Exile Within

Thomas James

Published by Harvard University Press 1987

Exile Within

The Schooling of Japanese Americans, 1942–1945

Thomas James

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674184749

Overview
Contents

About this book

During World War II, 110,000 Japanese Americans--30,000 of them children--were torn from their homes and incarcerated in camps surrounded by barbed wire and military guards in what the ACLU has called "the greatest deprivation of civil rights by government in this country since slavery." The experience of these children left a tangle of social meanings that had not been inspected with the care it deserves until this book was written. Because they were schoolchildren, theirs was an educational history; and Thomas James tells it here, fully mindful of the irony of children studying democracy and its ideals while suffering as victims of the most undemocratic of all processes--imprisonment in a relocation camp solely on the basis of their race. James uses the rich documentary evidence in the records of the War Relocation Authority and other archives to survey the camps as educational institutions. Photographs of life in the camps show uncomprehending, innocent faces tinged with sadness. What sort of education took place? What did educators think they were doing there? How did the children react and adjust? James interprets the improbable hope of educational planners that they could make good on America's promise to provide educational opportunity for its citizens even under adverse conditions. What began as a story of war hysteria and racial exclusion in 1942 soon became a more complicated history of public institutions that embodied conflicting motives and numerous layers of authority and expertise. Incongruous elements of coercion and idealism led to conflict in the camps, and differences of opinion deepened when the government required declarations of loyalty while denying civil liberty. For the children, education continued despite inadequate resources, a high teacher turnover rate, and frequent confusion about ends and means. The role of the older generation in preserving cultural expression and in insisting on continuity of education was a crucial thread in the social history of the camps. Exile Within makes a strong contribution to the history of minority groups and of education in the United States; to the literature on children in crisis; and to our understanding of the contradictory uses of public authority under a democratic form of government.

Author information

JamesThomas:

Thomas James is Assistant Professor of Education and Public Policy, Brown University.

Reviews

Thomas James's Exile Within brilliantly interprets schooling in the camps that imprisoned Japanese families. But more, he shows that "democratic education" behind barbed wire was not so anomalous as it might at first appear; it had its precidents and might have its successors. James teaches us, then, not only about that shameful episode but also about the larger pathology, both of ideology and practice, within which it occurred

Thomas James book is a lively and important piece of social history. It makes a contribution to the literature on prejudice and race relations as well as the history of education. The contradiction of educators trying to conduct "democratic" education in a concentration camp is interesting curious in a sad way.

Frontmatter Accessible Download PDF	i
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	vii
Contents Accessible Download PDF	ix
Photographs Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	x
PROLOGUE: Thirty Thousand Children of War Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	1
1. Between Past and Future Homes Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	10
2. The First Year Inside Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	43
3. Loyalty and Its Lessons Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	80
4. Educating "Projectiles of Democracy" Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	112
5. "The Children Don't Do It That Way" Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	140
EPILOGUE: Remembering the Past Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	165
Notes Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	173
Index Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	207

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Edition: Reprint 2014
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Front matter: 8
- Main content: 212
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 15
- Other: 15 halftones
Keywords: Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945.; Japanese Americans -- Education -- History -- 20th century.; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination & Race Relations; HISTORY / United States / 20th Century; HISTORY / United States / General

eBook

Published: October 1, 2013
ISBN: 9780674184749

Hardcover

Published: February 5, 1987
ISBN: 9780674184725