Transnational Considerations At Japanese American Incarceration Camps

Summary

In 1942, all people of Japanese descent living along the western coast of the United States were forcibly removed from their homes and imprisoned in 10 incarceration camps. Decades after the incarceration a congressional commission found that racism, wartime hysteria and a lack of leadership led to this unjust imprisonment. The scholarship surrounding the archaeology of the incarceration centers has grown over the past twenty years, with several ongoing studies conducted by universities and the National Park Service. At the same time research at sites associated with Asian Americans has called for more nuanced interpretations of these diverse populations. Recent exploratory work focusing on gardens at the Gila River Incarceration Camp has highlighted the need for a transnational framework when approaching the material culture of these sites of confinement. Only by considering the global connections of the incarcerated population can a greater understanding of the complex mélange of identities be reached.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• The Archaeology of Global History

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15564