PANA Institute for Leadership Development

A Spiritual Pilgrimage: Journey to Manzanar WWII Detainee Internment Camp

In the spring of 2007 a Teaching/Learning Community hosted by PANA explored the theological dimensions of the collective memory of Japanese American Internment, its ongoing implications in the post-9/11 context, and the spiritual power of pilgrimage as response.

This second Manzanar Pilgrimage Teaching/Learning Community was a mixed learning community of seminary students, lay leaders, pastors, and community leaders, who met together for eight evening sessions and for a weekend on April 28-30, 2007 to join the annual Manzanar pilgrimage to the former site of the Manzanar War Relocation Center, at the Manzanar National Historic Site where the National Park Service Manzanar Interpretive Center is also located, in the high desert of the Owens Valley, east of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The Teaching/Learning Community was led by Joanne Doi, M.M., a Maryknoll Sister who has served in Peru, and a third-generation Japanese American born and raised in Los Angeles.  Doi was a Ph.D. candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies (Contextual Theologies, Religious and Ethnic Studies) at the Graduate Theological Union. The title of her dissertation is “Bridge to Compassion: Theological Pilgrimage to Tule Lake and Manzanar.”

Course description:

"America's Internment: Manzanar": A Spring 2007 Course at Pacific School of Religion

STHR-1395 (1.5 Units)
Instructor: Joanne Doi, M.M.
Location: varied
Meeting dates and times: April 3, 10, 17, 27, and May 8; 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM; pilgrimage to Manzanar April 26-29
Limited enrollment; auditors with permission of the instructor.

In preparation for the active participation and theological reflection on the 38th annual pilgrimage to the former WWII site of Japanese American internment at Manzanar, California (now a National Historic Site and National Park Service Interpretive Center), this interdisciplinary course examined the practice of pilgrimage and its inter-religious nature (Buddhist, Christian, Shinto folk practice with Taoist elements), identity and race in Asian American history through place and memory (social, geography, racial formation theory) and a framework for theological interpretation.

These sessions included discussions, lectures, and films, and were led by Dr. Joanne Doi, MM.  Community members were invited to join us for any or all of the sessions. Evening classes were free to the public; weekend pilgrimage with PANA, $200.

Session #1: 4/3/07. "Redress Reparations and Reconciliation"
Buena Vista UMC, 2311 Buena Vista Ave., Alameda, CA 94501

Film  Showing : “Remembering Manzanar”

Speakers:
Dr. Joanne Doi, M.M., is a pilgrimage guide and teacher of the course "Manzanar: America's Internment," sponsored by the PANA Institute; Rev. Michael Yoshii, long-time pastor of Buena Vista United Methodist Church, will share about his experience;in the redress movement and its spiritual implications; members of Buena Vista United Methodist Church will share their personal testimonies of internment and the story of their church during and after the internment period.

Session #2: 4/10/07. "Wounded Resurrection: Intersections and Solidarities"
Sycamore Congregational Church, 1111 Navelier Street, El Cerrito, CA 94530
Film Showing: “Caught in Between: What to Call Home in Times of War” by Lina Hoshino, 2004.

Reflections by: Dr. Joanne Doi, M .M .;  Rev. Sharon MacArthur, pastor of Sycamore Congregational Church; members of Sycamore Church

Session #4: 4/7/07. "Body, Memory and Ritual"
Pacific School of Religion, Mudd Bldg. room 100, 1798 Scenic Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709
Film: “Something Strong Within,” by Robert Nakamura

Dance: Theater performance and movement process, led by  Colleen Tani Nakamoto, Interplay  Community.
This included a 10-minute excerpt of a dance-theatre piece exploration of what the JA community may have been “holding in our bodies,” cross-generationally, over the past sixty years and the role of the body, of physicality, in mourning and healing-forward. After all, the internment and war were deeply physical events.  It involved dance, gesture, music, silence and text (i.e., original text of “Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry...”).
Theological reflections: Dr. Joanne Doi, M.M.

Session #3: 4/24/07. "Interfaith Community: Camp Life and Pilgrimage"
Jodo Shinshu Center, 2140 Durant Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
Reflections/Presentation:  Dr. Joanne Doi, M.M.; Rev. David Matsumoto, Institute of Buddhist Studies and the Berkeley Buddhist Temple, Channing Way.

Pilgrimage: 4/26-29/07. Travel to join in public interfaith ritual with hundreds of other pilgrims
Manzanar, California (Program, charter bus and group hotel included. See below.)

Session #5: 5/8/07. "Return"
PANA, 2357 Le Conte Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709.

This course is a part of PANA’s Civil Liberty and Faith (CLF) Project, which forms and hosts Teaching/Learning Communities to create greater inter-religious and inter-ethnic understanding, and promoting civil liberty, health, and well-being for all human beings and human communities.  Teaching/Learning Communities are rooted in praxis, committed to crossing lines and bridging gaps between the academy and community. 

Current information about PANA's annual Pilgrimage to Manzanar.