USS Bits and Bytes - Electronic Newsletter of the Miami University's Undergraduate Summer Scholars Program (USS)

Vol. 1, #1, August 22, 1997

America's Silent Shame: A Documentation of Japanese Internment
Summer 1997 project of Christine Furuki under the mentorship of Dr. Donald Daiker, Department of English

For English Literature major Tina Furuki, it was literally a summer to remember. After discussing possible topics for her project, she and her mentor, Professor Donald Daiker, centered on David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars, as a springboard for literary and historical analysis. The novel is intriguing in its own right as both a recent work of fiction and a glimpse into the little discussed period of Japanese internment in the United States. It also unlocked an unfamiliar chapter in Tina's family history.

Some 110,000 Japanese Americans, including first, second and succeeding generations, from the states of Washington, California, Arizona, Oregon and Hawaii were assembled and moved to camps almost immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor during WW II. Among the numbered were Tina's grandparents. Due to the immediacy of the internment, many internees were forced to turn over their possessions to friends or the government for safekeeping. As a result, over the years many possessions were stolen, among them a family tree brought by Tina's grandmother from Japan. Through this project, Tina hopes to redress that loss by beginning to retell her family's story.

Due to the personal nature of the topic, Tina kept a journal documenting her progress and included transcripts from an interview with her grandmother in her final project portfolio. Also included in the portfolio are: a historical background of the internment, literary analysis of David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars, background on the Redress that occurred in the late 80's and her grandmother's story retold in Tina's words. While Tina did not lack for information for her project, she was surprised by the nature of some of the most valuable sources.

Much of the literature Tina found on the internment was not written for adults, but for children. In fact, one of the gold mines she uncovered is a children's book written as one person's diary account of time spent at Topaz, the camp where her grandmother was taken. The book even includes a map of the camp. Tina proposes that more first hand accounts of life in the camps are published as children's literature because they are too subjective to be included in traditional historical literature. Accordingly, the book on Topaz includes an eye witness account of a shooting that occurred in the camp that differs from the "official" version of the story.

In regard to her project and Summer Scholar's experience, Tina feels that it was one of the most rewarding and fulfilling summers of her life. She also notes that moving to Oxford and living with another Summer Scholar greatly enhanced her ability to focus on and schedule time to work on her project. Since she is considering Law School, the legal aspect of the project enhanced her present knowledge of the law. This especially in regards to the Redress in the late 80's that affected her grandmother and other members of her family. She also has a greater appreciation for the amount of research that goes into creating a work of historical fiction like Snow Falling on Cedars. Though it takes liberties with history, she views the novel as an excellent means to raise the general public's knowledge of a subject that is largely kept undercover.

Christine Furuki is one of 120 Miami University undergraduates who participated in the 1997 Undergraduate Summer Scholars (USS) Program. This University program is an initiative aimed at heightening the intellectual challenge of the learning environment at Miami University. This program enables Miami undergraduates to do research or other creative activities in the summer under the supervision of faculty.

In 1997, some of the USS activities were supported by a National Science Foundation Grant to Miami University entitled "Creating a Research-Rich Curriculum: A Model for Lifelong and Continuous Learning" (DUE-9652063, Dr. J.A. Czaja, PI). This funding was provided under the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education's program on Institution-Wide Reform of Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology.

Summary and Photo by Cindy (Cynthia) Bubb, a Mass Communication major with a minor in Marketing, Miami University class of 1998.