The Tessaku (Iron Fence) Translation Project
Andrew Leong, Professor
English
Applications for Fall 2025 are closed for this project.
_Tessaku_ Tessaku (鉄柵, or “Iron Fence”) is a Japanese-language literary journal that was published by incarcerees in the Tule Lake Segregation Center during World War II. It consists of nine issues, totaling 751 pages, running from March 1944 to July 1945, and includes poetry, fiction, and essays composed by at least sixty distinct authors. All issues of _Tessaku_ were published after the 1943 conversion of the “Tule Lake War Relocation Center” into a high security “Segregation Center” for Japanese Americans labeled “disloyal.” The post-1943 population of Tule Lake consisted of a roughly two-thirds majority of so-called “disloyals” from other Wartime Relocation Authority Camps and a remaining third of “loyals” who did not want to leave Tule Lake for other camps.
Undergraduate researchers will work with the supervisor to collaborate with the Tessaku Community Advisory Board and Translation Collective. Tasks may include preparation of research materials and bibliographies, organizing digital scans of literary journal materials, and (depending on levels of Japanese-language proficiency) helping to create indices and draft translations of selected literary texts.
Qualifications: - Strong organizational skills (required).
- Japanese-language proficiency (desirable but not essential).
Hours: to be negotiated
Arts & Humanities