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Yamashita (Karen Tei) papers
MS.465
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Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Karen Tei Yamashita papers
Identifier/Call Number: MS.465
Physical Description:
69.25 Linear Feet
(108 boxes)
Physical Description:
4.09 GB
(approximately 3,791 digital files)
Date (inclusive): circa 1907-2021
Date (bulk): 1980-2014
Abstract: Karen Tei Yamashita (January 8, 1951)
is a novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and professor, known for her works of Asian
American literature and magic realism, including
I Hotel (2010), which was a
finalist selection for the National Book Award. This collection documents her creative life,
reflecting the biographical, academic, literary, and theatrical aspects of Yamashita's
professional career. The collection primarily contains material relating to correspondence,
story publication, theatrical productions, and research, with some papers relating to
professional activities, speaking events, and living abroad.
Language of Material: English, Japanese,
Portuguese
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
The Library is currently limited in its ability to provide access to digital content on
5.25-inch floppy disks. Please contact Special Collections for information regarding
access.
Collection is open for research. Audiovisual media is unavailable until reformatted.
Contact Special Collections and Archives in advance to request access to audiovisual media.
Digital files are available in the UCSC Special Collections and Archives reading room. Some
files require reformatting before they can be accessed. Technical limitations may hinder the
Library's ability to provide access to some digital files. Access to digital files on
original carriers is prohibited; users must request to view access copies. Contact Special
Collections and Archives in advance to request access to digital files.
This collection contains unprocessed additions, which require advance notice for access.
These additons MAY CONTAIN RESTRICTED MATERIALS. Special Collections staff must review this
material prior to access. Please contact Special Collections and Archives in advance to
request access.
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs.
Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair
use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to
determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more
information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
Karen Tei Yamashita papers. MS 465. Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
University of California, Santa Cruz.
Donated by Karen Tei Yamashita in multiple installments.
Karen Tei Yamashita (January 8, 1951) is a novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and
professor. Although born in Oakland, California, Yamashita spent most of her childhood in
Gardena, Los Angeles County, California. From 1969 to 1973, Yamashita attended Carleton
College in Northfield, Minnesota, and spent her junior year abroad at Waseda University in
Tokyo, Japan. Yamashita graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1973 with Bachelors of Arts degrees in
English and Japanese literature. A year later, contemplating a career in anthropology,
Yamashita received the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and traveled to Sao Paulo in 1975 to
research Japanese immigrant communities in Brazil. Yamashita would remain in Brazil for nine
years, where she met and married artist and architect Ronaldo Lopes de Oliveira, with whom
she has had two children. In 1984, the family moved to Gardena, California, where Yamashita
worked for twelve years as an Executive Assistant at KCET, one of the local PBS stations in
Southern California. In 1997, Yamashita became a Professor at the University of California
Santa Cruz, relocating to Santa Cruz after a six-month stay in Seto, Japan.
Yamashita's literary career began during her first months in Brazil when she wrote and
submitted the short story "The Bath" (1975), which would become her first professional
publication. "The Bath" was followed by other short stories, some award-winning and
published in multiple translations, including "Asaka-no-Miya" (1979) and "The Orange"
(1991). Additional short works by Yamashita include "Madama B" (1993) and "The Dentist and
the Dental Hygienist" (1995). Yamashita's short stories explore a diverse set of topics,
including the Japanese diaspora and technology, and consider the intersections of race,
gender, love, and stereotype. At the same time she wrote short stories, Yamashita composed
performance pieces including
Omen: An American Kabuki (1978),
Hannah
Kusoh: An American Butoh
(1989),
Tokyo Carmen vs. L.A. Carmen: A
Performance Collaboration
(1990), and
Noh Bozos: A Circus Performance in
Ten Amazing Acts
(1993). Many of these were performed around Los Angeles in the
1980s and 1990s. Yamashita's other scripts include the collaborative musical
Rock
Candy
(1987) and the multimedia-inspired
Jan Ken Pon (2012). Much
of Yamashita's performance work is experimental, using music, dance, videoclips, and
imaginative sets and costumes to playfully explore race and gender with attention to the
collaborative nature of performance. Selected plays, written from the 1980s through the
2010s, were published in the collection
Anime Wong: Fictions of Performance
(2014).
Yamashita began work as a critically-acclaimed novelist after returning from Brazil to
Southern California in the 1980s. Her first two novels,
Through the Arc of the Rain
Forest
(1990) and
Brazil-Maru (1992), take place in Brazil and are
influenced by her time in that country.
Arc is a story of environmental
destruction in the rainforest, while
Brazil-Maru tells the story of early
twentieth century Japanese immigrants in Brazil. Both
Arc and
Brazil-Maru have been translated into Japanese, and
Arc was
also published in Portuguese translation under the title
Matacao, uma lenda
tropical
(2003). Yamashita's next novel,
Tropic of Orange (1997),
is set in Los Angeles and Mexico and follows a diverse cast of characters in an unsettled
future where the Tropic of Cancer is moving northwards.
