Dear Friends of the Okinawa Memories Initiative (OMI),
Happy New Year! We are pleased to announce some very exciting OMI news: we are going back to Okinawa this spring!
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OMI Summit Attendees in January 2024. L-R: Tosh Tanaka, Julie Shiroma, Elina Juvonen, Anita Chang, Miki Arlen, Adriane Stoia, Nixie Young, Alan Christy, Geneva Samuelson, Cameron Vanderscoff, Jaxon Chester, James Leyton, Dustin Wright, Walter Barnaby, Meleia Simon-Reynolds.
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On January 20th, OMI’s leadership team, which includes undergraduates, alumni, graduate students, faculty and staff, met for a wide-ranging OMI Leadership Summit: a day of reflecting and planning for OMI’s future. Led by this year’s Lead Interns, Geneva Samuelson and Jaxon Chester, the team discussed our successful Giving Day, heard proposals from undergraduates for new projects, and planned for cross-campus collaborations. Most excitingly, the Summit was an opportunity to discuss OMI’s plans for an emerging collaboration with the University of the Ryukyus (Ryudai), and the undergraduate team’s first trip to Okinawa since 2019.
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That’s right…. We’re Going to Okinawa!
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Thanks to The Humanities Institute (THI), UCSC Dean of Humanities Jasmine Alinder, and our Giving Day donors, a team of 10 undergraduate students, along with Professors Alan Christy and Noriko Aso, graduate student Alexyss McClellan-Ufugusuku, and THI Event and Operations Specialist Jessica Guild, will travel to Okinawa this Spring. This trip is in partnership with the University of the Ryukyus and their Inter-University Exchange Project Leader Serinah Tan, and OMI will be participating in an immersion program designed by Ryudai. The team will spend a week in Okinawa, touring important historical sites such as Shuri Castle, learning about sustainability and conservation projects and meeting with staff, faculty and students at Ryudai about OMI’s objectives. We hope that this will become a lasting partnership and exchange between Ryudai and UCSC.
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L: OMI Scholars in Los Angeles, summer 2023; R: OMI Exhibits Team at an OAA Event, 2023.
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Since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled our plans to travel to Okinawa, OMI student researchers have been working hard to build relationships domestically within the Okinawan diaspora, increasing our focus and reach outside of Okinawa itself. During this time, we have created a new digital exhibit, conducted over 20 oral history interviews, and digitized over 20,000 photographs belonging to our community partner, the Okinawa Association of America (OAA).
The Spring 2024 trip to Okinawa represents a culmination of this work and an exciting look to the future. In 2024, we plan to continue strengthening our partnerships both domestically and internationally– through our ongoing work with the Okinawa Association of America, as well as through a partnership with Ryudai and revisited relationships in Okinawa.
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In Santa Cruz, the Archives Team is working hard to finish scanning the OAA’s Yamashiro Photograph Collection. Archives Team Leader Nixie Young (Merrill ‘25, History) has continued OMI’s tradition of scan-a-thons, bringing together the undergraduate team for weekend social scanning sessions.
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Archives Team member Avan Bach scans photographs; Archives Team lead Nixie Young helps Jax Nowak
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Meanwhile, the Exhibits Team, led by Nixie Young and Geneva Samuelson (Cowell ‘25, History), with advisors Professor Noriko Aso and History PhD candidate Meleia Simon-Reynolds, continues to make progress on the physical version of our collaborative digital exhibit with OMI’s community partner, the Okinawa Association of America.
Led by Walter Barnaby (Cowell ‘25, History & Politics), the Oral History Team continues to work on processing OMI’s backlog of oral history interviews. In preparation for the trip to Okinawa, the team has collaborated with the Media Production team in doing practice interview sessions aimed at gaining experience in setting up, recording and conducting oral histories. With the guidance of mentor and professional oral historian Cameron Vanderscoff (History, '11), OMI has sent five oral history interviews to interviewees for review and approval this year, as part of our work to reduce the pre-pandemic backlog of interviews. This is a crucial part of our ethics and process of co-authorship, and a valuable learning opportunity for students.
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The Oral History and Media Production Teams practice oral history interviews
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In addition to their work with the Oral History Team, the Media Production Team, led by James Leyton (Crown ‘25, History), has been preparing for an equipment update for the Okinawa trip and beyond, so that the setup and recording process is as efficient as possible with professional-quality results.
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Under the direction of Jaxon Chester (Porter ‘24, Film & Digital Media and Global Economics), the Website Team is working on building OMI’s new website (omi.ucsc.edu)! It’s currently under construction, but check back in a few months to see some of the main pages filled in. Eventually, the goal is to create a hub for anyone interested in learning more about OMI and Okinawan studies.
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Anita Chang presents What We Never Forget For Peace Here Now, a short video inspired by her work with OMI, at the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco as part of the exhibit Manifest Differently. View the exhibit through March 16.
Adriane Stoia was recently profiled by the Humanities Institute. Read more about her research here!
Chanel Chavira, (Art and History of Art and Visual Culture, '25) a member of the Exhibits Team, was recently featured in the Arts Division newsletter.
Alum lavender grey higley (Anthropology and Dance, '23) was featured in a recent UCSC Arts Division newsletter.
Alumna Sage Michaels (Intensive History, '22) shared her path to a museums career in a recent THI feature.
The entire team at OMI is excited to visit the upcoming Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) exhibit, Sowing Seeds: Filipino American Stories from the Pajaro Valley. The exhibit is a collaboration between the MAH, the Tobera Project, and Watsonville is in the Heart. Watsonville Is In the Heart, and the exhibit project, are led by UCSC faculty and graduate students, including OMI Exhibits Advisor, Meleia Simon-Reynolds. Read more about the exhibit here!
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Please consider donating to OMI! Your generous contributions ensure that we can fund students to conduct vital public history work and continue to build on our partnerships domestically and internationally. Nifee Debiiru!
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