desert exile: the uprooting of a japanese american family

this is the first memoir i have ever read and i'm glad to say that i was pleasantly surprised, considering i had to read this book for a class on american immigration. uchida details her experience as a japanese american, growing up under her japanese immigrant parents in the united states during world war ii. 

considering that i myself am a fifth generation japanese american, and my great grandparents were incarcerated during the war, this book holds a special significance to me as a person who will never know what it is that they went through. getting to read uchida's story also allowed me a glimpse into my great grandparents' history as well. for that, i'm grateful.

one of the most important themes in this book is uchida's emphasis on family and community. her family was at its strongest when they were together, seen in their family dynamic but also in the lingering discomfort when they were separated. she describes her parents as welcoming and compassionate, always willing to extend a helping hand to everyone around them. before and during their imprisonment, uchida's parents served as pillars of the japanese community, offering a modicum of stability when there was none. when the united states had declared their japanese residents as public enemies, and forced tens of thousands of people of japanese descent into their isolated camps, it was community and resilience that helped the incarcerated make the most out of an impossible situation.

uchida also talks about her personal experience as a japanese american, deviating from the experience of her immigrant parents'. she describes the awkward limbo of being both a japanese and an american, but she feels as if she doesn't fit into either category. uchida puts words to a phenomenon that is common amongst people of mixed race or of any person of color in the united states. the dichotomy of being a japanese and an american reveals an visceral, internal struggle for belonging. 

the epilogue of this memoir refers to the modern implications of the japanese incarceration that took place during world war ii. through her books, uchida hopes to spread awareness over what took place to japanese people in the united states to prevent such a catastrophe from ever happening again, but to also establish a connection between all japanese american's and their history. and i found that she accomplished exactly what she set out to do.

i found uchida's memoir very insightful in terms of the anti-asian sentiment that took place in the united states, but specifically towards the japanese. japanese incarceration is just another example of the united states treating their minorities as disposable.