UCLA became the first university to establish an endowed chair
devoted specifically to the study of the Japanese-American
internment during World War II and named Lane Ryo Hirabayashi to
hold the position.
The 53-year-old anthropologist was celebrated Saturday afternoon
as the first holder of the George and Sakaye Aratani Chair on the
Japanese American Internment, Redress and Community, a position
within the Asian American Studies Department at UCLA.
Hirabayashi was selected after a year-long international search
conducted by the professors, staff and students of the Asian
American Studies Center and Department.
“(The Aratanis’) endowed chair will make it possible
for pre-eminent and committed scholars like professor Hirabayashi,
along with their students, to continue to explore, analyze, share
and apply the Japanese American experience for generations and
generations,” said Don Nakanishi, director and professor of
the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.
The endowed chair, funded by a $500,000 donation from the
Aratanis, will furnish Hirabayashi with money to research Japanese
American studies.
Professors holding the position are charged with teaching at
least one course related to internment and must also organize or
aid public education programs on the issue.
“Being appointed as the inaugural recipient of the Aratani
Chair is like a dream come true for me,” Hirabayashi said.
“Not only will I join a stellar set of colleagues in Asian
American Studies at UCLA, I can contribute to the long tradition of
Japanese American Studies and collaboration with community groups
that have been undertaken by so many distinguished UCLA facility,
staff and students over the years.”
The study of the Japanese internment also has meaning to
Hirabayashi personally, he said, as his parents and grandparents
were interned, and he grew up hearing stories of their
experience.
Hirabayashi said he will never forget what his colleagues told
him when he first entered academia.
“They told me something I never forgot: Don’t just
be an academic, go out and get involved in the Japanese American
community,” he said.
He explained that they meant for him to take on an active role
in promoting the rights of Asian Americans and to avoid simply
teaching activism without actually going out and doing what he
encouraged.
But Aiko Herzig, a senior research associate from the Commission
on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, said the
formation of the chair is relevant for everyone today.
“To apply what they learn to the situation today is
especially important,” Herzig said, specifically referring to
connections she said she has found between the incarceration of
Japanese Americans in the 1940s and the treatment of
Iraqi-Americans today.
George and Sakaye Aratani established the endowed chair to help
educate the American public and advance the Japanese American
community.
Both George and Sakaye Aratani had been interned during World
War II, and George Aratani is the founder and former CEO of Mikasa
Corporation and Kenwood Corporation, two companies he started after
having lost his finances during the war.
Patricia O’Brien, executive dean of the UCLA College,
called the founding of the chair a welcome gift that would continue
to benefit the UCLA community far into the future.
She said the addition would be useful to all students no matter
what their ethnicity.
Susie Ling, Hirabayashi’s colleague and a professor at
Pasadena City College, said the creation of the endowed chair would
help the Japanese American community as a whole.
“The re-dress movement had a can-do attitude.
(Hirabayashi) has that same can-do attitude,” she said.
Some members of the Asian American Studies Center said they
believe the addition of Hirabayashi as the new chair would help
fulfill the goal of educating people about Japanese American
issues.
“His professional vision will not only fulfill the goals
of the endowed chair, but also exchange the undergraduate and
graduate curriculum and forge important links between Asian
American studies and other departments as well as the larger
community,” said Cindy Fan, chair and professor of the
Department of Asian American Studies.