22: Where Do You Belong? Multi-Ethnic Identity and Citizenship with Megumi Nishikura

About this episode

The episode explores multi-ethnic identity and citizenship through the experiences of the hosts and guest Megumi Nishikura.

Sara. Misasha. Megumi. All three of us are the daughter of one Japanese parent and one White parent each. All three of us had dual citizenship with the United States and Japan at one point. But the trajectories of our citizenship are distinctly different, and only one of us holds a Japanese passport now. Are we all still Japanese? Today, we speak with Megumi Nishikura, a documentary filmmaker who focuses on stories not often told in our history books, despite their themes impacting so many of us, Japanese or not. We explore belonging, identity, citizenship, and what history teaches us about where we are now - and the stories we want to carry forward with us. If you've ever wondered if you've belonged, or if you've ever been told you're not ____ enough, we hope you listen, and join our conversation. What to listen for: The small things people - sometimes unintentionally - say that make others feel like they don't belong. What it's like to live in the grey zone between the law and reality when it comes to citizenship and membership in communities. One word: anxiety. How observed demographic changes don't necessarily mean that lived experiences change too much…yet. About Our Guest…

People in this episode

Hosts: Sara, Misasha

Guest: Megumi Nishikura

Topics covered

• multi-ethnic identity
• citizenship
• belonging
• cultural intersections
• anxiety
• documentary filmmaking

Keywords

• multi-ethnic identity
• citizenship
• belonging
• Japanese
• documentary
• anxiety
• cultural intersections

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Hafu - the mixed race experience

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