WE PROVIDE LIFE-LONG LEARNING
Research-informed Programs
The courses and seminars we conduct emphasize historical thinking and critical analysis. Our goal is not just to deepen participants’ knowledge or understanding of historical events related to World War II in Asia, but also to foster reflexivity. The different lessons on World War II history in Asia that we have developed are offered through the conferences and seminars we conduct, as well as through our summer internship programming.
ALPHA Education Webinars
2022-2023 ALPHA Education Webinar Series: Contested Histories, Webinar 3
The third webinar of our 2022-23 Speaker Series took place on February 16, 2023. This webinar highlighted alternative voices on dimensions of women's resistance against violence and humiliation. Themes of militarism, patriarchy, and social disablism were examined.
Lily Kim is a disability and refugee advocate. She has served at Women's Community House, Romero and Global House (CCLC), Holocaust Education Week, UJA Federation’s Toronto Holocaust Museum, and is an ALPHA Education Board member.
2022-2023 ALPHA Education Webinar Series: Contested Histories, Webinar 2
The second webinar of our 2022-23 Speaker Series was on November 16, 2022. It focused on conflicting factors that shape historical memory of WWII in Asia, national identity, and civil society. These factors were addressed through exploration and discussion of Japan’s Peace Constitution.
Dr. Benjamin Peters, Director of the University of Michigan Global Scholars Program, is a scholar, researcher, writer, and editor in the areas of peace studies, Japanese and Costa Rican politics, nationalism, and antimilitarism.
2022-2023 ALPHA Education Webinar Series: Contested Histories, Webinar 1
History goes beyond the written word. Statues, monuments, streets, institutions, are all markers and collectives of historical memory. Controversies over representations of disputed historical legacies in such public spaces is a global phenomenon.
Centering on the history of World War II in Asia, Professor Kazuyo Yamane and Satoko Oka Norimatsu examine the social, political, and historical dynamics with respect to contested histories legacies; and identify museum practices on how to address them effectively.
2020-2021 ALPHA Education Webinar Series:
Connecting History to Contemporary Issues
Prof. Fujitani discussed war-time racism and imperialism in this webinar titled "Racism and Military Aggression: Lessons from the Cold War and World War II".
2020-2021 ALPHA Education Webinar Series:
Connecting History to Contemporary Issues
Dr. Sachiyo Tsukamoto and Judge Julie Tang (Ret.) lead a conversation about the Politics of Memory and the continuing struggle of the "Comfort System" survivors for justice. They share timely commentary and reflection on the controversial essay by Harvard Mitsubishi Professor Ramseyer and discuss how this can be linked to the Japanese denial movement's counter-narrative that still rejects the reality of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery.
Digital Archives Project
ALPHA Education’s Digital Archive Project (DAP) aims to build a large volume of educational and instructional materials as well as research aids featuring primary sources about World War II in Asia. We work closely with volunteer researchers, translators, transcribers and annotators. The DAP offers our student interns and volunteers a valuable learning experience. DAP volunteers and interns participate in a series of modules on historical thinking and other critical approaches to history. In turn, the work that our volunteers and interns produce for the DAP become resources that help educators and researchers engage the broader public about the history of World War II in Asia.
You can explore DAP materials from our resources collection. Apart from curating a collection of images and archival documents that may be used for teaching, the DAP also publishes “Primary Source Collections,” that focus on a particular theme or historical event. This resource features a thematic essay, 5-6 primary sources, and other instructional guides such as timelines and case summaries.