"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

Feminine Rhetorical Identity Across Cultures

While conversational rhetoric helps us see the ways that Tsumagari performed feminine identity in her letters to Breed, her feminine identity is particularly complex because she has to balance the norms of femininity for both Japanese and American cultures. In other words, her identity is intersectional. An article by Aki Uchida (1998) addresses the aspect of identity in Japanese American women. Uchida explains the struggle these women face when trying to find and establish their identity. She explains that they are often put into a binary where they are forced to identify as either American or Japanese (Uchida, 1998). They are rarely given the “choice” of both, as the two identities are so different. There’s a false dichotomy being imposed upon them by society, and there are many factors to consider in the identity process. These women are already marginalized due to their gender. Choosing to identify as Japanese further marginalizes/minoritizes them. However, identifying as Japanese comes with ideals and traditions that these women may have grown up with and hold close on a personal level. Their Japanese heritage reasonably influenced their lives, and thus they would want to retain this part of their identity. On the other hand, these women were American citizens, and identifying as American showed their patriotism but lowered their credibility in the eyes of their fellow Japanese people (Uchida, 1998). Society did not help these women in this dilemma, as many people refused to accept such a complex identity. This made it harder for the women to discover their identities, and further encouraged the binary that was being forced upon them.

It is important to note that while these women faced pressure from society to choose one cultural identity, many of them still insisted on defying societal expectations and demands, and they chose to identify as Japanese American. As a result, Japanese American women have a unique, complex sense of identity. Their identity is intersectional in nature because they are part of a minority group based on both culture/ethnicity and gender, and they have juxtaposing ideals that stem from their cultures coexisting within one person. Tsumagari also shared this complex, intersectional identity, and it impacted her rhetorical strategy as she had to find a way to incorporate both cultural identities into one singular and cohesive writing style.

On the topic of identity, a key part of these women’s identities (and Tsumagari’s identity) is Japanese heritage. Ryuko Kubota (1997) uses contrastive rhetoric as a lens to analyze Japanese texts and traditions that were common among the culture’s writing. Contrastive rhetoric is important because it takes dual identities and cultural norms and examines how these elements may affect one’s style and use of rhetoric. Kubota (1997) writes, “Japanese written texts are characterized by an abrupt topic shift manifested in a classical style called ki-sho-ten-ketsu, reader responsibility, and a quasi-inductive pattern” (p. 461).

When looking at Tsumagari's letters, there is a prevalent pattern within the letters related to Kubota’s observation. Tsuamagari would sometimes switch topics suddenly and without warning. She would be writing a sentence about her family before immediately switching to a discussion about a piece of literature, or a recent event that occurred in camp. An example of this can be found in a letter from 1943. Tsumagari (1943a) writes, “We are all wearing sweaters for the first time in some months. We make fun of each other calling: ‘sweater girl’ cause they’re still rather odd after a hot season. / Yesterday, I finished reading Lost Horizon. It really left me with a funny feeling.” The only indication of a topic switch is a new paragraph. There is no transition between the two topics of sweaters and Lost Horizon, and the two topics are unrelated. This sudden switch in topic embodies ki-sho-ten-ketsu as Kubota pointed out and incorporates a traditional Japanese norm of writing with Tsumagari’s style.

Furthermore, Tsumagari would write for a long time in a “small-talk,” conversational way by bringing up less relevant points before arriving at her main objective for the letter, which was often a request for materials (sweaters, books, etc.) or something of importance. She would try to gently ease into her main objective of the letter using this inductive organizational writing style, which is another characterization of Japanese writing as shown in Kubota’s previously mentioned quote. An example of this can be seen in the final letter from 1945. Tsumagari (1945) writes about Christmas, her family, and how one of the other women tried giving her a “perm” before finally arriving to the main point of the camp closing and the prisoners being released home. The main point of the letter is that they are all being released and are free to live normal, civil lives. Instead of starting with her main point, Tsumagari starts off with smaller and less significant details and anecdotes. This is a very inductive organizational structure of writing, which is a common Japanese characteristic in writing.

According to these examples and Kubota’s observations of Japanese texts, it is clear that Tsumagari had some Japanese influences in her rhetorical style that stemmed from common elements found in Japanese texts and writing. She wrote her letters in an inductive organizational style, she embodied ki-sho-ten-ketsu in her sudden topic changes, and she made the reader of the letters responsible for piecing together information and picking out the most important parts of the letter. These are all elements Kubota picked out from Japanese texts, and Tsumagari incorporated them in her letters. Her rhetorical style and literary choices were deliberate and had Japanese influence.

However, Tsumagari identified as Japanese American, which means she felt connected to both parts of her identity. It is important to also examine Western influences that may have affected her writing style and literary choices. One of the elements in her writing style that was arguably more Western was when her writing became more assertive and less “private” or “feminine.” This specifically occurred when addressing the internment camps and living conditions, or things she was generally displeased with. In the first letter examined, Tsumagari (1942) writes, “Another announcement just came out stating the fact that we cannot receive any perishable or nonperishable food here. The only thing we can bring in from the outside is candy. Gee, that really makes me mad.” She is being assertive through her use of language when discussing her disapproval of this decision within the camp. Assertive behavior and language is generally avoided in Japanese discourse (Kubota, 1997), so this trait is more Western/American in nature.

Another Western writing trait Tsumagari displays in her writing is that she showed resistance through the letters themselves. The letters themselves display resistance because she is communicating with an outsider from the camp, and throughout the various letters, Tsumagari explains the unpleasant living conditions she is faced with and makes her displeasure evident. True acceptance of the situation would result in Tsumagari not writing about this matter at all and focusing solely on the friendly and intimate content within the letters. Instead, she is showing resistance to the executive order and the life she is forced to live. This resistance goes against gaman, a Japanese tradition that focuses on enduring in silence (Kubota, 1997). By writing the letters, Tsumagari is showing resistance to the government’s choice to place her in these camps and is therefore not enduring in silence. The letters themselves and the content of the letters show resistance and assertiveness, even if it is in subtle ways. These elements are arguably more Western/American in terms of rhetoric, as they contradict the tradition of Japanese cultures and texts.

Tsumagari incorporated an inductive organization pattern in her writing and enforced reader-responsibility through her sudden topic changes while also using stronger language and choosing to communicate in a way that showed resistance and opposition in a subtle manner. Through this she demonstrated that her rhetorical style and choices incorporated both of her cultural identities and the ideals/traditions of rhetoric from each culture.