Exception(al): Apprehending the Unexpected in Japanese American Internment Literature

At its heart, Japanese American internment is a product of the sovereign exception, a decision--not a norm--concerning what constitutes public order and security. And the decision to intern, stands outside the normally valid legal system while belonging to it because the sovereign maintains the ability to suspend the very legal system that bestows rights--along with notions of belonging and identity--to Japanese Americans. Both within and outside the legal system, executive power commands a strange relation between constitutional and extra-constitutional realms: what is within the legal order also maintains an outside that can produce law not based on law. Given this, how can Japanese American internment literature's essential role in interrogating state power can be reassessed while being mindful of the instability of such concepts as belonging, citizenship, and identity--concepts that are subject to the capriciousness of those in powerful positions? Certainly, the large volume of scholarship on internment literature serves as an essential foundation for understanding Japanese American literary and cultural responses. Here, Shiu argues people witness vigilant and imaginative interventions committed to challenging common interpretive strategies.