Sounding Our Way Home: Japanese American Musicking and the Politics of Identity

By Susan Miyo Asai.

Sounding Our Way Home: Japanese American Musicking and the Politics of Identity narrates the efforts of three generations of Japanese Americans to reach home through musicking. Using ethnomusicology as a lens, the author examines the musical choices of a population that, historically, is considered outside the racial and ethnic boundaries of American citizenship. Emphasizing the notion of national identity and belonging, the volume provokes a discussion about the challenges of nation-building in a democratic society and contributes to the ongoing struggle for acceptance and equal representation for people of color in the US. The book unveils the social and political discrimination that nonwhite immigrants and their offspring continue to face when it comes to finding acceptance in US society and culture.

Paper: 348 pp.