Assimilation and Loss of Ethnic Heritage among Third-Generation Japanese Americans
Assimilation and Loss of Ethnic Heritage among Third-Generation Japanese Americans
This chapter focuses on the third-generation sansei, who have followed the assimilative trajectory of their prewar nisei parents. Raised in white, middle-class suburbs, they are well integrated into mainstream American society and have experienced a considerable degree of socioeconomic success. Compared to the other generations, they have generally lost their ancestral heritage and have the least interest in developing transnational ties with Japan. However, they experienced the ethnic activism of the Asian American movement in the 1960s and 1970s, the gradual turn toward multiculturalism, and the emergence of Japan as a respected global economic power. As a result, the sansei claim to have inherited aspects of the ancestral Japanese culture and express greater pride in their ethnic identities as Japanese Americans than the prewar nisei.
Keywords: third generation, assimilation, ethnic heritage, ethnic identity
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