In Kimiye's Office | Learning Activities | Resettlement: Chicago Story

Suggested Learning Activities

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Mapping layers of history
Charting a system
Translating through making

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For Educators

1. Mapping layers of history

Select a small area (e.g., a 2x2 block area) of the resettlement maps created by Erik Matsunaga, which you can find in the "Explore" tab of the Chicago Guidebook hyperobject.
Create a Google map and pin the markers from Matsunaga’s map onto your Google map.
Switch the base map layer to Street View. Compare what used to be in that area from 1940’s - 60’s to what is there today.
What differences or consistencies do you notice between the pins from the resettlement maps and the present day map? What do these differences and consistencies make you wonder about or help you infer?

Screenshot of the interactive interface for Kimi-yay, with a simulated mouse cursor clicking on Hotspot #2 which hovers over a magazine on her desk

Location of the Guidebook hyperobject

2. Charting a system

Slow down and look closely at the systems described in the Chicago Resettler Committee’s 1947 Progress Report. (You can find it in the "Read" tab of the Chicago Guidebook hyperobject.) Using Agency by Design’s “Parts, People, Interactions” learning tool, identify the different aspects of a system in order to consider its overarching impact.

a) What is a system

When you hear or see the word “system,” what comes to mind? The subway system? A recycling system? Your town’s housing system? How would you describe a system in your own words?

b) Parts of the system

The Chicago Resettler Committee’s 1947 Progress Report describes many systems. Identify 3-4 systems referenced in the report.

One way to do this is to identify an object mentioned in the report and then situate it within a broader system. For example, a postage stamp can be situated within the broader postal system and a bicycle helmet can be situated within a broader transportation system.
How do the systems you identified in the report meet the criteria for a system you defined in part (a)? Note: this can be tricky to think through! Systems are made up of subsystems, and are themselves parts of broader systems. In order to avoid getting lost in this thinking, it may be helpful to define the boundaries of the system(s) you identified in the report.
Working in small groups, choose one system in the report to concentrate on. Then make a list of all of the parts and people involved in that system.

c) Interactions in the system

Now, map out the system on chart paper to make the interactions between all of the parts and people in the system visible.
Use Project Zero’s “Connect, Extend, Challenge” thinking routine to consider: What do you notice about the system now that you have mapped it out? How does your map connect with the Yamamoto family’s story? What does your map make you wonder about or think differently about the Yamamoto family’s story?

3. Translating through making

All three oral histories attached to the hyperobject of George’s letter describe loss and disruption experienced through incarceration and resettlement, but in subtly different ways. Think about these different examples of loss and disruption. In a journal or on a scratch sheet of paper, respond to the following prompts:

If each interviewee’s description of loss and disruption had a texture and color, what would it be? Why?
Draw out / sketch a design of that texture and color of loss and disruption. In the margins, briefly explain the choices you made.
If you’re able, gather materials and make models of the textures and colors you chose to represent the losses and disruptions described in the oral histories.