"I am Not an Immigrant But I Happen to Live Here": Negotiating Ethnicity Among First-Generation Post-1965 Japanese Migrants in US Immigrant Gateway City

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dc.contributor.advisorBratter, Jenifer L.
dc.creatorZhang, Xiaorui
dc.date.accessioned2021-12-06T20:20:29Z
dc.date.available2022-06-01T05:01:14Z
dc.date.created2021-12
dc.date.issued2021-12-02
dc.date.submittedDecember 2021
dc.date.updated2021-12-06T20:20:29Z
dc.description.abstractThe history of Japanese immigration to the United States is a well-established inquiry in Asian American scholarship. However, we know less about the incorporation experiences of contemporary Japanese who migrated to the United States after 1965. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 25 first-generation post-1965 Japanese migrants in Houston, Texas, this study examines how their understandings of immigrant status shape ethnic boundaries and ethnic identity formation. The findings indicate that many respondents do not see themselves as immigrants despite being long-term US residents, which corresponds to two types of ethnic boundaries. The first type is intergroup boundaries between themselves and other contemporary US immigrants, sharpened by the motivations for migration and the pursuits of American citizenship. The second type is intragroup boundaries among the Japanese population, not only with prewar Japanese immigrants, reflecting differences in social class, but also with Japanese expatriates in the host society and other co-ethnics living in Japan who embody a more authentic Japanese ethnic identity. The findings of this study reveal the dynamic nature of the immigrant label that contemporary migrants negotiate and redefine in the process of ethnic identity formation. Further, it contributes insights into the global North-North migration characterized as non-labor migration.
dc.embargo.terms2022-06-01
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationZhang, Xiaorui. ""I am Not an Immigrant But I Happen to Live Here": Negotiating Ethnicity Among First-Generation Post-1965 Japanese Migrants in US Immigrant Gateway City." (2021) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/111774">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/111774</a>.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/111774
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectpost-1965 Japanese migration
dc.subjectethnicity
dc.subjectimmigrant
dc.subjectidentity
dc.subjectglobal north-north migration
dc.subjectJapanese
dc.title"I am Not an Immigrant But I Happen to Live Here": Negotiating Ethnicity Among First-Generation Post-1965 Japanese Migrants in US Immigrant Gateway City
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentSociology
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.majorImmigration, Race, Ethnicity, Asian American
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts
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