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The Myth of “Shikata Ga Nai:” The Japanese-American Community of Bainbridge Island, 1941-42
(2026) Havera, Freddie; Barnes, Gordon R. Jr.
From the 1920s onward, the U.S. government planned to incarcerate Japanese-Americans in the event of a war with Japan. Once hostilities between the two countries broke out, federal authorities imprisoned Japanese immigrants in order to destabilize the Japanese-American community. Then the U.S. government removed all people of Japanese descent from the West Coast. Most of whom were confined in remote concentration camps, while others fled their homes. In the time since, people of Japanese descent have often described their attitude towards incarceration with the Japanese term “shikata ga nai,” which translates to “it cannot be helped.” However, historians have misinterpreted “shikata ga nai” to portray the incarcerees as passive subjects of state violence. This project centers on the Japanese-Americans of Bainbridge Island, who were the first community the government imprisoned during the war. It focuses on how they exercised their agency through various methods in an effort to avoid being incarcerated. Between the outbreak of war and the day the U.S. Army removed the Bainbridge Islanders from their homes, they affirmed their loyalty to America, joined the army, cooperated with the authorities, and tried to negotiate with the government. Through these actions, the Islanders attempted to achieve inclusion by proving that they deserved to live in America.
Lemme Ribeiro Research Artifact
(2023) Lemme Ribeiro, Clara
In my research project Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on Bolivian immigrants in São Paulo, Brazil, I studied how the ripple-effects of the pandemic affected this particular immigrant community. Most Bolivians in São Paulo live and work in home-based garment-industry sweatshops, where they have historically faced highly precarized labor and social reproduction conditions.During the pandemic, there was a significant drop in garment-industry production which led to a debasing of already exploitative working conditions, including a staggering drop in wages. Consequently, several São Paulo-based Bolivian families experienced evictions, homelessness, and hunger. Thus many Bolivians returned home early in the pandemic and, as they tried to re-enter Brazil later on, faced new politics of “sanitary” border control that increased cases of undocumentation. As a result, countless Bolivian immigrant families were pushed further into precarity.This research project was developed in collaboration with three local organizations that supported immigrant sweatshop workers before and during the Covid-19 pandemic: the Migrant Support Center, the Alinha Institute, and the Immigrant Women Association. It is also a result of my long-term deep engagement with these organizations and the Bolivian community in São Paulo. I volunteered as a Portuguese teacher and staff member at the Migrant Support Center for four years, in addition to working for a year at the Alinha Institute, where I supported sweatshop owners to improve health, safety and labor conditions. Presently, I am a board member at the Alinha Institute.I will present a poster as my artifact, in which I will combine descriptive text, quotes from qualitative interviews, and images that represent living and working conditions in São Paulo’s garment-industry sweatshops. Through this visual juxtaposition of textual and imagetic elements, I will re-create the emergent narrative of Bolivian immigrants during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, including their struggles and resilience.
Nguyễn Research Artifact
(2023-05-16) Nguyễn, Sarah
Bridging my previous experiences in libraries and archives and my current research to the Vietnamese diaspora, information disorder, memory and archival sciences, and dance/embodiment research, I am developing an intermedia piece that will represent an experimental test ground to engage with the Vietnamese diaspora to introduce the first steps on acknowledging and beginning to tell their intergenerational community building stories. This piece will incorporate archival familial photographs, interview footage, historical aerial maps, alongside social network graphs as artifacts that are inspired by a dance film I created in 2020, titled: 30x3 virgin remy: $200 OBO. The full booklet is available online.
