| Abstract [eng] |
Japanese immigration to Latin American countries in 19th-20th century created large diasporas in some countries, especially in Peru and Brazil. These diasporic communities and the cultural material they produce are very relevant to identity studies. The object of this thesis is the fiction written by second and third generation Japanese Peruvians and Japanese Brazilians that poses questions about identity. The objective is to show ways of identity construction and reflection at the same time trying to answer the question whether identity representation and its critique questions stereotypes about minorities and the boundaries of ethnicity. In the first body chapter the historical and contextual method is used since the first task of the thesis is to present the historical context of Japanese migration. This context is an usual setting in the texts. Theoretical approaches from cultural studies are also used in this thesis. However, the main instrument for the research is analysis of the texts. The text is understood as not only a reflection of the situation of an ethnic subject but also as a product through which the author intends to reveal the process of identity construction and perception. The thesis also uses comparative method by trying to find similarities between Japanese Peruvian and Japanese Brazilian literature and between Japanese Latin American literature and some cases of the texts written by Lithuanian emigrants. It was noticed that in the texts there are a lot of stereotypical images of Japanese immigrants and their descendants. Oftentimes the identity is considered as something fixed and determined by birth and cultural attributes. Although there are some cases that try to deconstruct ethnic stereotypes and create a personal model of identity, the major tendency is to represent Japanese immigrants or their descendants as victims, schizophrenic, disempowered or even disabled people. While it might reproduce the historical reality of Japanese immigrants, it does not produce a positive image of hybrid identity and it also tends to create homogenized models of first generation and second generation Japanese immigrants. By comparing Japanese Latin American literature with some cases of Lithuanian emigrants, it is argued that there are some similarities such as the background of the immigration process and similar perception of self as a migrant. Thus, it is possible to develop this comparison into a more extended research. |
