Jonathan van Harmelen

jonathan

Jonathan van Harmelen estudia actualmente un doctorado (Ph.D) en historia en la Universidad de California en Santa Cruz, con especialización en la historia del encarcelamiento japonés-americano. Es licenciado en historia e idioma francés por la Universidad Pomona y ha completado una maestría en humanidades en la Universidad de Georgetown. Entre el 2015 y el 2018, Jonathan había trabajado para el Museo Nacional de Historia Americana como pasante e investigador. Puede ser contactado al email jvanharm@ucsc.edu.

Última actualización en febrero de 2020

politics en

Bunji Omura – New York Japanese Antifascist Writer and Publicist

Por Greg Robinson, Jonathan van Harmelen
11 Nov 2020

Although the saga of the Issei generation has been written by a number of historians, our understanding the views of Issei writers and thinkers on Japan is still incomplete. While the work of Eiichiro Azuma delves into the connections of the Issei to Japanese expansionism and the rise of militaristic nationalism, few have examined their counterparts who spoke out publicly against Japan’s move toward fascism, and who defended democracy. One such voice was that of Bunji Omura.

Bunji Omura was born in 1896 in Takakura, Fukuoka, Japan. Although his parents were farmers, his family belonged to a long line ...

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war en

Finding Sunshine Among Shadows: The Unknown History of Wartime Disabled Japanese Americans

Por Jonathan van Harmelen
2 Nov 2020

On Aug. 13, 1943, Japanese Americans at the Tule Lake concentration camp opened copies of the Tulean Dispatch to find, on Page 2, a letter from Helen Keller, the deaf-blind disability activist. The entry was surprising but not unexpected: days before, students with disabilities decided to name their newly opened school in the camp in her honor.

Hannah Takagi wrote to Keller on behalf of the Japanese American students: “We are but a few of the thousands of Japanese Americans who were evacuated from our homes on the West Coast, over a year ago…our school is called ‘Helen Keller ...

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identity en

Wisdom through troubling times: The Life of LaVerne Senyo Sasaki

Por Jonathan van Harmelen
21 Oct 2020

Reverend Sasaki is no stranger to challenges in life; as one of the longest-serving Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priests in the United States, Reverend LaVerne Senyo Sasaki has helped maintain the presence of Buddhist church within Northern California for over 60 years.

Now almost 90 years young, Reverend Sasaki still preaches at Buddhist Temples. At a service at the Buddhist Church of San Francisco in October 2019, he recalled humorously the difficulties of holding services and keeping audiences chanting sutras for fifteen minutes.

Yet despite these minor frustrations, Sasaki remains proud of his work. The son of a Buddhist reverend and ...

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politics en

The Pulitzer Prize and Japanese Americans in the South

Por Jonathan van Harmelen
29 Jun 2020

As with other tragic chapters in United States history, the incarceration of Japanese Americans has had a lasting legacy on American culture. While the history of race relations in the American South has traditionally focused on black-white relations and the legacies of Jim Crow, a parallel field examining the experience of Asian Americans in the Deep South has emerged, featuring the work of such authors as Greg Robinson, John Howard, Moon-Ho Jung, Stephanie Hinnershitz, and Lucy M. Cohen. In places scattered throughout the American South, the incarceration left an imprint on the social landscape: the area surrounding the Rohwer and ...

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community en

Kizuna 2020: Bondad y solidaridad nikkei durante la pandemia de COVID-19

The Importance of Place: The Manzanar Pilgrimage and COVID-19

Por Jonathan van Harmelen
19 Jun 2020

Like so many events these days, the 51st annual Manzanar Pilgrimage was cancelled on Thursday, April 17 due to COVID-19. For the first time, the Manzanar Pilgrimage, a tradition that brings former incarcerees, activists, and scholars together, will not be held on the grounds of the Manzanar Concentration Camp. The pilgrimage’s organizing group, the Manzanar Committee, announced in its press brief that while the decision was difficult, “the health and well-being of our community, particularly our elders, is most important, and cancelling is in everyone’s best interests.”

For Bruce Embrey, the co-chair of the Manzanar Committee, the move ...

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