The Immigration Nerds Talk About Identity, Loyalty, and Nationalism during Wartime

In this week’s Immigration Nerds episode, we talk to University of Illinois-Chicago history professor and author Michael R. Jin. His latest book, Citizens, Immigrants, and the Stateless: A Japanese American Diaspora in the Pacific, captures the stories of more than 50,000 U.S.-born Japanese Americans and their journeys across the U.S. and Japan pre and post-WWII.

In our talk, as in his book, Jin explains the actions taken to combat anti-Japanese sentiment throughout wartime, the opportunities and obstacles presented by two influential and contrasting powers, and ultimately, how artists, creatives, and intellectuals helped reconcile notions of transpacific identity and loyalty.