Oral History Project on Japanese American Interviews Research
Shanna Farrell, Academic Specialist
Oral History Center of UC Berkeley
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2023 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2024.
The Oral History Center (OHC) of The Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley has conducted thousands of oral history interviews since its establishment in 1953, including deeply-researched, multiple-session interviews with individuals around the Bay Area and across the nation. Archival copies of the audio/video and transcripts are placed in The Bancroft Library and are publicly-accessible online (https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft/oral-history-center).
Community history is a significant collection area for the OHC. This collection features many interviews addressing Japanese American history and culture, including the Japanese American Intergenerational Narratives Oral History Project (https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft/oral-history-center/projects/jain) and the Japanese American Confinement Sites Project (https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft/oral-history-center/projects/japanese-american-confinement)—both funded by the National Park Service.
After the entrance of the United States into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which mandated the forced removal of Japanese Americans from their homes on the West Coast into incarceration camps inland for the duration of the war. This unjust incarceration uprooted families, disrupted businesses, and dispersed communities—impacting generations of Japanese Americans.
Role: We seek student assistance interpreting and analyzing oral history interviews about Japanese American incarceration experiences from the archival collection. Students' public-facing work will help boost OHC interviews, and may help shape future iterations of these projects. Further, students will have the opportunity to learn about oral history methodology and the OHC's extensive collections.
Undergraduates on this project will conduct historical research under the direction of OHC interviewers, research OHC collections about Japanese American history, read and discuss literature on oral history methodology, write a blog post comparing two (or more) oral histories, and write a blog post about their semester of work.
Qualifications: Qualifications: Interest in Japanese American history, as well as storytelling and the production of narrative sources through intersubjective interviews. Ability to conduct self-guided historical research, to maintain focus with detail and accuracy, to express themselves clearly and thoughtfully, to engage professionally and respectfully with colleagues and narrators, and express curiosity about learning new research methodologies, particularly oral history. Students should have experience with Microsoft Office and the online suite of Google's Documents and Drive tools, as well as Zoom, and they should be willing to ask questions to ensure tasks are well understood and completed correctly. Importantly, students must have a willingness to think critically and creatively. Research supervisors at the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library: interviewers Amanda Tewes, Shanna Farrell, and Roger Eardley-Pryor.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Roger Eardley-Pryor, Staff Researcher
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: Remote
Related website: https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft/oral-history-center
Related website: https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft/oral-history-center/projects