From archive to writing: Marcia Yumi Takeuchi’s Historiography on Japanese Immigration (1998–2002)

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the historical writing of Marcia Yumi Takeuchi (1971–2010) on Japanese immigration during the years 1998–2002. For this purpose, we selected as our source the book O perigo amarelo em tempos de guerra (1939–1945), published in 2002. It is the result of the thematic project Proin – Projeto Integrado Arquivo do Estado/USP. Thus, our objective was also to understand how the historian systematized and analyzed documentation from the Departamento Estadual de Ordem Política e Social (DEOPS/SP), according to the guidelines of that group, as well as the institution in which she was trained: the Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/USP). We concluded that Marcia Takeuchi’s historiographical production was shaped by this collection. Through her effort to reconstruct the "daily life experienced by the Japanese" and the anti-Japanese discourse, the historian sought to write a history of Japanese immigration connected to Brazilian history. The study of this case makes it possible to understand certain features of Brazilian historiography produced at the turn of the 21st century