Welcome!

Hello there! I'm Emma Wong (she/her), a current undergraduate student at UW studying Anthropology with minors in Diversity and Law, Societies & Justice. I'm interested in how storytelling can be a tool of community empowerment, which I have been exploring in my studies at UW and my work at the Burke Museum on campus. My passion for storytelling stems in part from my desire to better understand my own narrative as a third/fourth generation Chinese and Japanese American woman. Having grown up feeling simultaneously connected and disconnected from both sides of my cultural heritage and family history, I want to (re)discover the different stories that make up my identity.

Visiting the Shinto shrine Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto

During this study abroad program in Japan, I hope to find some of these stories as I also learn about how people in Tokyo and Okinawa think about their own identities. I bring with me these questions: How do my experiences of holding and navigating a Japanese (and Chinese) American identity compare with those who similarly engage with a Japanese national identity? How does one identity intersect with others that we hold in shaping our understanding of ourselves? Finally, what does it mean to be Japanese/Japanese American?