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Reviews
Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites
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By Jeffrey F. Burton, Mary M. Farrell, Florence B. Lord, and Richard W. Lord
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University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2002. Illustrations, maps, tables, bibliography. 472 pages. $27.50 paper.
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Reviewed By Gail Lee Dubrow
University of Washington, Seattle
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With the publication of Confinement and Ethnicity, the University
of Washington Press has issued a corrected edition of an extraordinarily
popular National Park Service study documenting the sites of internment
of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Originally
intended to assess the merit of extant resources for listing as
National Historic Landmarks, this work has found a wider audience,
including survivors of internment as well as their descendents and
allies who are concerned with preserving these "sites of shame"
to prevent the future abrogation of civil liberties.
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A welcome addition to the growing literature about the internment, this study is notable for its focus on surviving architectural remnants, archaeological remains, and artifacts found at places such as assembly centers, relocation centers, and internment camps that confined persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Richly illustrated with maps, photographs, charts, and tables, Confinement and Ethnicity provides readers with a broad overview of the confinement facilities and paints a clear picture of historic and contemporary conditions at the sites of relocation. Unfortunately, the process used in reprinting this study has reduced the photographs' legibility, but this limitation is offset by the value of bringing this work to a wider audience. |
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The new foreword by Tetsuden Kashima ably frames the intellectual context for the study, noting its contributions to existing scholarship in terms of the richness of visual documentation and the balance it strikes in documenting facilities specified by the government such as watchtowers, barbed-wire fences, and tar paper barracks along with inmate-constructed amenities such as gardens, ponds, and pools, designed to "maintain a sense of selfhood" in the context of an otherwise demoralizing experience (p. xi). Critically, the inclusion of Department of Justice camps and U.S. Army facilities, frequently omitted from works focusing on internment camps, allows for a more complete treatment of the subject by incorporating sites associated with the confinement of draft resisters and Japanese nationals kidnapped from Latin America. |
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While public awareness of the interment
has grown in recent years, due to a new body of work supported by
the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, to date little has been
thought to remain at the sites of confinement such as Manzanar and
Minidoka. The site of the Minidoka Relocation Center in Jerome County,
Idaho, is striking because of its remote location as well as its
apparent barrenness. Once occupied by over six hundred buildings,
today the site is marked by only a few major features, including
the guardhouse at the entry, a root cellar, and relocated staff
quarters. The archaeological perspective that informs Confinement
and Ethnicity, however, illuminates the wide range of surviving
resources that elude the untrained eye, from landscape features
such as canals and gardens to concrete slabs that supported buildings
and pathways winding throughout the site. Whether studied by the
armchair tourist or used as a guide by actual visitors, the work
reveals subtle clues in the landscape that testify to the past presence
of confinement facilities.
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4
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The book provides a useful introduction to sites associated with the internment of people of Japanese descent. Unlike many community efforts that have focused on the particular camps where the authors were confined, this work offers an evenhanded treatment of the entire set of resources associated with this theme, allowing readers to understand the scope and extent of the U.S. government's removal and incarceration program. |
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The gradual erosion of the integrity of these resources since the end of World War II reflects a kind of cultural amnesia about the internment from which we are only now awakening. Fortunately, the activities of the redress movement and, more broadly, a growing concern with retrieving more accurate and complete views of the American past have contributed to a new wave of preservation activity that does not shy away from controversy. This book will be a valuable resource for those seeking to fill gaps in their understanding of the nation's past as well an informative tool for scholars and activists working to make this history publicly visible. Although this work focuses on the experience of people of Japanese descent, its subject is relevant to all students of American history. It is of particular relevance today as a tangible reminder of a dark period in the nation's past as well as a moral compass informing our response to current efforts to protect national security by curtailing civil liberties. |
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