Sonya Grypma, Ph.D., R.N.<br/>Trinity Western University, B.C., Canada
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Place: 2U Conference Room, Room 2019, Claire Fagin Hall
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Abstract: Unlike military nurses who became Japanese prisoners of war between 1941 and 1945, the five Canadian missionary nurses who were among the 14,400 allied civilians interned in China during the same period were given ample warning to evacuate the region. Three of these five were adult children of United Church of Canada missionaries (“mishkids”) who were reared together in northern China. This presentation explores the relationship between identity and internment – specifically, how these nurses’ identity as China-born mishkids influenced their decision to stay in China in 1941 despite their knowledge that internment was imminent.