Toward Critical Hope: The Difficult History of Japanese American Incarceration in Early Childhood Classrooms

• In Event: Histories, Hopes, Myths, and Monsters: Critical Humanities in Early Childhood

Abstract

This case study examines how Elyse and Virginia, two Asian American early childhood educators, taught the difficult history of Japanese American incarceration. I draw from Britzman’s (1998) distinction between learning about difficult history and learning from difficult history; the former involves fact acquisition while the latter transcends empathy, demanding emotional and conceptual unsettling. I ask how early elementary educators might engage young children in learning from difficult histories such as Japanese American incarceration.

Theory
I used Asian Critical Race Theory (AsianCrit) to reveal the invisibility of Asian Americans in early childhood curriculum and Asian Americans’ tenuous relationship with citizenship (An, 2016; Chang, 1992). Specifically, the AsianCrit tenet of (re)constructive history framed my understanding of Japanese American incarceration as taught by Asian American educators. (Re)Constructive history aims to transcend the invisibility of Asian Americans in the U.S. historical narrative through the creation of a collective Asian American historical narrative that emphasizes the voices and experiences of Asian Americans (Iftikar & Museus, 2018). The teachers’ willingness to embark upon the teaching of this history regardless of their limited content knowledge was essential to their selection for participation, yet presented a challenge in terms of their pedagogical approaches to unfamiliar topics.

Methods
My data collection included three semi-structured interviews and multiple classroom observations during the spring 2016 academic semester; observations were typically followed by informal debrief interviews as the teachers’ schedules permitted. All interviews and observations were recorded, transcribed, and provided to the participants for feedback. Descriptive and axial coding were used across data sources to determine patterns related to the teachers’ pedagogical decisions regarding (re)constructive history (Saldaña, 2009).

Findings and Significance
During their lessons about Japanese American incarceration, classroom observations exposed the early childhood teachers’ level of dis/comfort with difficult histories. Elyse avoided issues related to discrimination and racism, instead emphasizing social and emotional learning. Comparatively, Virginia was more explicit in her attention to the race-based nature of World War II incarceration and encouraged learners to deeply examine the motivations behind incarceration, its impact on those affected, and connections to other groups in the past and present. Both teachers ended their units with small group projects that showcased young children’s learning and agency. However, in spite of their distinct approaches, both teachers tread lightly on the aspects of Japanese American incarceration that comprised difficult history.

While the teaching of difficult histories have been studied extensively in social studies education, such research is generally limited to secondary classrooms. This study considered how young learners in early childhood classrooms can learn from difficult histories such as Japanese American incarceration in ways that directly address racism and oppression. The second- and third-grade teachers ended their units on an optimistic note that ultimately maintained the status quo (Boler, 2004); however, I argue young children might learn from such histories in more powerful ways if the final goal is not naïve hope, but instead critical hope, which recognizes societal inequality while demanding the need for change (Boler, 2004; Freire, 1994; Zembylas, 2014).

Author

• Noreen Naseem Rodriguez, University of Colorado - Boulder