Christian Aquino
Forced Japanese-American Repatriation and the Strandees of WWII
I seek to research and document the experiences of incarcerated Japanese-Americans who, following the passing of the 1944 Denaturalization Act during the Second World War, were coerced or tricked into renouncing their U.S. citizenship. In particular, I hope to document the experiences of those individuals who, upon renouncing their citizenship, either faced undue mistreatment or even deportation (maybe labeled as repatriation). Some of these Japanese-Americans are included in a group known as Strandees, or Japanese-Americans who were unable to return to the U.S. during the war; yet another group of Japanese-Americans often missing from the overall history of the Japanese-American wartime and postwar experience. Through archival research and the tracing of histories, I want to continue to help fill gaps in the narrative of the struggles of Japanese-Americans during WWII.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you so much for this opportunity. I mean it. In the same way that we as students can feel separated and removed from the topics we research, up until we make the deep dive that your funding allows us to, I am sure that you might also lose track of just how much of an impact your funding makes. Without it, students like myself may never get to make the direct, hands-on connection with research and with academia that is necessary to drive progress, to create new perspectives, and to build interests that will shape them far into the future. With great gratitude and utmost sincerity. Thank you.