Protecting cultural authenticity: identity and the creation of tradition in the Japanese-Chilean community

This research explores the formation and portrayal of ethnic identity among Japanese people living in Chile, both first and subsequent generations. Through personal interviews and the analysis of academic work on the topic and magazine articles on Japan during the 2000s, this thesis attempts to elucidate what role underlying concepts such as ‘culture' and ‘nation' play in the construction of a Japanese-Chilean identity and portrayal. By looking at the elements that in recent decades have disrupted these stereotypes, including access to different aspects of Japan through the mass media, it analyses what this perceived threat to Japanese-Chileans' arbitrage of cultural standards reveals about their long-held preconceptions of what constitutes Japaneseness and its relationships to Chilean social expectations.