EAA Interview
Author: EAA Editorial Office
Keywords: American History, Cultural Studies, World History
How to Cite: Editorial Office, E. (2022) “An EAA Interview with the 2021 Franklin R. Buchanan Prizewinner Rylan Sekiguchi for What Does It Mean to Be an American?”, Education About Asia. 26(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.65959/eaa.1732
This is our twenty-fifth consecutive interview with winners of the Franklin R. Buchanan Prize, awarded annually to recognize an outstanding pedagogical, instructional, or curriculum publication on Asia designed for K–12 and college undergraduate instructors and students. This year’s winner, for the third time in the award’s history, is Rylan Sekiguchi of the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) for the online curriculum package What Does It Mean to Be an American? Sekiguchi is Manager of Curriculum and Instructional Design at SPICE. He has authored or coauthored more than a dozen curriculum units for SPICE, including the 2010 Buchanan prizewinners Uncovering North Korea and US–South Korean Relations, and worked on other media projects at SPICE, such as the 2015 Buchanan prizewinning short films and curriculum My Cambodia and My Cambodian America. Developed by the Mineta Legacy Project in partnership with SPICE, this free educational curriculum offers six lessons for educators, high school, and college students to examine what it means to be American. In the interview that follows, Sekiguchi discusses the curriculum and highlights some lessons and features of the project.
Lucien Ellington: Rylan, congratulations on winning the Franklin Buchanan Prize again! Please share with our readers the factors that motivated you and your colleagues at SPICE to conceptualize and then create What Does It Mean to Be an American?
Rylan Sekiguchi: Thanks, Lucien. It’s an honor to receive the Buchanan Prize, and it’s always a pleasure and an honor to be interviewed by you. Thank you for inviting me to do this!
What Does It Mean to Be an American? has a somewhat-atypical origin story, at least by SPICE standards. We were approached by a team of filmmakers who were in the early stages of making a documentary about Norman Mineta, former member of Congress and the first Asian-American to serve in a presidential cabinet. They asked us to create a curriculum that could function as a classroom companion to the film.
SPICE has developed many film companions over the years, but this project was unique in two important respects: First, we decided to develop the curriculum in tandem with the film. That is, we were writing the curriculum at the same time that the filmmakers were creating the documentary. This isn’t how it normally works, so it was a bit unusual, but also exciting and liberating. Our parallel development strategy afforded us as curriculum designers some really special opportunities that we don’t usually have when working on a project like this. For example, we were able to piggyback on the film’s interviews and ask curriculum-targeted questions to some prominent figures. It’s thanks to this tandem setup—and our very close coordination with our collaborators—that we were able to create curriculum-specific videos with people like President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, Secretary Norman Mineta, and several members of Congress. That was a truly memorable experience.
The second unique aspect of this project was how extremely open-minded and creative the filmmakers were in terms of embracing a nonstandard scope for this project. In particular, they didn’t insist the curriculum be built around the film, so long as it was related to the themes of the film. This more flexible approach allowed us the freedom to think outside the box and visualize a curriculum that would truly stand on its own. Rather than having to focus narrowly on the film’s subject or rely on the film’s content, we began to envision something much broader in scope, more versatile in a classroom context, and useful to a broader range of teachers.
Lucien: Your digital curricular package, which is free of charge for all users and includes twenty-three different videos, tutorials for teachers, and many other features, consists of six major educational components. Please provide readers with a brief synopsis of each component and, if you choose, rationales for your selection of each component.
Rylan: First, let me mention that the curriculum is accessible online at www.whatdoesitmeantobeanamerican.com. I hope your readers check it out! As you said, it’s completely free to use, and I think many educators—especially at the high school and college levels—will find something valuable for their teaching. Each lesson functions as a standalone resource, so educators can explore whatever lesson topic is most relevant for their teaching. For those who want to dive right in, we have a “Get Started” page (https://tinyurl.com/73jvywnv) that orients new users to the website.
The curriculum is divided into six lessons: Immigration, Civil Liberties & Equity, Civic Engagement, Justice & Reconciliation, Leadership, and US–Japan Relations. We chose these topics for two main reasons. First, they connect with major themes from Secretary Mineta’s life and career. And second, we think that each theme can act as an informative lens for students to examine the curriculum’s central question, “What does it mean to be an American?” I’ll introduce each lesson briefly.
Immigration (https://tinyurl.com/3avydrr4): The first lesson focuses on immigration, an ever-present force in US history. The country was founded by immigrants and their descendants, of course, and various waves of immigrants over the centuries have shaped the America of today. This lesson explores that history. Students discuss the challenges and opportunities that immigrants have encountered—and still encounter—when settling in the United States, and they consider the roles that immigration, immigrant integration, and citizenship policies have played in the building of US society.
Civil Liberties & Equity (https://tinyurl.com/4erhn3kz): The second lesson explores civil liberties as an ideal, practice, and institution of modern democracy. It’s especially fitting for government and civics courses, I think, but it also incorporates history and current events. Students assess the meaning and value of civil liberties, examine the contexts and conditions that have weakened civil liberties protections in the United States in the past, and delve into the history of the Japanese-American incarceration during World War II—a noteworthy civil liberties case study. In the second half of the lesson, students turn their attention to modern-day civil liberties and civil rights issues, and research a current-day issue of their choosing.
Civic Engagement (https://tinyurl.com/ekstkwaa): In theory, students should already know that civic engagement is a vital ingredient for democratic societies. But what exactly constitutes civic engagement, and how can ordinary people take part in civic life? In this lesson, students discuss the meaning of civic engagement, differentiate among several “types” of civic engagement, and consider the many different ways—governmental and nongovernmental—that everyday Americans can be civically engaged. My favorite parts of the lesson are the case studies of lesser-known Americans in history whose civic engagement ultimately helped advance democracy in the United States. I think these examples reaffirm for students that everyone can make a difference in their communities.
Justice & Reconciliation (https://tinyurl.com/4r935seu): At its core, this lesson examines the role that justice and reconciliation play in US society. As a case study, students learn about the Japanese-American redress movement, which spanned the 1960s to 1980s, and assess its value to both the Japanese-American community and to US society broadly. They then research various modern-day social justice issues and generate their own ideas for how to constructively address these issues. This lesson also includes six optional extension activities for teachers who want to dig deeper into the topic of justice and reconciliation.
Leadership (https://tinyurl.com/y57bwxfm): In this lesson, students reflect on the characteristics of leadership through the lens of their own life experiences. Through self-reflection and discussion, they explore and refine their ideas about leadership, such as the characteristics of effective leadership and how to best foster those qualities in themselves and others. They are also introduced to a few basic leadership theories to help structure and expand the way they think about leadership. I think this lesson is best suited for an actual leadership class, but parts of it may also be useful in a government or civics course—particularly the video interviews with US presidents and legislators.
US–Japan Relations (https://tinyurl.com/2yr6tmhk): The final lesson turns its gaze outward toward America’s relationships abroad. In particular, this lesson introduces students to the history and current state of US–Japan relations—one of the numerous international relationships the United States has with other nations and international organizations. Students conduct research to learn about six different facets of modern US–Japan relations and assess how each facet affects the overall relationship. At the end of the lesson, students reflect on the role that they themselves can play in bridging together different communities, societies, and cultures, whether internationally or even within their own neighborhood.