Constitution and bylaws eastern communication association

This essay investigates the operation of discourse and power in the constitution of social identity and reality, as represented in Japanese American internment narratives. The analysis identifies forms of subjectivity, discursive strategies and practices to gain insight into the lived experience of internees and into the process by which discursive closure is realized in cultural systems. The Japanese American subject is constituted as a “Radical Other” in internment stories through two interwoven threads: the Japanese American subject as (dis)loyal and the Japanese American subject as “enemy alien.” The essay concludes with a discussion of implications for public discourse, narration, and criticism.