On February 19, 1942, Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, forcing more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes during WWII. In recognition of this period and of the 82nd anniversary of Japanese American incarceration, we will spend the first hour of this program streaming Prisoner in My Homeland together with UNR historian Meredith Oda while discussing the game’s historical context and narrative. A conversation about the Day of Remembrance and this period in American history will follow. Audience participation is welcome and encouraged.
Developed by Mission US, Prisoner in My Homeland follows the experiences of teenager Henry Tanaka, whose family is forced to leave their home on Bainbridge Island, WA, for a prison camp in Manzanar, CA. Players grapple with the choices and challenges faced by more than 120,000 Japanese Americans as they coped with their unjust incarceration during World War II. The Mission US team collaborated closely with advisors and members of the Japanese American community to develop Prisoner in My Homeland. Densho, a digital archive that preserves oral histories and other primary source materials on the incarceration, consulted on content development for the game and its supporting educator curriculum guide. An advisory board of leading scholars and researchers of the history of the incarceration and members of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community guided development of the game’s historical content and narrative.
Meredith Oda is Associate Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research and teaching focuses on Asian American history, urban history, US-East Asian relations, the U.S. in the world, and the 20 th century US. A graduate from UC Berkeley and the University of Chicago, her first book, The Gateway to the Pacific: Japanese Americans and the Remaking of San Francisco (Chicago, 2018), was a transpacific urban history of San Francisco. In addition to articles in scholarly journals, her writing has also been published in Nevada Humanities blogs, the San Francisco Chronicle, TIME magazine, and other popular outlets. She has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Huntington Library, the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago, and the University of Nevada, Reno. She’s currently at work on a book about mobility and alienage in Japanese American WWII incarceration and resettlement.
Humanities at Play explores and showcases the significance of the humanities in everyday life through games, media, and popular culture. Join us for dynamic and interactive online and in-person events designed to spark thoughtful conversation and reflection. Learn more at nevadahumanities.org/humanities-at-play.
This program is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture initiative.
