​​and identification with the Japanese and / or Latin American identity, transnational families, among other questions. The transformations of Japanese migration to the rural world, and today’s Japan, whose new immigrants are intended for urban and industrial spaces, the question of modernization of the receiving societies, along the deep technical changes, and scientific work that the twentieth century saw, with its wars and the impact of world War II in the lives of these people. Specially we welcome innovative analyzes that can be worked from the perspectives of the ‘South’, highlighting here for Latin American countries, but not only.

Also we intend to go through the geopolitical aspect forged in these population flows. This means that we are interested in make dialogue works that problematize, somehow, processes of territorialization: local joints, networking and neighborhood relations anchored and / or driven by a territorial vector. It is by facing this population flows that we can understand the power relations and conflicts that are gestated within the networks and alliances historically constituted by processes whose territorial dimension plays a significant role, either as a trigger of conflict, or as an articulator of identities.