UC Davis Asian American Studies will be hosting Dr. Mana Hayakawa's brown bag talk on Monday May 23rd at Hart Hall 3201 from 12:15-1:30 PM. Check out the information below!
Event: Brown Bag Talk: Queen for a Day: Performing Patriotism & Protest in Wartime Incarceration
Location: Hart Hall 3201 (3rd Floor, Risling Conference Room)
Date and Time: Monday May 23rd, 12:15-1:30 PM
On the Fourth of July 1942, twenty-two year old dancer Yuriko Amemiya Kikuchi won the title of Victory Queen at the Tulare Detention Center. Under conditions of mass surveillance, why would Japanese American inmates celebrate Independence Day and crown a Victory Queen? Who was victorious in this moment? Relying on archived news articles, I argue that Kikuchi’s coronation at the parade worked to simultaneously affirm and contest systemic domination.
Mana Hayakawa (she/they) is a lecturer in Asian American studies currently at Fresno State and UC Davis. Her research examines Asian American dance and performance of non-normative bodies in the context of empire, and shifting terms of race, gender and citizenship. Her writing is included in the anthology Our Voices, Our Histories: Asian American and Pacific Islander Women (NYU Press, 2020). In her capacity as an educator and student affairs professional she has worked at UCLA, Stanford University, Pomona College, and University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
