Takei’s memoir of internment (which he refers to as incarceration) offers an engaging and affecting meditation on community survival, xenophobia, and cultural memory. Along with sharing strong resonances with contemporary concerns about immigration and detention, Takei’s book asks probing questions about democracy as an ideal and a practice. The story of his family’s experience living in three detention camps is well-paced, nuanced, and moving. Takei interweaves this personal narrative with historical and legal contexts that illuminate gaps in U.S. popular memory about Japanese-Americans’ experiences during WWII.
The memoir is a quick read, and I think its use of the graphic format will appeal to our students. I can certainly see using this text in an SJSU classroom, and I think it would be easy to craft a suite of relevant programming. Getting Takei to campus could pose a challenge though.
Takei’s graphic memoir of Japanese incarceration (his preferred term, over internment), is moving and engaging, and would land well with our students. Along with charting his family’s journey from Los Angeles through 3 different detention camps, Takei’s memoir develops a nuanced picture of the historical and political context of internment and financial dispossession. They Called Us Enemy closes with a discussions of loyalty oaths and post-war deportations that further deepened my own understanding of this history. And Takei’s confident narrative voice makes this a brisk read, whose easy pacing belies its deeper engagement with questions of democracy, xenophobia, shame, and the erasure of history.
I’ll certainly look forward to using this book in one of my American Studies/English classes sometime soon, and I think it is a perfect match for the reading culture and interests of our campus community.
I bought this book for my 11 year old. It’s a very powerful story, and has a resonance with our local community, since Japanese-Americans from San Jose and its surroundings were also forced into camps. I don’t think this is a suitable book for our reading program. Graphic novels are not for everybody. Moreover, immigration and the treatment of immigrants by the US government were prominent last year, it would be good to have a change.
Takei’s memoir of internment (which he refers to as incarceration) offers an engaging and affecting meditation on community survival, xenophobia, and cultural memory. Along with sharing strong resonances with contemporary concerns about immigration and detention, Takei’s book asks probing questions about democracy as an ideal and a practice. The story of his family’s experience living in three detention camps is well-paced, nuanced, and moving. Takei interweaves this personal narrative with historical and legal contexts that illuminate gaps in U.S. popular memory about Japanese-Americans’ experiences during WWII.
The memoir is a quick read, and I think its use of the graphic format will appeal to our students. I can certainly see using this text in an SJSU classroom, and I think it would be easy to craft a suite of relevant programming. Getting Takei to campus could pose a challenge though.
Takei’s graphic memoir of Japanese incarceration (his preferred term, over internment), is moving and engaging, and would land well with our students. Along with charting his family’s journey from Los Angeles through 3 different detention camps, Takei’s memoir develops a nuanced picture of the historical and political context of internment and financial dispossession. They Called Us Enemy closes with a discussions of loyalty oaths and post-war deportations that further deepened my own understanding of this history. And Takei’s confident narrative voice makes this a brisk read, whose easy pacing belies its deeper engagement with questions of democracy, xenophobia, shame, and the erasure of history.
I’ll certainly look forward to using this book in one of my American Studies/English classes sometime soon, and I think it is a perfect match for the reading culture and interests of our campus community.
I bought this book for my 11 year old. It’s a very powerful story, and has a resonance with our local community, since Japanese-Americans from San Jose and its surroundings were also forced into camps. I don’t think this is a suitable book for our reading program. Graphic novels are not for everybody. Moreover, immigration and the treatment of immigrants by the US government were prominent last year, it would be good to have a change.