Constructing group identity
Constructing group identity

Summary/Abstract: International migration is by no means a new phenomenon, characteristic of our current, globalised reality. Historical memory (cf. Olick 1999: 333-48) records significant numbers of movements across and between the constitutive boundaries of national states. Prompted by a spirit of adventure, nourished by dreams and hopes of betterment and freedom, or simply driven by impounding necessity, individuals and sometimes whole ethnic or socio-economic groups found themselves breaking away from the protective folds of the national circles to which they belonged by birth and conditioned integration, in search of new beginnings and possibilities on distant shores and in foreign lands. Such was also the case of the Issei (first generation) immigrants from Japan, who crossed the testing waters of the Pacific, carried by visions of fortunes, betterment and freedom onto the shores of Canada, continental United States and Hawaii.

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