Exile Within: The Schooling of Japanese Americans, 1942-1945

by Thomas James

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674184725
Publisher:	Harvard
Publication date:	10/01/2013
Edition description:	Reprint 2014 ed.
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

James Thomas :

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

Table of Contents

Prologue: Thirty Thousand Children of War

1. Between Past and Future Homes

2. The First Year Inside

3. Loyalty and It's Lessons

4. Educating "Projectiles of Democracy"

5. "The Children Don't Do it That Way"

Epilogue: Remembering the Past

Notes

Index

Editorial 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.

From the Publisher

Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued two executive orders authorizing the U.S. Army to evacuate and incarcerate Japanese-Americans, many of whom were American citizens. Exile Within is the poignant history of the education provided the nearly 30,000 children in ten relocation camps from 1942 until 1945. The compelling narrative documents an attempt at ``political socialization'' in the guise of schooling, often justified in ``progressive education'' rhetoric and executed by well-meaning teachers. The book is also an engrossing study of how family and tradition helped to sustain the children's ideals ``in defiance of public authority,'' and thus shows in microcosm the dynamics of schooling in shaping public policy and private values. Recommended. Richard H. Quay, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, Ohio

Library Journal

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 precedents 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.

David Tyack

Thomas James’s 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.

Carl F. Kaestle