Event itself
The Day of Remembrance marks the official annual commemoration of executive order 9066. The order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the start of the infamous U.S. internment camps during World War II to house Japanese and Japanese-Americans. On Feb. 10, students in the United States Multi-Ethnic Literature course and others at Seattle Pacific University gathered together for the 83 year of the executive order to watch a documentary dedicated to the historical event.
Directed by Ann Kaneko, the film, “Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust”, was first shown in 2021 at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and later shown at the San Diego Asian Film Festival that same year.
The film was presented in Bertona classroom 1 between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. The screening was organized by Associate Professor of English and cultural studies Dr. Ji-Young Um. Before the event, Professor Um sent out an email inviting students outside her United States Multi-Ethnic Literature course to also attend the screening.
Namiko Miller, a freshman majoring in political science and a student in Professor Um’s class, noted how the film was similar to the material her class had been learning.
“We [just] read a book called ‘Displacement’ [by Kiku Hughes]. It was a graphic novel. It was on the Japanese internment camp[s],” Miller said. “We watched this movie documentary after we finished the novel because it tied it all together.”
According to Professor Um on the reasons behind holding the screening, she found the film did well in revealing often overlooked facets of history.
“I think this film, through media [and] through cultural production, brings together some real histories that are perhaps not as well known, or perhaps histories that are well known – for example, the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War Two,” Um said. “But [it] connects them, this history to other histories, peoples, and experiences that aren’t always talked about together.”
Documentary and its message
Rather than talking about Japanese Internment in the U.S. more broadly, Kaneko’s film narrows in on the Manzanar War Relocation Center near Los Angeles. As noted in the film and its trailer, the land used to be overseen by Native Americans before the U.S. government built Manzanar. After the war, the camp was converted into a national park.
To Dr. April Middeljans, the department chair and associate professor of English and cultural studies, Kaneko’s film brings a unique perspective on how people should view history.
“We tend to think of the histories of people in these sort of segregated ways. Like this is the Japanese American experience. This is the Native American experience. This is the White American experience,” Middeljans said. “It was a nice example of how all those things kind of interweave and the interesting alliances that you can also develop.”
Q&A with the director
Ella Beth Sessions, a junior majoring in English Literature and another student in Professor Um’s class, is excited to see the director for the film, Kaneko, who is coming to Seattle Pacific.
“We get to talk to the director in a couple weeks, so that will be really cool,” Sessions said.
Kaneko will be in Bertona classroom 1 between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Feb. 21 to receive and answer any questions regarding her film. Students outside of the United States Multi-Ethnic Literature course are invited to join in with the class as well by Professor Um in her email.
“Although the events are happening as part of class, they are open to the SPU community,” Professor Um said. “You do not have to attend the screening (Monday, February 10) in order to attend the conversation with Anne Kaneko, the director of the film, on Friday, February 21.”
