Memories of Internment: Narrating Japanese Canadian Women's Life Stories

Abstract

Abstract: This paper attempts to bridge the dichotomy of historical truth and personal recollection by exploring the sociological concept of memory. Drawing on 30 oral testimonies of Nisei (second generation) Japanese Canadian women, I explore the diverse and often complex ways in which Nisei women remember the internment, with particular attention to the intermingling of pest and present, the relationship between teller and listener, as well as the layering of personal and public narratives, in the construction of these memories. The theme of silence and telling is also explored, with the understanding that the literacization of memories is always a political act. Resume: Cet article essaie de relier la dichotomie de la > et des souvenirs personnels an explorant le concept sociologique de la memoire. M'inspirant de 30 temoignages oraux de femmes canadiennes japonaises Nisei (deuxieme generation), j'explore les manieres variees et souvent complexes dont les femmes Nisei se souviennent de l'internement, en accordant une attention toute speciale au melange entre le passe et le present, a la relation entre le narrateur et l'auditeur et a la superposition de narrations personnelles et publiques dans la reconstruction de ces souvenirs. Le theme du silence et de la narration y est aussi explore en sachant que toute transposition par ecrit de souvenirs represante toujoars an acte politique. Basically, my experiences are through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old. And over the years maybe I've embellished things a bit or I've been able to rationalize why things had to be done that way, to a point. But I also know that there could have been a better way of doing it. It was truly unthinking politicians that created this hardship and unnecessary move for the Japanese Canadians, removing their property from them. You couldn't even go back home because you had nothing. They'd taken everything away. (Polly) The Internment of Japanese Canadians The most devastating event shaping the lives of Japanese Canadians was the internment and forced dispersal of all persons of the Japanese race during, and in the years immediately following the Second World War. By now, the rough contours of the story are familiar to many Canadians, if only vaguely. After the bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, Japanese Canadian citizens and Japanese Nationals in Canada were subject to government curfews, personal interrogation, and ultimately job loss and severe economic hardship. All Japanese language newspapers were shut down, fishing boats were impounded, and the federal government liquidated businesses, and sold vehicles, houses, and personal belongings. The proceeds of the sales were used to pay auctioneers and realtors, as well as to cover the costs of the internment. First interned were alien men, next Japanese Canadian men, and lastly women and children of Japanese descent. Women and children were initially placed in detainment centres, former livestock pens that reeked of urine and manure. Such violations were not short term. Even after the war, Canadians of Japanese origin were denied full citizenship rights, including the right to vote. Furthermore, they were prohibited from returning to the former sites of their homes on the west coast until 1949, four years after the war's end. (2) These events in Canadian history represent the deliberate destruction of a community, a form of genocide, (3) an erosion of human dignity, and a dramatic disruption of personal lives and family relationships. The latter is especially significant as the family had been the primary vehicle for the acquisition of an ethnic identity and for the transmission of Japanese cultural symbols in Canada. The internment of Japanese Canadians has had profound social, political and economic implications. Some scholars have described it as an act of political violence (see for example, McAllister, 1999). …