First In-Person Night at the Museum Since Pandemic Returns With “Resettlement: Chicago Story”

Original Link: https://news.ucsc.edu/2023/02/resettlement-chicago-story.html

The Humanities Institute’s Signature Event, UCSC Night at the Museum, is returning to the MAH for a screening and panel conversation, featuring “Resettlement: Chicago Story,” a short fictional film and accompanying website about people of Japanese ancestry remaking their lives in the Midwest following their wrongful incarceration during World War II.

Co-sponsored by the Watsonville-Santa Cruz Japanese American Citizens League, Marcia Hashimoto will speak on the legacy of her late and much beloved husband, educator and civil rights advocate Mas Hashimoto. The event will serve as a Day of Remembrance to reflect on the impact of the signing of Executive Order 9066 in 1942, which authorized the US military to imprison persons of Japanese ancestry in incarceration camps.

Watsonville’s Taiko Japanese drumming group will perform, and the screening will be followed by remarks from the project’s executive producer, Jason Matsumoto as well as UCSC Dean of Humanities Jasmine Alinder, who served as the project’s lead academic advisor and member of the education team. Through books, articles, exhibitions, and digital humanities projects, Dean Alinder has focused much of her research on the Japanese American experience during World War II.

“One thing that made this project really special was the dedication and passion of its creators,” Alinder says. “Each element of the website, each word in the script, and every piece of material was repeatedly poured over, discussed, and modified to fit our collective vision of what the project could accomplish as an accessible and equitable educational resource.” A panel conversation with those involved with the project, and moderated by Dean of Arts Celine Parrenas Shimizu, and a reception will follow — all free and open to the public.

For Night at the Museum, the Humanities Institute has worked “with different scholars over the years on topics resonating with our community members,” THI Managing Director Irena Polić explains. “Our mission is to engage with a broad audience, and to have our community members and scholars together discussing questions that matter to all of us,” Polić says. “We encourage all to come to the program, see the current exhibits and connect with one another.”

The free admission extends to the whole museum, including the multimedia exhibit “Bay of Life,” which The Humanities Institute also supported. Created by photographer Frans Lanting and writer, editor, and videographer Chris Eckstrom, “Bay of Life” centers on “a remarkable recovery which shows that damaged ecosystems can be restored when people care and take action together,” per MAH’s website. For over three decades, Lanting and Eckstrom have “documented the crown jewels of our planet’s natural heritage for National Geographic … and they consider Monterey Bay to be one of them,” according to the project statement.

Night at the Museum is steeped in this spirit of collaboration and the bridging of community and scholarship. As MAH’s Executive Director Robb Woulfe emphasizes, “Over the years, we have co-hosted exhibitions and public programs, and The Humanities Institute’s undergraduate and graduate students have worked with us on various interdisciplinary projects and publications.” Woulfe recalls past collaborations as highly successful at bringing together scholars, artists, and community members together he says, and looks forward to the MAH partnering once again with The Humanities Institute and the Humanities Division on this year’s UCSC Night at the Museum. “From revolutions, to local histories, to imagining the future of our world. The work of The Humanities Institute and the Humanities Division at UC Santa Cruz aligns perfectly with the MAH’s mission.”