Photos of Arizona internment camps by Masumi Hayashi.Visit masumimuseum.com for more images.

Multiple Voices Multiple Histories

Exploring the Intersections of the Japanese American and American Indian Experiences of Internment in Arizona during World War II

Sat., February 25, 2012 8:45 am - 3 pm Memorial Union Ventana Room ASU Tempe Campus
Symposium free and open to the public (Free parking in Parking Structure 1 on Apache Blvd.)
During World War II, the United States built ten internment camps to incarcerate Japanese American citizens. The only two located on American Indian land were in the state of Arizona: the reservations of the Gila River Indian Community and the Colorado River Indian Tribes. The U.S. Army built makeshift barracks to house the thousands of suspected enemy aliens on their lands. The WRA also used a former Navajo Boarding School as a Citizens Isolation Center. We invite the public to join us in exploring the social dimensions of these two different communities and the overlapping histories of internment in Arizona. There has been no comprehensive exploration about these overlapping histories, and this symposium will be the first to fully engage these questions. This symposium features scholars from around the nation and Japan who are doing research on this unique moment in U.S. history. The symposium, occurring during Arizonas centennial, will highlight a key moment in Arizona history that was a part of national United States history.
This symposium made possible with a seed grant from the Institute for Humanities Research at Arizona State University, and a public event grant from Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University, Utah.

Symposium Schedule

(subject to change)

8:45 am 9:00 am 10:45 am 12:15 pm 1:15 pm 2:45 pm

Introductions Spaces Voices Lunch (Bring a lunch or buy lunch at the MU) Ideas Conclusion

Scheduled Panelists
Myla Vicenti Carpio, Ph.D. American Indian Studies, Arizona State University Laura Fugikawa, Ph.D. Asian American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Lynn Horiuchi, Ph.D. Independent Scholar Noriko Ishiyama, Ph.D. School of Political Science and Economics, Meiji University, Japan Jun Kamata, Ph.D. Asia University Karen J. Leong, Ph.D. School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University Henrietta A. Lopez Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project, Gila River Indian Community Ruth Okimoto, Ph.D. Independent Scholar Thy Phu, Ph.D. University of Western Ontario Michael Tsosie Ethnic Studies, University of California, Riverside (former museum director, Colorado River Indian Tribes)