From 1942 to 1946, the US government incarcerated approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent in prison camps across the American West. This course will explore the legacy of Japanese American incarceration through archival materials, literary and cultural production, as well as scholarly works. Given our geographic positioning, we will consider how the ?evacuation? of Japanese Americans from Los Angeles to Manzanar War Relocation Center has reverberated across the region, informing ongoing struggles for community control and self-determination in ethnic enclaves like Little Tokyo. Additionally, we will draw connections between the past and the present, exploring how calls for a "Muslim Ban" have animated Japanese American and Muslim American solidarity. The following questions will shape the trajectory of the course: how does Japanese American incarceration bring into focus the unequal citizenship and differential provisioning of immigrant communities and communities of color? What lessons can we learn from Japanese American incarceration to negotiate ongoing issues of social and environmental injustice? Open to first year frosh only.