Representing Okinawan Voices in the Construction of Postcolonial Memory and Identity — a Stylistic Analysis of Speak, Okinawa: a Memoir

Università degli Studi di Torino

Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Lingue dell’Asia e dell’Africa

per la Comunicazione e la Cooperazione Internazionale

Representing Okinawan Voices in the

Construction of Postcolonial Memory and

Identity — a Stylistic Analysis of

Speak, Okinawa: a Memoir

Relatore

Adami Esterino Candidata

Di Lauro Camilla

Matricola 921657

Anno Accademico 2025/2026

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Ringraziamenti ........................................................................................................................................ 5

Abstract (ENG) ....................................................................................................................................... 6

Abstract (ITA) ......................................................................................................................................... 7

Chapter 1: Introduction - For a New Perspective on Okinawan Studies .......................................... 8

1.1. Presentation of the Study and Research Goals .......................................................................... 8

1.2. Theoretical Frameworks and Methods ...................................................................................... 9

1.3. Thesis Structure....................................................................................................................... 14

Chapter 2: Exposing Colonial Legacies: for a Cultural and Historical Backdrop of Speak,

Okinawa: a memoir ................................................................................................................................ 15

2.1. The Foundations of the Okinawan Postcolonial Complex ...................................................... 15

2.2. The Gendered and Racial Dimension of the U.S. Occupation ................................................ 19

2.2.1. The Japanese-American Colonial Gaze and Orientalist Discourse: Western

Constructions of Power and Okinawan Identity ............................................................................. 19

2.2.2. Women’s Agency and Relationships under the Colonial Rules ...................................... 23

2.2.3. The hāfu identity ............................................................................................................. 25

Chapter 3: The Methodological Background of Stylistics ................................................................. 28

3.1. The Memoir Genre and Speak, Okinawa ................................................................................ 28

3.2. The Role of Stylistics in Textual Analysis .............................................................................. 28

3.3. The Stylistic Toolkit ................................................................................................................ 29

3.3.1. Foregrounding ................................................................................................................. 30

3.3.2. Modality and Point of View ............................................................................................ 30

3.3.3. Speech and Thought Presentation ................................................................................... 33

3.3.4. Metaphor ......................................................................................................................... 35

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3.3.5. Deixis .............................................................................................................................. 35

3.4. Limitations of the Analysis ..................................................................................................... 36

Chapter 4: Stylistic Analysis of Selected Passages from Speak, Okinawa: a memoir ...................... 38

4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 38

4.2. Extract 1: “How They Met” .................................................................................................... 38

4.3. Extract 2: “Erizabesu” ............................................................................................................. 42

4.4. Extract 3: “Worse than the Dog” ............................................................................................. 47

4.4.1. First Part .......................................................................................................................... 48

4.4.2. Second Part ..................................................................................................................... 50

4.5. Extract 4: “Before the Enemy Takes Japan” and “The First Americans in Okinawa” ........... 53

4.5.1. From the Stance of Okinawa ........................................................................................... 54

4.5.2. From the Stance of America............................................................................................ 56

Chapter 5: Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 58

5.1. Summary of the Research Findings ........................................................................................ 58

5.2. Further Avenues of Research .................................................................................................. 61

Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 62

Webliography ........................................................................................................................................ 68

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Abstract (ENG)

This thesis opens a new horizon in Okinawan studies by offering a multidisciplinary perspective

on the autobiographical record Speak, Okinawa: a Memoir, by Elizabeth M. Brina (2021a). The core of

the research consists of a qualitative stylistic analysis of selected extracts from the memoir. A tailor-made

framework informed by contemporary stylistic theories (Jeffries 2010; Leech & Short 2007; Simpson

1993, 2004) guides the study. The linguistic devices of foregrounding, modality and point of view, speech

and thought presentation, metaphor, and deixis are investigated to shed light on the portrayal of Okinawan

history appearing in this non-fictional prose written by an Okinawan-American author, an hāfu born and

raised in the U.S. Because of Brina’s double heritage, particular focus is placed on the power dynamics

at play in the negotiation of identity around the individuals born from the relationships between

Okinawan women and American military personnel stationed in Okinawa during the American

occupation of Japan, and who then migrated to the U.S. The analysis integrates historical, cultural, and

gender perspectives (Caroli 1999; Hirsch 1997; Nora 1989; Spivak 2001) to contextualize Brina’s

account and to frame it within a broader collective narrative that fits into the Okinawan “postcolonial

complex” (Hoshino 2018; Nishiyama 2019). The research reveals social dynamics and power structures

rooted in Western representations of Okinawa, clarifying how language shapes the construction of

postcolonial memory and identity.

Keywords: Contemporary Stylistics, Hāfu, Memoir, Okinawa, Postcolonial.

