Incarcerated Childhoods: The Discourse, Experience, and Material Culture of Children’s Play in a WWII Japanese American Internment Camp

Amache, a WWII Japanese American internment camp, is a site of living memory where archaeological data can be incorporated with survivor accounts and archival documents to create a rich understanding of the experiences of children in the past. These sources indicate differences in play activities and mobility based on a child’s age and gender at Amache that correspond well to the social expectations of Japanese and American children of the time period. Archaeological and oral historical data demonstrate that children at Amache were engaging in processes of socialization similar to those occurring before their incarceration. Adults at Amache attempted to manage the disruptions inherent in a forced relocation and incarceration to create childhoods that were as normal as possible which is reflected in the continuation of childrearing practices.