This paper explains how a strong civic engagement ethic emerged in Seattle’s Asian-American community in Seattle in the 1970s. Analyzing the emergence of both the new Pan-Asian identity and an ethnic identity of Japanese Americans, the paper discusses the acquisition of ‘civic skills’ as the core of American voluntarism.
How did the Asian immigrants change themselves into ‘Asian Americans’?
Going back to the early 20th century, this paper explains the history of Asian immigrants and the emergence of ‘ethnic’ communities and ‘cultural nationalism’ in American cities. The unique history of the Seattle Pan-Asian movement is explained through a discussion of the citizens’ action movement of the 1970s in the International District. Led by a younger Asian generation, the movement succeeded in removing the old guard of the international district, creating a ‘new’ “Asianness” through the re-interpretation of a multi-ethnic neighborhood history. The Pan-Asian movement also represents the transition of power from old guard (first generation Chinese) to a new multi-ethnic-coalition made up of well educated professionals of the second and third generations.
Next, this paper discusses the restructuring of cultural identity among the Japanese Americans in 1970s Seattle. The second generation Japanese-Americans successfully created a new cultural identity, not as Japanese but as Japanese-Americans, first by creating a nonprofit organization called Seattle Keiro, which established a nursing home for the first generation Japanese Americans. The young professional community volunteers then initiated a discussion of social and political concerns which led to the organization of a photo exhibition of Japanese internment during World War II. Titled, “Pride and Shame,” the 1972 exhibit helped ignite the Japanese-American Redress movement and is an example of American civic engagement.
American voluntarism undertaken by second generation Asian immigrants helped them acquire ‘civic skills’ (Wuthnow). Working within Christian and Buddhist church organizations, the volunteers acquired the skills to organize the Japanese-American community and mobilize its ‘social capital’ (Coleman, 1990) in civic engagement and multi-ethnic political movements.
In the conclusion, the paper discusses the cultural differences between the U.S. and Japan in terms of grassroots voluntarism. In the U.S., faith-based and neighborhood organizations provide an opportunity for training in civic engagement while in Japan, such ‘ideology-based’ grassroots voluntary organizations are subsumed by semi-obligatory neighborhood organizations which act as mediators between the government and the residents. The U.S. data shows a higher percentage of civic engagement among highly educated and higher income groups, while in Japan, there is very little likelihood of involvement by urban professionals. In Japan, the opportunities to learn the skills of civic engagement are extremely limited.
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