Characterizing the role of tumor-specific B cells in Merkel cell carcinoma disease control
(2026-04-13) Rodriguez Chevez, Haroldo Jose; Nghiem, Paul; Taylor, Justin J
Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare neuroendocrine skin cancer with high recurrence and mortality rates. MCC is primarily driven by truncation and clonal integration of the Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) DNA into the host cell’s chromosomes. Viral integration leads to constitutive expression of the immunogenic T-antigen (T-Ag) oncoproteins, small and truncated large T-Ag, which promote MCPyV-driven MCC (VP-MCC). A second, less common form of non-viral MCC (VN-MCC) arises from accumulation of UV-mediated DNA mutations that affect tumor-suppressor genes. Independently of its origin, MCC is highly immunogenic and often recognized by T & B lymphocytes. Tumor-infiltrating and circulating cancer-specific T cells in MCC patients have been shown to be key promoters of tumor control. In contrast, the role B cells may play in anti-MCC tumor immunity remains unknown.In Chapter 1, we 1) describe MCC biology and therapy resistance, the most pressing issue in the field; 2) highlight the opportunity that MCC presents to investigate total and cancer-specific B cell responses across patients—the latter being extremely difficult to assess in most solid tumors; and 3) address how B cells may be harnessed to develop novel therapies aimed at improving MCC treatments for patients with refractory disease. In Chapter 2, we characterized total and cancer-specific B cell responses in 47 blood samples and 19 unmatched tumors from VP-MCC patients. MCC patient blood data revealed circulating B cell phenotypes that correlate with MCC progression only in female patients, and independently of specificity for MCC viral oncoproteins. In contrast, data from B cells in tumors revealed a strong association between high frequencies of viral oncoprotein-specific antibody-secreting cells and long-term MCC control. These MCC-specific antibody-secreting cells are primarily derived from germinal center B cells, whose detection in tumors also associated with improved disease control. In line with these findings, we identified higher frequencies of follicular helper CD4+ T cells in VP-MCC tumors from patients with better MCC outcomes. Finally, we demonstrated in vitro that B cells engineered to be specific for viral oncoproteins increase the sensitivity of oncoprotein-specific CD4+ T cells by over 50-fold. Together, these results suggest that synergy of viral oncoprotein-specific B and CD4+ T cell responses may promote MCC anti-tumor immunity. Given the association between MCC-specific antibody-secreting B cells and patient outcomes, Chapter 3 explores the T-antigen epitopes recognized by oncoprotein-specific antibodies in VP-MCC patient blood. Mapping of these antibodies revealed an association between preferential binding (immunodominance) against conformational epitopes on the “commonT” domain shared by all T-Ag isoforms and better MCC control. Importantly, this observation was lost when antibody binding against T-Ag linear epitopes was assessed. In line with these results, we detail a patient with progressive VP-MCC and no oncoprotein-specific serum antibody immunodominance, whose tumor was marked by a large expansion of antibody-secreting cells against unique domains of the large T-Ag and no detectable B cells against commonT. These results suggest that B cell binding to specific oncoprotein epitopes impact their ability to promote anti-tumor immunity. The importance of the adaptive immune response against viral oncoproteins in MCC led us to explore in Chapter 4 whether the length of truncated large T-Ag in VP-MCC tumors associates with patient outcomes. The truncation site of large T-Ag is clonal within a given patient’s tumor and results in an oncoprotein length between 228 to 787 amino acids. We found that most patients present with tumors in which truncated large T-Ag is under 350 amino acids. Importantly, analysis of T-antigen DNA sequences from 40 MCC patients with associated clinical data revealed that patients with longer large T-Ag (above 350 amino acids) were significantly less likely to recur and survived longer. Together, these data suggest that increased large T-Ag length may promote MCC immunogenicity as evidenced by lower frequency at presentation and improved disease control after diagnosis. Chapter 5 describes a patient with a lymph node invaded by VP-MCC and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), a B cell malignancy. Interestingly, this patient has remained MCC- and CLL-free for over 10 years following tumor surgical excision and local radiation. Single-cell RNA-sequencing revealed that malignant B cells from CLL may enhance MCC tumor growth via cytokine-enhanced cell proliferation. This observation highlights a potential mechanism by which aberrant B cells may promote MCC tumorigenesis and progression. Finally, Chapters 6 and 7 describe additional immune mechanisms of MCC control and propose mechanistic studies to probe the role of B cells in MCC anti-tumor immunity. In Chapter 6, we show that certain subsets of myeloid cells in MCC tumors associate with progressive disease. Chapter 7 speculates how the newly developed “SLAP” MCC mouse can be used to test MCC-specific B cell responses in tumor control. Specifically, we propose using classic immunological approaches such as genetic knockout, depletion of immune cell types, and adoptive transfer of engineered B cells specific for the T-antigens to address the role of B cells in MCC. Collectively, our work provides the first in-depth analysis of cancer-specific B cell responses in MCC. By integrating clinical outcomes, immunophenotyping, antibody specificity, and viral oncoprotein structure, these studies reveal that the quality and epitope specificity of B cell responses may have a key role in controlling anti-tumor immunity. We conclude by summarizing how our findings lay the groundwork for mechanistic studies in MCC mouse models that may form the basis for future therapeutic strategies leveraging B cells against solid cancers.
