Experiences of Postcolonial Traditioning on Pilgrimage to a Nikkei Concentration Camp

Concurrent Session C2 / Saturday.2008.Aug.9 / 11:00 AM / Mudd 102

Panelists:

The next decade of APARRI comes at a time of generational passing in parts of the Asian North American diaspora. In this context how are decolonizing narratives and practices uncovered, recovered, and passed on? How are they traditioned? At the 2008 PANA Pilgrimage to Manzanar, four of us, along with others from the Bay Area, journeyed from Berkeley to the Manzanar Concentration Camp in the Owens Valley. From 1942 to 1945 this was the site of incarceration for over 10,000 Nikkei (Japanese Americans). In the panel each of us will tell stories of how the spirits and souls of earlier generations touched and affected us and our students, revealing patterns of traditioning and transformation in some surprising ways.

“It was midnight in the Winnedumah Hotel just a couple of miles away from the concentration camp. Gathered with other students and pilgrims I asked two former internees a question that I had long thought of - 'How did you come out of the concentration camps and still hold your faith in God?'  Listening to the stories and experiences of the internees gave me an insight to how powerful human suffering can alter our theological language.”

“While I have largely felt disconnected to the internment of those of Japanese descent simply due to age and not having family interned, on the pilgrimage to Manzanar, I heard the echoes of my own story and the stories of all people that come to intersect with this piece of history and the ripples that this history has created. This intertwining between the lived history of other Nikkei people with my own narrative and that of others who come to learn about the internment represents an interconnectivity that is so important for healing to begin and continue.”