Extraordinary Circumstances, Exceptional Practices: Music in Japanese American Concentration Camps

This article explores the socio-psychological impact of music on Japanese internees during World War II. The internment of Japanese Americans interrupted their socio-economic development and identity. Yet, it provided them with exceptional opportunities for music-making. For the internees, music was an important means for creating hope, cohesion, resistance, and a sense of identity, yet for the camp authorities, the same music was understood to be a mechanism for relieving the internees' anger and anxiety and controlling their behavior. Promoted by both the internees and the camp authorities for their own benefits, music thrived in concentration camps, fulfilling multiple functions that were specifically demanded of it by the extreme circumstances created by the internment.