Circle K Cycles
(2001), a collection of short stories that was inspired by Yamashita's six-month stay in
Japan and based on web journals written during that stay, reflects on Japanese-Brazilian
experiences in Japan at the end of the twentieth century. Yamashita's most recent novel,
I Hotel (2010), is an extensively-researched exploration of the Asian
American Movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in from the 1960s to the 1970s, told through
ten distinct yet interrelated novellas.
Throughout her more than three-decade writing career, Yamashita has received numerous
awards, grants, and recognitions. Yamashita received awards including the Rockefeller
Playwright-in-Residence Fellowship in 1977, the Japan Foundation Artist Fellowship in 1997,
and the United States Artists Ford Foundation Fellowship in 2011. In addition to winning
several short story contests early in her career, Yamashita received an American Book Award
in 1991 and a Janet Heidinger Kafka Award in 1992 for Arc, while
Brazil-Maru
was voted one of
The Village Voice's 25 best books of 1993.
Tropic was a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize in 1998, and
I
Hotel
was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2010.
I Hotel
received extensive additional recognition including a California Book Award (2010), American
Book Award (2011) and an Asian American Literary Award (2011).
Yamashita began her career as an educator in 1997 at the University of California Santa
Cruz, where she is a Professor of Literature and Creative Writing affiliated with Latin
American and Latino Studies, East Asian Studies, and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. She
has been a visiting scholar and guest lecturer at universities around the world. Yamashita's
commitment to education and diversity has been recognized with an Excellence in Teaching
Award (2001), the Chancellor's Award for Diversity (2009), and an appointment as the
co-holder of the UC Presidential Chair for Feminist Critical Race and Ethnic Studies
(2012-2015).
She currently resides in Santa Cruz with her husband and continues writing to this
day.
| 1951 | Born 8 January, Oakland, California |
| 1952 | Moved to Gardena, Los Angeles County, California |
| 1969 | Enrolled at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota |
| 1971 | Spent a year abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan |
| 1973 | Graduated with a B.A. from Carleton College |
| 1974-1977 | Received the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship |
| 1975 | Moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Published first short story "The Bath" | |
| 1977 | Married Ronaldo Lopes de Oliveira |
| 1978 | Play performed: Omen: An American Kabuki |
| 1984 | Moved with family to Gardena, California |
| Play performed: Hiroshima Tropical | |
| 1986 | Co-authored the film Kusei: An Endangered Species |
| 1989 | Multimedia performance: Hannah Kusoh: An American Butoh |
| 1990 | Published Through the Arc of the Rainforest |
| Plays performed: Hannah Kusoh and Tokyo Carmen v.s. L.A. Carmen | |
| 1991 | Musicals performed: Godzilla Comes to Little Tokyo |
| 1992 | Published Brazil-Maru |
| 1993 | Multimedia performance: Noh Bozos |
| 1997 | Published Tropic of Orange |
| Received the Japan Foundation Artist Fellowship | |
| Spent six months in Seto, Aichi Prefecture, Japan | |
| Published pieces for the web journal CafeCreole | |
| Moved to Santa Cruz, California | |
| Began work as a professor at the University of California Santa Cruz | |
| 2001 | Published Circle K Cycles |
| 2010 | Published I Hotel |
| 2011-2012 | Received a United States Artists Ford Fellowship |
| 2012 | Appointed as a co-holder of the UC Presidential Chair for Feminist ritical Race and Ethnic Studies |
| 2014 | Published Anime Wong: Fictions of Performance |
| 1951 | Born 8 January, Oakland, California |
| 1952 | Moved to Gardena, Los Angeles County, California |
| 1969 | Enrolled at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota |
| 1971 | Spent a year abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan |
| 1973 | Graduated with a B.A. from Carleton College |
| 1974-1977 | Received the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship |
| 1975 | Moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Published first short story "The Bath" | |
| 1977 | Married Ronaldo Lopes de Oliveira |
| 1978 | Play performed: Omen: An American Kabuki |
| 1984 | Moved with family to Gardena, California |
| Play performed: Hiroshima Tropical | |
| 1986 | Co-authored the film Kusei: An Endangered Species |
| 1989 | Multimedia performance: Hannah Kusoh: An American Butoh |
| 1990 | Published Through the Arc of the Rainforest |
| Plays performed: Hannah Kusoh and Tokyo Carmen v.s. L.A. Carmen | |
| 1991 | Musicals performed: Godzilla Comes to Little Tokyo |
| 1992 | Published Brazil-Maru |
| 1993 | Multimedia performance: Noh Bozos |
| 1997 | Published Tropic of Orange |
| Received the Japan Foundation Artist Fellowship | |
