The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College will host a presentation from doctoral fellow Benjamin DuMontier, Between Menace and Model Citizen: The Japanese-Peruvians of Lima, Peru, 1936-1963.

A meet and greet reception will be held just prior to the presentation at 5:00 pm in the Center’s lobby.

DuMontier’s doctoral dissertation analyzes the reconstruction of racial and ethnic identities - in particular, the status of Japanese-Peruvians and the public discussions on race in Peru before and after World War II. Asia in the 1930s figured heavily in the minds of Peruvian diplomats and policymakers as they sought restrictions and deportations of Japanese-Peruvians from 1936-1945. DuMontier’s research demonstrates how national policies in one country, Peru, reflected ideas on race which were shared throughout the Americas. In turn, these policies affected local neighborhoods of immigrants, persons who were then deported to Japanese-American incarceration camps in the southwestern United States. The dissertation also traces how individuals and groups challenged their own marginalization.

Benjamin DuMontier is the Center’s 2017-2018 doctoral fellow in Southwestern history. The fellowship is a collaborative effort between the Center, Fort Lewis College, and the graduate program in the history department at the University of Arizona, where he is a doctoral candidate in history. DuMontier will spent this academic year in residence at the Center practicing archival cataloging skills by examining the documents and letters of Ansel Hall, the first Chief Naturalist for the National Park Service, in addition to teaching in the College’s department of history.

This lecture is free to the public.