University of California, Santa Cruz

Project Director:  Alan Christy

To Support:  Development and testing of a prototype multilingual website platform for the gathering and study of memories of the Pacific theater of World War II incorporating perspectives of survivors from the United States and Asia.

Award Dates:  04/01/2009 - 09/30/2010

Outright Funds: $50,000.  Matching Funds: $0

Abstract: Funds requested for an innovative website that provides a living archive of Pacific War memories in multiple languages. Out prototype provides a social media and multi-lingual database structure enabling communication between researchers, war survivors, and the general public in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. This site facilitates research on the circulation of war memories throughout the Pacific region and across linguistic boundaries. Online participants will transcribe, translate, tag, and add context to user-contributed archive posts. The architecture makes transparent the negotiations and contested categories of memory-in-translation. In this online environment, users can confront the cultural embeddedness of language, and researchers can trace the transformations of memory as it travels across cultural boundaries. As an open source tool, our online platform can be applied in various contexts to address the language barrier issue that is so central to the humanities.

Project Website: [none]

Project Whitepaper Available for Download?  [no]

Jointly Funded by the NEH and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.