Witness to loss : race, culpability, and memory in the dispossession of Japanese Canadians / edited by Jordan Stanger-Ross and Pamela Sugiman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Sugiman, Pamela H. (Pamela Haruchiyo), 1958- editor.

Stanger-Ross, Jordan, editor.

Series:

McGill-Queen's studies in ethnic history. Series two ; 44.

McGill-Queen's studies in ethnic history. Series two ; 44

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kimura, Kishizo, 1899-1976.

Kimura, Kishizo.

Racism--British Columbia--History--20th century.

Racism.

Eviction--British Columbia--History--20th century.

Eviction.

Race relations.

History.

British Columbia--Race relations--History--20th century.

British Columbia.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

x, 252 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017.

Summary:

"When the federal government uprooted and interned Japanese Canadians en masse in 1942, Kishizo Kimura saw his life upended along with tens of thousands of others. But his story is also unique: as a member of two controversial committees that oversaw the forced sale of the property of Japanese Canadians in Vancouver during the Second World War, Kimura participated in the dispossession of his own community. In Witness to Loss, Kimura's previously unknown memoir--written in the last years of his life--is translated from Japanese to English and published for the first time. This remarkable document chronicles a history of racism in British Columbia, describes the activities of the committees on which Kimura served, and seeks to defend his actions. Diverse reflections of leading historians, sociologists, and a community activist and educator who lived through this history give context to the memoir, inviting readers to grapple with a rich and contentious past. More complex than just hero or villain, oppressor or victim, Kimura raises important questions about the meaning of resistance and collaboration and the constraints faced by an entire generation. Illuminating the difficult, even impossible, circumstances that confronted the victims of racist state action in the mid-twentieth century, Witness to Loss reminds us that the challenge of understanding is greater than that of judgment."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Memoir / Kishizo Kimura, Translated Translated, Kishizo Kimura,, Matsuki Masutani Masutani, Matsuki, Jane Masutani Masutani, Jane

Part 1 The Fishing Vessels Disposal Committee 3

Part 2 Unusual and Exceptional Cases 35

Part 3 Concluding the Forced Sale of Fishing Vessels 47

Part 4 A Message to Younger Japanese Canadians 55

Part 5 The Forced Sale of Vancouver Property 59

Part 6 Recollections 85

Part 7 Property-Owners in Protest 101

Commentaries

1 A Difficult Past: Kodomono tame ni - For the Sake of the Children / Masako Fukawa Fukawa, Masako 107

2 Kishizo Kimura and the Articulations of a Society Structured in Dominance / Timothy J. Stanley Stanley, Timothy J. 123

3 Resistance and Accommodation to Racism and Discrimination / Vic Satzewich Satzewich, Vic 146

4 Citizen Beings, Being Citizens: Reflections on Japanese-Canadian Experiences in War and Peace / Laura Madokoro Madokoro, Laura 167.

Notes:

Includes English translation of Kishizo Kimura's memoir.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Witness to loss.

ISBN:

9780773551206

0773551204

9780773551213

0773551212

OCLC:

982091430