| Summary/Abstract |
In the 1950s, the Dominican government, under Rafael Trujillo, offered free land to Japanese immigrants to settle along the Dominico-Haitian border. The Japanese colonias, or agricultural colonies, were part of nation-building projects in the Dominican Republic (DR) and Japan, which positioned the Japanese colonias as the solution to both ‘the Haitian problem’ and overpopulation, respectively. However, over time the colonias failed, leaving many Japanese migrants disappointed and in need of navigating national identity between the two states. This article examines the ways in which the Japanese immigrants navigate shifting local and national interest, ideologies, and lived experience to file a legal civil action suit against the Japanese government for an unfound paradisiacal immigrant experience in the DR. The Japanese court-case provides a compelling case to explore how immigrants refashion national discourses of identity and collective legal action to hold natal government’s responsible for settlement while also embracing multiple national and ethno-racial identities in their new homeland.
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