The Literature of the Japanese Diaspora: Identity beyond Japan

该项目旨在对日经作家在英语国家的近期文学小说进行主题分类和分析。它聚焦于日经在日本以外的文化认同。它问的是，这部文学是如何调解日经的种族表述的。这项研究试图找出世界各地日经英语写作的模式。通过围绕种族和身份等概念对日经作品进行主题分组，我们能够看到英国日经女作家的小说与第三代巴西日本作家的小说有什么共同之处。《日本侨民文学》是对日经写作和表现的一项重要研究。通过对日经作家的采访和对他们的历史和文学小说的文本分析，我展示了他们的文学如何从历史、地点和社会的网络中驱使流散的想象。我认为，这些作家作为有关种族主义日经指数的主导历史叙述的另一种声音。通过这样做，日经作家正在为超越语言、文化和国界的共享全球认同的构建做出贡献。尽管日经文学小说内容丰富，种类繁多，但它们有着共同的历史联系、对多元文化主义的反应、种族主义的争论以及性别刻板印象所引发的共同启示。通过理解不同的种族表征，我展示了这种流动的共同身份如何为考虑未来多元文化共存的日本提供了一种可能的解决方案。

This project aims to thematically group and analyse recent literary fiction by Nikkei authors in English-speaking countries. It focuses on cultural identity of Nikkei outside Japan. It asks how does this literature mediate racial representations of Nikkei. This research tries to find patterns in Nikkei writing in English around the world. By grouping Nikkei works thematically around concepts such as race and identity we are able to see what a novel by a female Nikkei writer in the UK might have in common with a novel written by a third-generation Brazilian Japanese writer.‘The Literature of the Japanese Diaspora’ is a major study on Nikkei writing and representation. Using interviews with Nikkei authors and textual analysis of their historical and literary fiction, I show how their literature drives a diasporic imaginary out of a mesh of history, place, and society. I argue that the writers operate as an alternative voice to dominant narratives of history concerning racialised Nikkei. In doing so, Nikkei writers are contributing to the construction of a shared global identity transcending linguistic, cultural, and national borders. Although vast and diverse, Nikkei literary fiction shares common intimations aroused by common historical connections, responses to multiculturalism, and the contestation of racialisation as well as gender stereotypes. By understanding different racial representations I demonstrate how this fluid shared identity offers a possible solution for a Japan contemplating a future multicultural coexistence.