"Fusa Tsumagari, a Japanese American Woman, and Her Intersectional Use of Conversational and Contrastive Rhetorical Styles"

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About the Author

Skyler Drew is an undergraduate student studying public relations at York College of Pennsylvania, with minors in professional writing and speech communication. She plans to pursue higher education in the field of rhetoric and composition upon graduation at her current institution.

Contents

Introduction

Archival Methodology

Conversational Rhetoric and Tsumagari’s Letters

Feminine Rhetorical Identity Across Cultures

Tsumagari’s Intersectional Rhetorical and Future Research Applications

Conclusion

Works Cited

Conversational Rhetoric and Tsumagari’s Letters

In the letters on which this study focuses, Tsumagari would often write about details of her life, the living conditions of the camp, and her perspective on life in the camp. This content provides a detailed insight into how these internment camps ran and what life was like for the prisoners inside of them. In one letter, Tsumagari writes, “We’ve moved again. This makes the third time we’ve moved inside this camp. We’re now in smaller rooms. We no longer live in the stables, but in regulation army barracks” (Tsumagari, 1942). This shows the less-than-ideal living conditions within the camps as she (and presumably her family) were relocated into even smaller barracks. In the same letter, Tsumagari goes on to say, “We have one large shower and one large laundry room. We certainly don’t see how they expect over 16,000 people to be clean and have their clothes clean. Many of the women get up about 5 a.m. and go to wash” (Tsumagari, 1942). The camp is evidently overpopulated, as they do not have the facilities to care for all the people living on the premises. Tsumagari also reveals that the women altered their personal schedules to work around the overpopulation, with some women waking up at 5 a.m. to wash/bathe. These letters consistently reveal small details such as this, and they give insight into how this woman viewed these camps and how life was inside the camps during this time. Given the language and intonation of the letters and considering the descriptions of the camps, the living conditions sound poor.

Tsumagari also writes about her family, and often asks Breed about Breed’s own family, friends, and loved ones. This exemplifies conversational rhetoric and women’s rhetorical styles, as it discusses private-sphere matters in a conversational genre and tone. Conversational rhetoric is a concept largely credited to Jane Donawerth (2011) in her book Conversational Rhetoric: The Rise and Fall of a Women’s Tradition, 1600-1900. In this book, she focuses on European and American women’s rhetorical styles and practices and their use of rhetoric from all over the globe during the given time period. Donawerth introduces conversational rhetoric as an intimate and informal mode of rhetoric that was more “private” than men’s rhetorical practices, and helped women find a voice to write/speak with. This was a nonthreatening way in which women could speak and communicate freely. Conversational rhetoric is also dependent upon rhetorical genres that are conversational and dialogic in nature, such as addresses and letters. The working definition of conversational rhetoric for this paper is influenced by Donawerth. For the sake of this paper, conversational rhetoric is used according to the following definition/interpretation: “A style of rhetoric that is intimate and private, and uses language and genres associated with the feminine sphere of communication.”

These letters are conversational rhetoric because the genre of the letter in and of itself is a conversational genre. Conversational rhetoric is a concept largely grounded in feminist literary theory and commonly associated with feminine identity. Tsumagari’s use of conversational rhetoric is a distinct call upon her gender identity of female. The language she uses and the tone in which she writes is very feminine in nature. Furthermore, the subject matter is conversational—small talk focused on family, friends, literature, and daily life—and the tone is conversational in that it is informal and intimate, even friendly. Each of the letters is written similarly. They have friendly greetings and cordial goodbyes. One of Tsumagari’s (1943a) letters begins with “This letter is certainly far overdue, isn’t it?” and ends with “Please give my best regards to your mother and Miss McNary.” These greetings are very friendly in tone and arguably take on a more private- than public-sphere setting. The letters also address subjects that were commonly associated with women during the time they were written, such as asking how one another’s family and/or friends are doing. One example of Tsumagari’s (1944) use of conversational rhetoric can be found in a letter where she writes, “My brother is still in Milwaukee attending Marquette University. So far he hasn’t been called, and we’re hoping that he can get into Med School all right. He will be graduating in Nov., I believe.” She brings up family, which is a private-sphere subject, by addressing her brother who is assumedly on education leave from the internment camp. She also addresses this topic in a conversational tone. The tone of this letter is familiar, as if the writer of the letter (Tsumagari) knew that the receiver of the letter (Breed) knew her brother and was updated about his whereabouts and his educational leave. The tone of this letter could be more formal and less conversational if Tsumagari were to name her brother specifically and use different language. The tone and subject is conversational because Breed is assumedly acquainted or aware of Tsumagari’s brother already, and the language used is very informal and friendly. When this genre of correspondence is combined with the overall conversational tone, the given subject matter, and the feminine element of Tsumagari’s identity that influences her writing style, these letters can be appropriately labeled as conversational rhetoric.

Even more evidence of conversational rhetoric can be found in a letter from 1943. It was after Christmas when Tsumagari (1943b) wrote this letter. She says, “I also received a lovely sweater from mom, a purse from sis, and a bath mit, hair ribbons, socks, candy, and a few other things. The giving and receiving at Christmas time is always fun . . .” The tone is lighthearted and very conversational in nature, as evidenced by “giving and receiving at Christmas time is always fun.” It sounds like an intimate conversation between two women about the holidays, which is a private-sphere conversation. The letters from Tsumagari are full of these topics. The woman is using conversational rhetoric in both language and subject matter in a majority of the letters she wrote.

There are also a few letters in which Tsumagari will discuss the last book Breed had sent her, as Breed was sending literature to her former library patrons. In one letter, Tsumagari (1943a) compares the internment camp in Poston, Arizona, to the location setting of the book Lost Horizon. Tsumagari writes, “I was continually amazed by its similarity to this place called Poston. . . . The points that interested me were: (1) the isolation (2) doing everything in moderation (3) the feeling of wanting to go out, and on the other hand, wanting to stay in this leisurely place. We really have a feeling of isolation here.” She compares the life she leads at the time to that of the main characters and describes how lonely and monotonous life can be at the camp. The most interesting comparison she makes is her first point, “the isolation.” These people feel isolated in this camp, and they live redundant lives, as evidenced by Tsumagari’s next point of “doing everything in moderation.” This letter is very unique and accurately displays feminine rhetoric. These conversations are very similar to the discussions women might have at a book club. Even in modern times, we can picture this analogy of Tsumagari’s life in Poston to that of the life described in Lost Horizon. Not only is the rhetoric used in this letter feminine and conversational, but the subject of the letter is conversational as well. Tsumagari is using this feminized book-talk to inform Breed about the living conditions at the camp and how Tsumagari feels isolated as a prisoner.