Description
- Abstract:
- Nora Yasumura is a Sansei, mixed-race Japanese American educator and activist who grew up on the East Coast near New York City. Her father's childhood incarceration during World War II has shaped her lifelong commitment to education and advocacy. She spent many years at Dartmouth College and now serves in a volunteer leadership role with Tsuru for Solidarity, where she facilitates healing circles focused on intergenerational trauma. This video explores the profound impact of the Japanese American incarceration on family legacies and the process of reclaiming identity. Nora Yasumura describes her journey of uncovering her family's history, which was long shrouded in a "silence" caused by historical trauma and government-enforced "Americanization". Through the lens of personal artifacts (such as smuggled camp photographs, government boat logs, and a centuries-old Buddhist scroll) the interview illustrates how historical events manifest as intergenerational patterns of behavior. Ultimately, this conversation highlights Nora's work in healing justice, emphasizing how storytelling and community connection can transform inherited pain into resilience and joy.
Citation
"Interview with Nora"
Nuibari Digital Archive.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:gpquaabt/
Relations
Collection:
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Nuibari Digital Archive
This is a collection of items comprising the Nuibari, a digital space created by Claire Inouye Rothstein '26 for individuals of Japanese ancestry to share stories centered on conversation, memory, and the many ways identity takes shape over time. These …...