Koji Lau Ozawa - Forging New Relationships at the Gila River Incarceration Camp

Winter Speaker Series - February 25th, 2025 Koji Lau-Ozawa - Forging New Relationships at the Gila River Incarceration Camp During WWII, over 16,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated on the land of the Gila River Indian Community. For 3 years, these incarcerees made a life in an incarceration camp, navigating mass removal, racialized surveillance and an unfamiliar environment. Over the past 11 years, in collaboration with the Gila River Indian Community, I have researched the archaeological remains of the camp. Combining archaeological methods, archival research, and oral histories, I looked to understand more of the experience of incarceration and the lives of incarcerees, including my own family. In this talk, I discuss the history of the incarceration camp and the relationships Japanese Americans made with members of the Gila River Indian Community, saguaro, and the landscape.