2026 Spring Archaeology Colloquium

The Department of Anthropology is proud to be hosting April Kamp-Whittaker, Assistant Professor - California State University, Chico, who will present her talk titled: 

Networks at Play: Sports and the Archaeology of Community in a WWII Japanese American Incarceration Center

Abstract: At Amache, a WWII Japanese American incarceration center in southeastern Colorado, a diverse community of Japanese American citizens and legal residents was unjustly incarcerated for over three years. The process of forced removal from their homes along the West Coast in 1942 disrupted community connections and social ties. This talk explores the ways incarcerees at Amache rebuilt and maintained their community by blending archaeological data from 8 field seasons with a social network analysis using archival documents. The community and social networks formed at Amache still influence the ongoing preservation of the site and sense of community among survivors and descendants.

Cosponsored event with Immigration History Research Center

Register for the event