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Abstract (ITA)

La presente tesi si propone di ampliare gli orizzonti degli studi su Okinawa, offrendo una

prospettiva multidisciplinare sul testo autobiografico Speak, Okinawa: a Memoir di Elizabeth M. Brina

(2021a). Il fulcro della ricerca consiste in un’analisi stilistica qualitativa di brevi estratti del memoriale e

adotta un framework legato alle teorie stilistiche contemporanee (Jeffries 2010; Leech & Short 2007;

Simpson 1993, 2004). Vengono esaminati i dispositivi linguistici del foregrounding (messa in rilievo),

della modalità e del punto di vista, della rappresentazione del discorso e del pensiero, della metafora e

della deissi, per far luce sulla rappresentazione della storia di Okinawa contenuta nel testo in esame.

Nello specifico, si tratta di una prosa non-fiction scritta da un’autrice di origini okinawane e americane,

una hāfu nata e cresciuta negli Stati Uniti. Tenendo in considerazione le origini miste dell’autrice,

l’analisi presta particolare attenzione alle dinamiche di potere in gioco nella negoziazione dell’identità

degli individui nati da relazioni tra donne okinawensi e personale militare americano; in qualche caso, si

tratta di coppie successivamente emigrate negli Stati Uniti, a seguito dell’occupazione statunitense di

Okinawa. L’analisi integra teorie storiche, culturali e di genere (Caroli 1999; Hirsch 1997; Nora 1989;

Spivak 2001) per contestualizzare il racconto di Brina e inserirlo in una narrazione collettiva più ampia

all’interno del “complesso postcoloniale” di Okinawa (Hoshino 2018; Nishiyama 2019). Attraverso

questa prospettiva, la ricerca mette in luce le dinamiche sociali e le gerarchie di potere radicate nelle

rappresentazioni occidentali di Okinawa e chiarisce in che modo il linguaggio influenzi la costruzione

della memoria e dell'identità postcoloniali. 7

Chapter 1: Introduction - For a New Perspective on Okinawan Studies

1.1. Presentation of the Study and Research Goals

The present thesis focuses on the book Speak Okinawa: a Memoir by Elizabeth Miki Brina,

published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2021. This research considers the memoir a primary historical source.

It examines how Brina’s narrative strategies and discursive patterns reveal postwar Okinawan colonial

legacies, exploring how subjective memories contribute to collective postcolonial memory, and analyzes

their impact on historical and cultural discourse. Such patterns will be examined through contemporary

stylistic analysis (Gibbons & Whiteley 2018; Gregoriou 2009; Jeffries 2010; Leech & Short 2007;

Simpson, Mayr and Statham 2019; Simpson 1993, 2004; Sotirova 2016). This research frames the

narrative constituted by Brina’s personal history in her process of uncovering the past, within the specific

historical moments of the post-WW2 and the American occupation of Okinawa. More specifically, this

study intends to examine how particular stylistic elements employed by Brina intersect with and embed

the negotiation of identity and the representation of postcolonial and gendered experiences, highlighting

the author’s identity negotiation processes as a biracial child born to a former American GI and an

Okinawan mother who migrated to the United States. The goal is to understand how Brina stylistically

(re)constructs memory in the dynamic production of cultural narratives around race, gender, and trauma.

Ultimately, the study intends to reveal how language becomes the medium through which postcolonial

identity, ideology and memory are negotiated and manifested in the narrative structure and linguistic

choices. Thanks to the integration of historical, postcolonial, and feminist perspectives intertwined with

the stylistic analysis of selected passages from Speak, Okinawa: a memoir, this project illuminates how

personal and collective memory interact in shaping cultural narratives of race, gender, and postcolonial

trauma.

While the existing literature richly explores Okinawan postcolonial and gender experiences, there

is an unexplored potential in examining how these themes are represented within autobiographical

memoirs, which remain underexplored from a stylistic perspective. This highlights the innovative aspect

of the current research, which aims to demonstrate that memoirs present a rich potential for revealing

how individual experience engages with broader historical and social dynamics, particularly in Okinawan

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studies. Molasky (1999) combines textual analysis of fictional narrative produced in the context of the

U.S. occupation of Japan and Okinawa. Through the textual analysis of narrative literature inspired by

true news reporting and historical chronicles, Molasky’s research explores how the American occupation

and its violence were remembered, recreated, and disseminated through Japanese and Okinawan literary

works. Inspired by his project in the thematic approach, the present research differentiates itself in

methodology, and this peculiarity renders it remarkably relevant in the context of Okinawan studies.