Mixed Neuropathology and Associations with Cognitive Impairment in Autopsied Older Adults
(2026-04-13) Culhane, Jessica; Phipps, Amanda
Background: Dementia represents a heterogeneous group of clinical syndromes most often driven by multiple coexisting neuropathologic processes. Although Alzheimer’s disease neuropathologic change (ADNC) remains the most recognized contributor, other neurodegenerative and vascular pathologies, including limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy neuropathologic change (LATE-NC), Lewy body disease (LBD), hippocampal sclerosis, and cerebrovascular lesions, are common and substantially influence cognitive outcomes. Understanding how these mixed pathologies cluster together and contribute to resilience or resistance to cognitive impairment is essential for refining diagnostic frameworks and developing targeted interventions.This dissertation aimed to characterize the heterogeneity of neuropathologic disease and its relationship to clinical outcomes through three complementary aims: (1) to identify biologically coherent clusters of mixed neuropathologic profiles using unsupervised clustering methods; (2) to determine how non-Alzheimer’s pathologies contribute to resistance and resilience to ADNC; and (3) to investigate neuropathologic correlates of resilience to LATE-NC across multiple autopsy cohorts. Methods: Chapter 2 applies unsupervised hierarchical clustering to 2,899 autopsied National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) participants using fourteen neuropathologic features. Chapter 3 examines non-AD pathologies among NACC participants classified as resistant (no/low ADNC, cognitively normal), resilient (intermediate/high ADNC, cognitively normal), or impaired (intermediate/high ADNC, cognitively impaired), using multivariable logistic regression and longitudinal cognitive assessments. Chapter 4 examines factors associated with resilience to advanced LATE-NC (stage 2–3) in both NACC and Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study participants aged ≥75 years, using regression models stratified by age and longitudinal cognitive analyses in ACT. Results: Across Chapters 2–4, mixed neuropathologic disease strongly influenced cognitive outcomes. In Chapter 2, five distinct clusters of neuropathologic disease were identified, reflecting common combinations of ADNC, LATE-NC, LBD, TDP-43, and vascular pathology. These clusters were biologically interpretable and often aligned with traditional clinical diagnoses. In Chapter 3, both resistance and resilience to ADNC were associated with markedly lower burden of non-AD pathologies, particularly LBD, LATE-NC, hippocampal sclerosis, and arteriosclerosis. In Chapter 4, resilience to LATE-NC was linked to reduced ADNC and absence of hippocampal sclerosis. Across analyses, lower mixed pathologic burden was strongly associated with cognitive resilience. Conclusions: Across studies, cognitive outcomes depended on the cumulative and interactive effects of multiple neuropathologic processes. These findings highlight the limitations of single-pathology diagnostic frameworks and support development of biologically grounded subtyping that accounts for mixed pathology. Such approaches will be critical for improving diagnostic precision, understanding mechanisms of resilience, and guiding biomarker and therapeutic development.
This is where we go: the quantum healing possibilities in languaging Black humanity
(2026-04-03) Afolalu, Lakeya; Smith, Patriann; Austin, Tasha
Homogenizing narratives dehumanize racially minoritized groups while obscuring the mechanisms and structures of white supremacy that ultimately harm everyone. Through an intimate conversation, Black women scholars from African American, Caribbean, and African backgrounds, the paper aims to thicken solidarities across Black diasporic difference. By exploring intraracial overlaps and tensions, this dialogue disrupts narratives that flatten Black diasporic identity diversity, erase Black global linguistic varieties, and silence varied Black histories. In turn, the conversation reveals that authentic solidarity emerges from honoring intracultural nuances, confronting internalized colonial logics, and centering youth voices alongside intergenerational knowledge. Design/methodology/approach This conversation formalized years of informal discussions among three Black diasporic women scholars. Grounded in established trust and our positionalities, the dialogue flowed organically in response to open-ended questions that enabled the authors’ distinct rhetorical and cultural traditions to emerge. In doing so, the authors embodied the very linguistic practices they analyzed by transgressing academic rhetoric to speak in various Black global languages. The authors’ linguistic fidelity honors Black feminist and transnational epistemologies, emphasizes relational knowledge production, and offers a rhetorical illustration of solidarity-building in practice. Findings While the authors’ dialogue defies traditional ‘findings,’ key themes emerged. Thickening Black diasporic solidarities requires confronting internalized colonization and moving beyond divisive reactions toward intraracial healing. Self-definition aids in healing generational trauma. Linguistic creativity, from Negro spirituals to digital literacies, are essential for collective integenerational resistance. Spiritual joy differs from externally imposed, performative happiness, and fear of professional/personal loss inhibits authentic solidarity work. Multicultural education must integrate Black linguistic diversity into teacher preparation programs in ways that transgress deficit framings. While racialization flattens Black heterogeneity, dialogues like this one function as critical spaces of refuge, fugitivity and diasporic healing. Originality/value The authors’ dialogue models the very solidarity it theorizes, as the authors speak and make meaning in Black languages while analyzing Black linguistic diversity. In doing so, the authors make visible intraracial tensions that homogenizing narratives erase and theorize dialogue as a refuge for Black women scholars navigating racialized violence. They center youth as generational innovators and demonstrate the necessity of confronting internalized colonization. This conversation emphasizes that solidarity arises from honoring intracultural differences. Insights from the authors’ conversation have implications for multicultural education across various learning spaces, including teacher preparation programs, classrooms and community- and youth-centered organizations.
