Professor A. Naomi Paik of Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign will discuss the concept of rightlessness in relation to the urgent challenges we face in the contemporary United States. Her talk will link U.S. histories of removal and camp imprisonment to the challenges and future directions of the sanctuary movement, which is becoming a central front of the resistance to policies of the Trump Administration.

Her book, Rightlessness: Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps since World War II (UNC Press, 2016), reads testimonial narratives of subjects rendered rightless by the U.S. state through its imprisonment in camps.

This event is part of the month-long series of events organized in conjunction with the public history exhibit, Courage and Compassion: Our Shared Story of the Japanese American World War II Experience, in the Richard D. Baron ’64 Art Gallery, from February 17 to March 18, 2018. Public viewing hours are from 10am to 5pm, Saturdays, and from 12-5pm, Sundays.