Mexican Transpacific

Ignacio LÓpez-Calvo is a professor of literature, director of the Center for the Humanities, and Presidential Chair in the Humanities at UC Merced.

Through the study of memoirs, poetry, manga, painting, and theater, [this book] brilliantly shows Nikkei cultural production from 1906 until today. On a broader scale, LÓpez-Calvo draws out implications for questions of transnational migration and national identity. This project makes a groundbreaking contribution to the historical dialogues between Asia and Latin America."—Araceli Tinajero, author of A Cultural History of Spanish Speakers in Japan"[Lopez-Calvo's] project makes original contributions to the field, particularly in its treatment of literary, theatrical, and visual texts by Japanese Mexicans that have not previously been rigorously discussed before, either independently or taken together."—Seth Jacobowitz, winner of the International Convention of Asia Scholars Book Prize in the Humanities, 2017, and author of Writing Technology in Meiji Japan: A Media History of Modern Japanese Literature and Visual Culture

• Foreword by Emma NakataniIntroduction: Nikkei Cultural Production and Transpacific Studies from a Latin Americanist PerspectivePart I: Immigrant, Literary Negotiations of National Identity1. Nonaka's Memoir: From Captain in the Mexican Revolution to Enemy of the State2. Challenges to Nihonjinron in Nakatani's Memoirs3. Strategic Essentialism in Akane's Performative TankaPart II: Japanese Mexican Visual and Performance Arts4. Re-signifying Yamato-damashii and Utopian Socialism in the Manga Los samurÁis de MÉxico5. Nishizawa's Biethnic Dialectics and the Critical Stereotyping of His Art6. The Transpacific in Akiko's Theatrical PerformanceConclusion. Another Past Is PossibleNotesBibliographyIndex