This article examines epidemics and disease prevention within the War Relocation Authority camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. Although scholars and activists have noted the limits and inadequacies of medical care within the camps, little attention has been given to the actions of camp administrators in curtailing outbreaks of deadly diseases such as polio and tuberculosis, including universal vaccination requirements and the use of quarantine orders. Disease in the camps resulted in cases of social isolation and ostracization and further exacerbated the stresses of life among the confined. Meanwhile, this article explores the use of the camps as sites of scientific study. Administrators and anthropologists documented cases of camp epidemics and published their results in journals on public health.
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Fall 2024
Research Article|
November 01 2024
Nowhere to Go: Epidemiology, Quarantine Orders, and the Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II
Jonathan van Harmelen
Jonathan van Harmelen
Jonathan van Harmelen, Ph.D, is currently a lecturer in history at the University of California Santa Cruz. He is currently finishing a book on the role of Congress in the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
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Pacific Historical Review (2024) 93 (4): 545–572.
Citation
Jonathan van Harmelen; Nowhere to Go: Epidemiology, Quarantine Orders, and the Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Pacific Historical Review 1 November 2024; 93 (4): 545–572. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2024.93.4.545
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