Ayuko Takeda

Cohort Year: 2018
Degrees:
B.A., Meiji University, Japan, 2015, Political Science
M.A., University of Tokyo, Japan, 2017, American Studies

Advisor: Dr. Adria Imada
First Field: U.S. History
Second Field: Militarism in Asia/Pacific
Sub-Field: Gender & Sexuality

Research Interests
U.S. militarism, incarceration, gender and sexuality, Asian American Studies, Pacific Islands Studies

Dissertation Title: Chains of Incarceration: WWII Civilian Internment in the Mariana Islands and Okinawa
Dissertation Topic
My research examines the history of World War II through the lens of civilian incarceration in the Pacific. Both U.S. and Japanese forces interned “enemy” civilians in their countries, colonies, and the islands that they invaded through the war. I focus on civilian internment camps built by the U.S. military in the Mariana Islands and Okinawa, where it produced racialized and gendered knowledge of Chamorros, Refaluwasch, Koreans, Okinawans, and Japanese. I also investigate the connections of those camps with the incarceration of Japanese Americans on the U.S. home front. I hope to elucidate how civilian incarceration operated for the expansion of U.S. militarism in the Pacific.