Koji Lau-Ozawa Dissertation Defense

Japanese Diaspora in a WWII Incarceration Camp: Archaeology of Gila River

The Gila River Incarceration Camp was constructed during WWII imprisoning over 13,000 people of Japanese ancestry. Constructed on the land of the Gila River Indian Community, a reservation of Akimel O’otham and Pee Posh peoples, the incarceration camp brought into close proximity marginalized people at the hard end of government surveillance. Moreover, the incarceration camp reordered social relations connections of the incarcerated Japanese American community, creating and sustaining new relationships constrained by carceral supply chains and defined by the landscape. Drawing from archaeological surveys conducted in collaboration with the Gila River Indian Community, as well as archival, oral historical, and ethnographic sources, I trace the connections maintained, formed, and transformed through material practices during the incarceration camp period.

Public Defense Session: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/93457552993?pwd=ZTROaDhNK2QvRk1Sc2pySFZQaEQyQT09