Jonathan van Harmelen

jonathan

Jonathan van Harmelen is currently a Ph.D student in history at UC Santa Cruz specializing in the history of Japanese-American incarceration. He holds a BA in history and French from Pomona College and an MA from Georgetown University. He can be reached at jvanharm@ucsc.edu.

Updated February 2020

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Daisuke Kitagawa: Civil Rights and Anti-Racism Activist — Part 1

By Jonathan van Harmelen
8 May 2022

Throughout Japanese American history, a number of individuals have mobilized in response to incidents of racism facing their community. Along with calling for the end of anti-Japanese discrimination, a smaller number of Japanese American activists, of whom Yuri Kochiyama is perhaps the most prominent, have willingly connected their own experiences to broader issues of civil rights, by joining forces with African Americans. Several of these individuals have found their advocacy inspired by their spiritual duty to advocate for equal treatment of all races. Reverend Kyoshiro Tokunaga described t…

culture en

Renaissance Artist and “Mad Man” – The Life of Shugo Seno

By Jonathan van Harmelen
12 Apr 2022

The world of Japanese American visual artists is diverse. Most art historians focus on the notable individuals, such as Chiura Obata and Isamu Noguchi (among others), who produced paintings and sculpture. However, absent from this narrative is the work of various Japanese American commercial artists who influenced American popular art. Chris Ishii and Robert Kuwahara, who worked on various camp newspaper comics, were only two of a group of Japanese American animators who worked for Walt Disney and helped shape the Disney look, before creating their own productions. Famed graphic artist S. Nei…

community en

Reverend Aaron Allen Heist – A Profile in Courage

By Jonathan van Harmelen
28 Mar 2022

On November 6, 1943, the California State Assembly’s Committee on the Japanese Problem convened in the small town of Santa Maria, California. Known throughout the state as an agricultural hub, Santa Maria and its twin town of Guadalupe had shared one of the state’s largest Japanese American agricultural communities until April 1942, when the government forced its members into camps under Executive Order 9066. At the November 1943 meeting, the committee, led by Assemblyman Chester Gannon, met with a group of local leaders to discuss the potential return of the Japanese American com…

community en

Bishop James Walsh – Priest and Prisoner

By Jonathan van Harmelen
14 Mar 2022

This article forms a part of my continuing series on the presence of the Catholic Church in the Japanese American community. Although a number of clerics—Nikkei and non-Nikkei alike—worked with members of the ethnic Japanese communities of the West Coast, it would be difficult to tell the story of the Maryknolls without mentioning the contributions of Bishop James Edward Walsh, one of the founders of the order. Studying the career of Bishop Walsh helps us to understand the relationship of the Maryknoll Church to the Japanese American community and the spirit of the Maryknoll ord…

media en

Looking South: Anglophone Canadian Reactions to Japanese American Incarceration - Part 2

By Jonathan van Harmelen
1 Mar 2022

Read Part 1 >> In the eastern province of Quebec, a number of English-language newspapers tracked the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. It should be noted that, although French remained the majority language used in Quebec, several English-language newspapers existed and were patronized by the English-speaking elites of Quebec. The principle English papers in Quebec during the war years were The Montreal Gazette and The Montreal Star. The Gazette reported on the news of the incarceration regularly, often reprinting sensationalized accounts of disloyalty among the Japanese co…

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Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

Jonathan van Harmelen

Series this author contributes to

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書評：和泉真澄『日系カナダ人の移動と運動―知られざる日本人の越境生活史』

1992年渡米、目標は「アカデミー賞」— 俳優の井上英治さん

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Tiempos pandémicos: teletrabajo y koden digital

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第３部：金子正則知事の南米訪問とその主な見解

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Journal Entry #Lesson 3450: "Sharpen Your Pencils!"

Narumi Ogusuku Ubiquitous Nikkei Artist

Herald Salutes – Staff Sergeant Higuchi

The Morgenthau Diaries and FDR's Troubling Views of Minorities

Mercedes Luna: Thriving Within Her Rich Heritage - Part 2

Mercedes Luna: Thriving Within Her Rich Heritage - Part 1

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