Personal Cultural Memory as Part of Life Stories: Insights from Biographical Research on Japanese Canadian and Japanese American Wartime Experiences

Authors

Maria Wacławik, National University of Ireland Maynooth, IrelandFollow

Abstract

The study focuses on the experiences of these communities during World War II, when they were displaced and incarcerated following the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the face of such traumatic events, the challenge arises in how individuals convey memories when words alone may not suffice. The main objective of this research was to determine, based on autobiographical narratives, the links between the memory of wartime experiences of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians and their ethnic identity. I do not analyze entire collections of mediated memories stored by narrators, but only those that were introduced during the interview as part of life story. This analysis examines how interviewees integrate memory media into their autobiographical narratives, linking personal cultural memory of World War II to ethnic identity formation. Survivors, often unable to share wartime traumas directly, turned to personal cultural memory to express and preserve these experiences. Japanese American and Canadian participants conveyed their stories not only through words but also via family artifacts, photos, art, and other documents. Cultural memory supports narrators in overcoming a trajectory of suffering. The above reflections encourage biographical researchers to take a more mindful and open approach to analyzing narratives, recognizing the importance of memory media as part of the narrative. By considering both spoken and non-verbal forms of expression, biographical researchers can gain a deeper understanding of how individuals preserve and communicate their experiences.

Keywords

narrative interview method, personal cultural memory, mediated memories, wartime memories, Japanese American/Japanese Canadian incarceration

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Maria Wacławik is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Sociology Department and the Social Sciences Institute at National University of Ireland, Maynooth in Ireland. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. Maria has been recognized with several awards, including the Doctoral Student Research Award from the Government of Canada, the Graduate Student Scholarship from the International Council for Canadian Studies, Utrecht Network Scholarship, and the Nancy Burke Award from the Polish Association for Canadian Studies. She was a visiting scholar at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada from 2012 to 2013. She also conducted research in Yokohama, Japan and in Los Angeles, USA. Her research interests include memory and forgetting, identity, biographical analysis, social connection, Japanese American and Japanese Canadian cultural studies. Please direct correspondence to Maria.Waclawik@mu.ie

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Government of Canada, the International Council for Canadian Studies, and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. I am especially grateful to the Japanese American and Japanese Canadian seniors who generously shared their life stories and memory media, and whose trust made this study possible.

Publication Date

10-24-2025

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2025.8430

Recommended APA Citation

Wacławik, M. (2025). Personal cultural memory as part of life stories: Insights from biographical research on Japanese Canadian and Japanese American wartime experiences. The Qualitative Report, 30(10), 4430-4455. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2025.8430