Emotions And Collective Protest Among Japanese American In Poston Internment Camp,1942

As the Pacific War broke out,almost all the people of Japanese ancestry residing in the United States were excluded and detained in ten War Japanese American Internment Camps.Within the first year of evacuation and internment,Japanese American headed forward from passive obedience to organized collective protest.At the same time their feeling changed from the boredom of mixed fear and anger to the joy of appreciation and relief.Through the Poston Incident,Poston Japanese American successfully realized emotional change and collective protest.This dissertation is divided into three chapters.The first chapter discusses the social and political background of the fear of Japanese American,including the arrest by Federal Bureau of Investigation,mass evacuation by the US government and the Army,the disposal of property,and virtual lost of home.The second chapter starting with the Japanese evacuees arriving in,adapting to the Poston Internment Camp,and reconstructing their social and political organization,display that fear,frustration and anger pervaded all the evacuees in next several months.In the mean while,this chapter discusses the crisis of informer they encountered and their responses,providing the emotional background for the following chapter which deals specifically with the general strike of Poston evacuees.Chapter three discuss the Poston Incident in two stages,and show its significance to the Japanese evacuees and Administrator of Poston camp,through analyzing the emotional and behavioral process of the demonstrators and organizers of general strike.Poston Japanese experienced and interpreted the common fear and anger,on the basis of this they challenged the division of power by WRA,and reestablished the structure which brought widespread feeling of agreement to concerted action.The evacuee's collective sanction an informant in turn strengthened the cohesion of Poston Japanese,forming at the time an emotional community.Through general strike,the leadership of Issei in Poston evacuees was recognized by the Administration.The Poston Incident demonstrates the consciousness and ability of resistance of Japanese American in internment camps,and provided multiple resources for ideology,organization and political practice for their reactions to camps life.Through the research of emotion of Japanese American between the Pearl Harbor and Poston Incident,I take the view that the behavior of Japanese after they arrived in Poston camp was not so much determined by what had “really” happened to them as by what they thought had happened to them.The emotional experience served to complicate power relations at Poston,ensuring that WRA control over the detainees was not absolute.