Nisei Politics of Identity and American Popular Music in the 1930s and 1940s

G rowing nationalist thinking and anti immigration legislation in American politics today cal ls for a critical historicizing of the continuing ambiguities of U . S . citizen ry and notions of what it is to be an American . The identity crisis of Nisei-second generation Japanese Americans resu lted from the complex intersection of America's racialized ideology toward immigrants, California 's vi rulent anti -Asian agitation , and the economic and political power struggles between the United States and Japan in gain ing dominance of the Pacific region . For many Nisei music served to reinforce thei r American identity during the tense years leading up to World War I I . Swing music , popu lar music of the day, sparked a dance craze during the 1 930s and 1 940s among young Americans . Because Nisei were coming of age during this period , I chose to study the i nfluence of popu lar m usic on the formation of thei r identity. I nterviews with West Coast Nisei about the role of music in thei r lives serve to test my premise .