| Spent six months in Seto, Aichi Prefecture, Japan | |
| Published pieces for the web journal CafeCreole | |
| Moved to Santa Cruz, California | |
| Began work as a professor at the University of California Santa Cruz | |
| 2001 | Published Circle K Cycles |
| 2010 | Published I Hotel |
| 2011-2012 | Received a United States Artists Ford Fellowship |
| 2012 | Appointed as a co-holder of the UC Presidential Chair for Feminist ritical Race and Ethnic Studies |
| 2014 | Published Anime Wong: Fictions of Performance |
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection documents the creative life of Yamashita, reflecting the biographical,
academic, literary, and theatrical aspects of her professional career. The holding contains
large amounts of correspondence as well as publication, production, and research materials
generated from writing Yamashita's major works, with some papers relating to her
professional activities, speaking events, and living abroad. Correspondence primarily
includes handwritten and typed letters, cards, email printouts, and mainly addresses
specific works and personal greetings. Correspondents include organizations, publishers,
colleagues, friends, and family writing mainly in regards to research, draft feedback,
publication, publicity, and recognition. Publication and production materials mostly
comprise manuscripts at different stages, cover or poster art and illustrations, props, set
and costume designs, contracts, and copyright documents, with some original publicity
clippings and photocopies of mass market and independent newspaper reviews and articles. In
addition are articles, essays, and interviews with Yamashita. Accumulated background
research for her works primarily include clippings, handouts and other forms of ephemera
related to the topics of Japan, Brazil, Asian diaspora, the arts, and teaching. Some media
exists across the collection, such as videocassettes, audio cassettes, floppy disks, and
compact discs (CD). Furthermore, some photographic images and materials exist as well. The
collection also includes digital files pertaining to a variety of Yamashita's literary works
and her professional career.
There was some original order to Yamashita's papers, with the collection being organized by
individual works. Final arrangement was influenced by this original organization. The
arrangement of the collection is as follows:
Series 1: Biographical, 1968-2013:
- Subseries 1.1: Correspondence, 1968-2013
- Subseries 1.2: Publication, 1987-2013
- Subseries 1.3: Research, 1987-2013
- Subseries 1.4: Activities, 1991-2012
- Subseries 1.5: Speaking Events, 1990-2010
- Subseries 1.6: Digital Files, 1996-2009
Series 2: Books, 1907-2014:
- Subseries 2.1: Brazil-Maru, 1953-2006
- Subseries 2.2: Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, 1980s-2004
- Subseries 2.3: Tropic of Orange, 1970s-2006
- Subseries 2.4: Circle K Cycles, 1990s-2003
- Subseries 2.5: I Hotel, 1907-2011
- Subseries 2.6: Anime Wong, 2000-2014
Series 3: Dramatic Works, 1978-2013:
- Subseries 3.1: Omen: An American Kabuki, 1976-1989
- Subseries 3.2: Asaka-No-Miya, 1980s-1984
- Subseries 3.3: O Kage, circa 1980s
- Subseries 3.4: Xina, early 1980s-1985
- Subseries 3.5: Hiroshima Tropical, early 1980s-1989
- Subseries 3.6: Hannah Kusoh: An American Butoh, 1984-1993
- Subseries 3.7: GiLAwrecks, aka Godzilla Comes to Little Tokyo , 1985-1993
- Subseries 3.8: Kusei: An Endangered Species, 1986-1989
- Subseries 3.9: Tokyo Carmen vs. L.A. Carmen, 1989-1990s
- Subseries 3.10: Rock Candy, 1986-1991
- Subseries 3.11: Noh Bozos, 1990-1994
- Subseries 3.12: Anime Wong, 1996-2013
- Subseries 3.13: Siamese Twins and Mongoloids: Three Abstractions on Asian America , 2012
- Subseries 3.14: Jan Ken Pon, 2012
Series 4: Other Writings, 1970s-2012
This collection contains unprocessed materials. The processed portion of the collection is
stored in boxes 1-84.
Manuscript portion of the collection processed by Annie Tang, with assistance from Melissa
Poulsen, graduate fellow in the Center for Archival Research and Training (CART) at UC Santa
Cruz. Machine-readable finding aid by Annie Tang.
Digital portion of the collection partially processed by Kate Dundon in 2018. Digital files
were received from Karen Yamashita on 22 3.5-inch floppy disks, 10 5.25-inch floppy disks,
34 CDs, 2 zip disks, 1 USB flash drive. With the exception of 5.25-inch floppy disks, files
were transferred from original carriers in 2018. Original carriers were retained and are
included in the collection. Duplicate files, student and employment records, and other out
of scope files were not retained. Files were not reformatted, and file names are original to
the creator. Digital materials were integrated into their corresponding series based on
content. The original order of the files has been retained.
See the following guides for inventories of processed digital files:
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Japanese Americans
Japanese American authors
Faculty papers
University of California, Santa
Cruz