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New Women of Empire

Gendered Politics and Racial Uplift in Interwar Japanese America

Chrissy Yee Lau author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:University of Washington Press

Published:14th Jun '22

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New Women of Empire cover

Chronicles the rise of a generation of young people who transformed what it meant to be Japanese American

Strong, bold, and vivacious—Japanese American young women were leaders and heroines of the Roaring Twenties. Controversial to the male immigrant elite for their rebellion against gender norms, these women made indelible changes in the community, including expanding sexual freedoms, redefining women's roles in public and private spheres, and furthering racial justice work. Young men also reconceptualized their ideas of manliness to focus on intellectualism and athleticism, as racist laws precluded many from expressing masculinity through land ownership or citizenry.

New Women of Empire centers the compelling life histories of five young women and men in Los Angeles to illuminate how they negotiated overlapping imperialisms through new gender roles. With extensive youth networks and the largest Japanese population in the United States, Los Angeles was a critical site of transnational relations, and in the 1920s and '30s Japanese American youth became politicized through active participation in Christian civic organizations. By racially uplifting their peers through youth clubs, athletics, and cultural ambassadorship, these young leaders reshaped Japanese and US imperialisms and provided the groundwork for future expressions of model minority respectability and Japanese American feminisms.

"An engaging and much-needed addition to Japanese American history."

* Nichi Bei Weekly *

"Original and insightful . . . A concise, yet significant intervention in the field of Asian American history."

* Southern California Quarterly *

"A welcome addition to the scholarship on Japanese American history, particularly in its bold approach of locating gender ideology at the nexus of Japanese and American imperialisms."

* Pacific Historical Review *

"New Women of Empire offers new insights into the way some Japanese American youth in Los Angeles navigated extraordinarily racist times and found ways to balance generational expectations with personal dreams and ambitions."

* American Historical Revi

ISBN: 9780295750514

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 431g

206 pages