D aniel H. I nouye . Distant Islands

Daniel H. Inouye’s Distant Islands: The Japanese American Community in New York City, 1876–1930s, a rare and thought-provoking book, challenges conventional understanding of Japanese American history. Inouye swings for the fence in multiple ways. It doesn’t matter that he comes up short. The ambition is impressive, and the talent is clear. Scholars of the “racial turn” in immigration and ethnic history should take notice of his use of Max Weber and Pierre Bourdieu in analyzing class and status differences within a supposed ethnic group. There was not one Japanese American community in New York City, Inouye argues. There were five. Four were aligned in a social hierarchy: elite, upper middle, lower middle, and bottom. The fifth consisted of international students, whose fluid position rendered their placement in the hierarchy uncertain. The book’s thesis about class and status differences is predicated on geographic location. New York City’s Japanese American population—two...

Elite · Ethnic group · Fence (mathematics) · Hierarchy · Immigration · Notice · Political science · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Gender Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies