Every fourth Saturday in April, tour busses leave from Little Tokyo in Los Angeles with groups of elderly Japanese Americans. This is the annual pilgrimage to the Manzanar War Relocation Camp. Pilgrims travel out to the desert to reckon and wrestle with the ghosts of history. Manzanar is haunted. And everyone on the bus is about to bear witness to ghosts that they harbor and caress in this place that long, long ago was a field of little apples, where 10,000 people were caged.
Watashi wa Manzanar! I am Manzanar. These words were proclaimed by Dr. Satsuki Ina and greeted with a vocal and visual response as volunteers held up pre-made signs with the same slogan drawn with bold black markers …
On Saturday, April 25, 2015, the Manzanar Committee (http://manzanarcommittee.org/) convened the 46th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage. What began as a post-World War II remembrance by two Japanese immigrant ministers, of those who died and thus never left the internment …
As we stepped off the bus at Manzanar and into the swelling crowd, my mind wandered back to early scenes from the documentary, “Pilgrimage,” which explore the origins of the Manzanar pilgrimage and feature interviews with the very …
Taking part in my first Manzanar Pilgrimage was a powerful experience on multiple levels. Being at Manzanar provided a multisensory experience that disrupted the serenity that the Ansel Adams’ glorious landscape photographs seemingly capture. As we approached the …
Over the years, driving home from Mammoth or other spots in Northern California, I have stopped at Manzanar several times to visit the educational center and the historic site with my parents and friends. However, I had never …
Independent filmmaker Ann Kaneko is known for her personal films that weave her intimate aesthetic with the complex intricacies of political reality. Often involving subjects …
VIEW PROFILE
Daisy Vargas holds a Masters degree from the University of Denver in Religious Studies and is completing her doctoral studies at UC Riverside. Her expertise …
VIEW PROFILE
Rea Tajiri is a New York based filmmaker and educator who has written and directed an eclectic body of dramatic, experimental and documentary films currently …
VIEW PROFILE
Principal InvestigatorJennifer Scheper Hughes directs (with Amanda Lucia) the ISIR festivals project funded by a grant from the Luce Foundation: Religions in Diaspora and Global Affairs …
VIEW PROFILE
James Lee, Ph.D., UC Irvine Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and English, chair of the Department of Asian American Studies at UCI, and director …
VIEW PROFILE
Santos Z. Roman is a doctoral student in Public History at the University of California, Riverside. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of the …
VIEW PROFILE
Kristen Hayashi is a Ph.D. student who is currently engaged in the study of both Public History and the American West at the University of …
VIEW PROFILE
Megan Asaka is an assistant professor of history at the University of California, Riverside, where she specializes in Asian American history, urban history, and public …
VIEW PROFILE
Catherine Gudis is Director of the Public History Program at UCR and teaches classes in public history and 20th century U.S. history, building on her …
VIEW PROFILE
David Chávez is a Ph.D. student with a B.A. in History and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (2008). He is …
VIEW PROFILE
All images © 2015 Global Religious Festivals. All Rights Reserved.