When we first entered the conference room it was difficult to understand how all of the files laying on the desk revolved around one 250-page book, however as we started to look through the documents I began to understand. The few files in front of me were in reference to the newspaper articles that Obasan was mentioned in, while the ones beside those was a draft with comments from other scholars who helped Kogawa complete an amazing final draft. While I heard classmates across the room talk about the fan letters that had been sent to Kogawa about her book, just noting some of the impact that this piece of literature had created. After flipping through some of the files I still hadn’t realized the importance of them—until I realized that Joy Kogawa had, herself, read each one of these pieces of paper and while some may have held more importance to her than others, they were all important in the context of the creation of Obasan and all had shown the impact that it’s had for those who have read it.
With this field trip I was able to explore Kogawa as a person, and see some of the process of how she worked on her book and how much work went into it. I didn’t get a change to snap any photos of the artifacts however remembering how many folders there were and how there was even more of them it would be interesting to go back and look through a few more folders (future blog post??). Overall, the experience was enlightening and gave even more meaning to Joy Kogawa’s work and how she truly added to Canada’s history and the cultural memory of Japanese Canadians and Canadians in general. Obasan was a well-put together book that contributed immensely to my understanding of the Japanese Internment camps.
Also, this interview with Joy Kogawa and how she talks about the Legacy of Obasan is miraculous:
-Mckaylee Catcher