The Formation of New Identities Among Japanese Brazilians' Participants in YOSAKOI SORAN, a Japanese Popular Dance Performance
To discuss the complexity and diversity of Nikkeijin （I use this term to refer to people of Japanese ancestry living outside of Japan）identities in the world at this panel, I would like to take up the topic of Japanese Brazilians' participation in a creative dance performance, called YOSAKOI SORAN, through which they seek to express their identities. It has been observed that they are trying to make their choreographies hybrid by incorporating various cultural elements, and thereby express their sense of being themselves. And more, they invite enthusiastically Brazilians who have no Japanese descent to the dance. Here, I would like to address the question of what hybridity, an element of great importance in YOSAKOI SORAN, means to Japanese Brazilians, especially in terms of their identity in a multi-ethnic country. From my interviews with participants and observations on their performances, I conclude that Japanese Brazilian participants see YOSAKOI SORAN as a tool to unite people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and that this dynamic relationship with diverse people helps each of them form his or her identity in Brazil. My findings suggest that for Japanese Brazilians, especially the younger generation, their identity is different from collective identity we tend to use in our speeches or writings such as "Japanese Brazilians' identity", "identidade japonesa", "Nikkeijin identity" or "Nikkei identity". However, their identity is a way to question or to see the dynamism of their relationship with people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds in Brazil.
最終更新：2008年03月21日 12:20