Ultimately, by recognizing the existence of an academic gap in the field of Okinawan studies in

the analysis of autobiographical memoirs, the innovative aspect of this multidisciplinary research lies in

combining a pure stylistic approach with postcolonial, historical, and feminist theories applied to a non-

fictional, autobiographical text. As this thesis aims to demonstrate, the connection between the

experience of Kyoko, Brina’s mother, as an Okinawan bride expatriated to the U.S. and the wider

testimonies gathered by Zulueta (2022) strengthens the linkage between personal narrative and collective

historical patterns, reinforcing the importance of including personal memoirs under academic scrutiny to

enrich Okinawan postcolonial studies. The negotiation of the author’s double cultural and ethnic identity,

Okinawan-American, will be thoroughly discussed to reveal the legacies of the complex colonial history

and the gendered dimension of Okinawa, which refers to the discursive construction of such identities

within a patriarchal and colonial hierarchy. The stylistic analysis of some relevant extracts of the text is

set to uncover the ideology embedded in the use of language, shedding some light on the power structures

that emerge from postcolonial, racial and gendered discourse, contextualizing it within historical

chronicles; in other words, this study intends to interpret the text and its impact on the reader, and how

the memoir contributes to the representation of Okinawa. As no prior research has addressed this specific

subject, the aim of the present project is to fill the academic gap outlined above by providing a first

original analysis of Speak, Okinawa, a memoir that contributes to understanding how Okinawa is

portrayed in postcolonial, historical narratives.

1.2. Theoretical Frameworks and Methods

This multidisciplinary research is informed by several sources drawn from various academic

fields. There is a relevant historical and anthropological literature on the aftermath of the Second World

War in Japan and Okinawa that serves as a theoretical anchor for this thesis (Caroli 1999; Dower 1999;

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Kerr 2000). Existing scholarship addresses Okinawa’s postcolonial history, including the political and

military implications of the U.S. occupation and the ongoing impact of the American military bases set

in Okinawa (Kovner 2016). Building on this foundation, social and anthropological research outline the

general context of the Okinawan “postcolonial complex” (Hoshino 2018; Nishiyama 2019). Considering

the author’s personal background, gender studies on the intimate relationships between GIS and

Okinawan women are also relevant to this project (Ames 2010; Crissey 2017; Forgash 2020; Johnson

2019; Koikari 2015; Shimabuku 2019; Takeuchi 2010; Zulueta 2022). By outlining the memoir’s

historical and cultural backdrop, emphasis will be placed on unfolding Okinawa’s layered colonial history,

second-generation inherited trauma, as well as the negotiation of identity in biracial individuals, showing

how the text can bring out the identity dilemma in mixed-race children born to Okinawan women and

U.S. soldiers, and the stigma associated with them and their families.

The main stylistic frameworks that will be used in the analysis are drawn from Critical Stylistics

(Jeffries 2010), English Literary Stylistics (Gregoriou 2009), Contemporary Stylistics: Language,

Cognition, Interpretation (Gibbons & Whiteley 2018) and The Bloomsbury Companion to Stylistics

(Sotirova 2016). Careful consideration will be given to the theories and methods developed in Simpson’s

Language, Ideology and Point of View (Simpson 1993), and Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students

(2004). Specifically, I will utilize these references as a toolkit to inform my investigation and

interpretation. This toolkit will focus on selected stylistic devices, namely foregrounding, modality and

point of view, speech and thought, metaphor and deixis. This approach ensures that the analysis adheres

to the central stylistic principles that the adopted method must be rigorous, retrievable, and replicable

(Simpson 2004: 4). Specifically, the research will be qualitative, and descriptive methods will be used.

The analysis will be conducted through a close reading of four relevant excerpts selected from the memoir,

which will be quoted directly. The unit of analysis is 500-600-word excerpts that contain significant

stylistic features presented in the third chapter: the selected stylistic tools will be implemented to show

how they interact to build the author’s narrative voice. The selection criteria that I adopted are discussed

in the next subparagraph and the theories presented will be part of the multidisciplinary discussion.

Furthermore, the stylistic analysis contained in the fourth chapter will offer specific insights on the

constructed dialogues as active processes in the dynamics of memory and self-construction (Cabillas

2014; Mildorf 2016; Nykänen & Koivisto 2016). Considerations on the operation of power through

discourse and on the linguistic construction of gender and race will also be provided (Simpson, Mayr and

Statham 2019). 10

This subsection outlines the theoretical criteria guiding the interpretive lens of the study. By

focusing on themes of colonial legacies, the concepts of lieu de mémoire (Nora 1989), Darstellung

(Spivak 2001), and postmemory (Hirsch 1997), I identified some of the excerpts that most directly

embody these intersecting concerns. In this way, these theories underpin the critical reading and

discussion of Brina’s narrative. This study argues that deploying a feminist postcolonial stylistic lens is

suitable for interrogating Brina’s narrative, as this approach exposes how issues of gender, power, and

suppressed voices are intertwined in the memoir’s form and content and foregrounds the ways Brina

negotiates and resists dominant historical narratives. Speak, Okinawa presents a subjective historical

account in which personal memory and history dialogue together, offering an or