Old Leupp – An Archaeology Collaboration to Study the Indian Boarding School and Citizen Isolation Center

Monday, September 23rd, 12 to 1 pm

A noon-time lecture at J-Sei

A team of archaeologists of Diné and Nikkei members, Davina Two Bears, Jun Sunseri, and Koji Lau-Ozawa, are studying the history and landscape surrounding the Old Leupp Indian Boarding School and the Leupp Citizen Isolation Center, located in Northeastern Arizona. Davina Two Bears is Diné and originally from Birdsprings, Arizona, a community adjacent to Leupp. Kojun “Jun” Ueno Sunseri is shin-issei, born in Tokyo with biological paternal roots from Ueno and emigrated at five years old to the United States to be raised in other cultures in Southern California and eventually adopted. Koji Lau-Ozawa is a sansei/yonsei from San Francisco. His grandparents, along with great-grandparents, aunts and uncles, were all incarcerated at the Gila River Incarceration Camp where he focused his first major research project.

Due to the history of the site, the team has approached the project slowly with care. They began this project by first entering into agreements with communities around the Old Leupp site including Birdsprings and Leupp, as well as local schools. They also received input from some of the descendants of Japanese Americans imprisoned at Leupp.

In June 2024, after receiving Community support and protective blessings, they completed their first season of fieldwork at the Old Leupp site, employing non-invasive archaeological methodologies to document structural and artifactual features which are visible on the surface and through multispectral imaging. Combining high precision mapping equipment, UAVs, and meticulous survey strategies, they recorded a large number of features and artifacts which promise to expand our understanding of life at Old Leupp and deliver on at least one community mandate regarding safely planning for the reintegration of the site back into contemporary community life.

The team looks forward to sharing some of their initial results as well as seeking mentorship from community members as we work on analyzing our results and co-crafting our next steps.

RSVP to jill@j-sei.org with “Old Leupp” in the memo.

You are welcome to bring a lunch.  Or if you would like to order a J-Sei lunch to-go, please contact kathleen@j-sei.org

Leupp Boarding School (Museum of  Northern Arizona Archives), Mess Hall at Leupp Isolation Center (Henry Ueno photo from Embrey et al), National Park Service Confinement and Ethnicity, NPS History.com

On Memory Care and Family: I Go Gaga, My Dear

A film screening and talk with director Naoko Nobutomo (online)

Sunday, August 18 Pacific Standard/Monday, August 19 Tokyo

Film Screening: 3 pm — Film Talk: 5 pm PST [Aug 19, 9 am Tokyo]

For those who RSVP’d, here is the: ZOOM LINK

The first theatrical feature I Go Gaga, My Dear by veteran television director Naoko Nobutomo is a personal documentary chronicling the enduring love, resilience and struggles of her nonagenarian parents in Kure, Hiroshima as her mother’s Alzheimer’s-related dementia gradually worsens. With a great abundance of footage taken over several years, Nobutomo interweaves direct documentation with intimate home movies of her parents, including their support during her battle with breast cancer. I Go Gaga, My Dear opened in one small Sapporo cinema and eventually expanded to 70 screens nationwide for over three months. [2019. 102 min. Directed by Naoko Nobutomo.]  Join us for a film screening and a conversation with filmmaker Naoko Nobutomo. 

This film is next for part of the Japanese American Caregiver series, a collaboration with J-Sei, Kimochi, Yu-Ai Kai, with support from the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada Chapter. 

RSVP to receive a ZOOM link.