Reference:https://service-translation.middcreate.net/

What was Executive Order 9066?

Since recognized as an enduring and brutally impactful violation of civil rights, Executive Order 9066 was issued in 1942 by then U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in response to a fear of subterfuge by Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. The order entailed the incarceration of over 100,000 civilians of Japanese descent, the majority of whom were American citizens.

History in Translation Program 2022

What is it?

History in Translation: An Experiential and Intercultural Exploration of Executive Order 9066 is a 12-day, experiential exploration of the impacts and lessons (past and present) of Executive Order 9066. 

This in-person program took place in California (United States of America) from late July through early August, with some preliminary (remote) activities in May and June. The programing included collaborative translation (English/Japanese) and oral history activities; travel to “War Relocation Center” historic sites, including the Manzanar National Historic Site in Independence, CA; visits and engagement with staff and volunteers at Go for Broke National Education Center; and on-site service/volunteer activities. While the program’s instruction and facilitation were delivered in English, students from the United States and Japan had the opportunity to collaborate, reflect, and learn as a team diverse in culture, language, and education. History in Translation is a program of the Middlebury College Center for Community Engagement. The program is funded by the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation.

How was the program started?

Service Translation is a project started in November 2020 by Kenzo Okazaki, a graduate of Middlebury College (Vermont, US), in which volunteers translate material on Japanese-American incarceration.

The project was later expanded by bringing in students and professors from Middlebury College, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (California, US; henceforth MIIS), and International Christian University (Tokyo, Japan; henceforth ICU). In addition to the students staff and professors from these two universities, one student is participating from Chuo University (Tokyo, Japan). The students living in Japan are working as a student organization named ICU Time Travelers.

From November 2020 to April 2022, we translated several interview videos of Japanese American veterans provided by Go for Broke National Education Center.