Marcaida Research Artifact
(2024-05-09) Marcaida, Marielle Yambao
This virtual booklet popularizes and visualizes my research on the grassroots activism of mothers of drug war victims in the Philippines through a virtual booklet. While the Philippine drug war primarily targeted men in urban poor communities, women and their left-behind families suffered from the long-term consequences of state violence under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. As the women struggle with grief, trauma, and physical and economic hardships while dealing with state neglect and impunity, they are compelled to organize and mobilize amongst themselves to protect their communities from the police and vigilante killings. In this project, I highlighted the grassroots initiative of a group of mothers in Pateros City, known as the Ronda ng Kababaihan (Patrol of Women), who began to voluntarily conduct night patrols in 2017 to enforce curfews and keep the streets free of potential targets of motorcycle-riding gunmen. Their motivation to protect their families from the killings has led them to serve as the protectors of their neighborhood, mobilizing beyond the threat of the drug war and serving as the partners of the police and the local government during the COVID-19 pandemic and in various community programs geared towards public service. In this booklet, I seek to narrate their story of resistance that would paint the picture of how—amidst a crisis of human rights—it takes a village led by mothers to protect every child's life.
White Research Artifact
(2024-05-09) White, Chenae
Throughout our history, us Black girls’ have fought to create spaces uniquely different and unorthodox but compatible to meeting our needs such as reimagining community and caretaking. Our work of reimagining has often been a form of resistance when facing inequity and exclusionary practices, especially within education settings. Despite the existence of creatively constructed barriers, we have successfully navigated harmful education settings. We also remain aware that these spaces were not built with our successes in mind.However, this poster illustrates a space built with us in mind, that considers our desires, needs, safety, care, and what we need to thrive. We need learning spaces that are intentional about protecting the being, existence, and safe navigation of Black girls. This poster of the gymnasium has been remodeled to fortify our development and unique existence. Creating an interpretation of the gymnasium (within a future reimagined school building) allows me to dream of different approaches to support the growth of Black girls in education settings that are tailored to prioritize incorporating our needs, center Black girlhood, and provide the support required to progress into Black womanhood.I chose to focus this poster on the gymnasium because the space is a common area, accessible to people of all backgrounds especially when considering the many identities of Black girls, and can be a gathering place for local community members that represent the student population. Gymnasiums are a space where people vote, have community meetings, participate in various competitions and over time have remained safe and affirming spaces for many communities and now for Black girls.In the background of the poster there are Black girls simply existing and being, announcements on the wall to remind students of ways that we are centering our school community around our own needs, and the image of a Fulani woman at center court. Looking forward we must focus on further conceptualizing how we will build spaces where Black girls can thrive.
Breaking Barriers: Strengthening Provider Understanding of API Cultural History to Reduce Shame and Fear
(2026) Evans, Elaina Falefitu
Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities experience relentless and consistent barriers to mental health care, including cultural stigma, financial inaccessibility, language challenges, and limited culturally competent providers or providers that have culturally competent knowledge on the API population. Stakeholder interviews reveal that “mental health was never discussed in their families growing up,” which highlights how silence and generational shame limit help‑seeking behaviors. The Asian Pacific Islander community needs assessment consists of research, lived experiences, and acculturation theory to examine how cultural identity, intergenerational trauma, discrimination, and systemic inequities shape mental health utilization and patterns with help-seeking behaviors that are seen within the API community. Findings stress and highlight the need for disaggregated data, increasing API representation within the workforce, and create provider trainings that reflects API histories and values. In response, the proposed API ROOTS program is a 12‑week culturally responsive provider training which aims to strengthen practitioner knowledge, attitudes, and skills through modules on cultural values, stigma, trauma, communication, that has been formed and adapted from CBT/DBT strategies. The program seeks to reduce stigma, improve trust, and expand culturally grounded mental health access for AAPI communities.
Barriers to Father Engagement: Addressing Gaps in Societal Supports for Fathers
(2026) Nixon, Myla
The need for greater father involvement in the lives of children continues to be a major issue in society. Historically, mothers have been seen as the primary caregiver, however fathers have an indelible impact on their children and family. Because fathers are not always discussed as equal partners, there is still stigma attached to fatherhood, such as fathers not having the ability to be a nurturing caregiver or be as responsible and attentive as mothers. These ideas can be hurtful to a father and could discourage him from advocating for himself as a capable parent. This proposal focuses on two populations of fathers who often meet many barriers to father engagement; those who are in recovery from substance misuse and those who have been released from jail or prison. Fathers Going Farther Community Group offers a safe space for fathers to build community with other fathers, gain positive parenting skills, reduce recidivism, maintain long-term sobriety, which will empower them to have the confidence to be more active and visible in the lives of their children.