CLASS HUB Career Discussion: Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong & Stacey Camp

Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong, Executive Director of the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, and Stacey Camp, an archaeologist at Michigan State University, will be in the CLASS Hub for a student-centered discussion about chasing their dreams and finding jobs in non-profits, museums, history and more.

Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong is a public historian, political scientist, and museologist. She previously worked for state and federal agencies including the Idaho State Historical Society, the U.S. Navy, the National Park Service, and the White House Office of the Chief of Staff. In 2021, she received the Esto Perpetua Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Idaho State Historical Society for her work in preservation of Japanese American incarceration history in Idaho. She holds a BA in History and BS in Political Science from Boise State University, as well as an MA in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University, where she serves as an adjunct faculty member for their Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage Management Programs.

Stacey Camp is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the MSU Campus Archaeology Program at Michigan State University. She is an historical archaeologist who examines the materiality of immigrants living in the late 19th and early 20th century Western United States. Her publications explore how different facets of migrants’ identities – race, class, gender, and citizenship standing – shape their perceptions of consumerism and material culture. She has conducted ethnography and archaeological research in the Western United States, China, and Ireland. Since 2009, she has been excavating and studying the remains of North Idaho’s Kooskia Internment Camp, a World War II Japanese-American incarceration camp. This research has been featured in a number of media outlets, including Japan’s Fuji News (TV), Al Jazeera America (TV), PRI’s (Public Radio International) The World (radio), Germany’s Der Spiegel Online (newspaper/blog), CBS San Francisco (TV) and The Associated Press (wire service). She is currently developing a new project entitled “Before Incarceration” on the archaeology of Santa Barbara’s (California) Japanese-American community prior to their incarceration at Arizona’s Gila River Relocation Center during World War II. She received her B.A. in Anthropology and English & Comparative Literary Studies from Occidental College and her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University.

This event is sponsored in partnership with the Dr. Harold Abel Endowed Lecture Series in the Study of Dictatorship, Democracy and Genocide that brings to campus distinguished scholars to discuss the past, present and future of worldwide genocide. ​The series focuses on the impact of historical events such as the Holocaust and mass murders in Africa, Southeast Asia and Central America.