Ethnic hegemony: the Japanese Brazilians in agriculture, 1908-1968

This article examines the experience of Japanese immigrants and their desce ndants in Brazil, focusing on their first sixty years: how the group establ ished a secure economic foothold through its mostly agricultural pursuits i n Brazilian society; and how this foothold facilitated the process which ac hieved the upward socio-economic mobility of the group. The review of the e xisting historical literature is adduced to probe empirically and to test t he applicability of the model of ethnic hegemony earlier proposed by Robert Jiobu, specifying the model to the Japanese group in Brazil. The study has probed the model to be useful in explaining the Japanese experience in Bra zil in a new and theoretically meaningful way.