Mount Holyoke College holds Japan Night for the first time in 25 years

Photo by Mira Crane ’27

Japan Night kicked off around 7 p.m. on Friday, March 28 with a series of performances that were emceed by the board of the Japanese Culture Club.

By Mira Crane ’27

Global Editor

It isn’t every day you see an old Mount Holyoke tradition brought back to life. On March 28, Mount Holyoke College celebrated Japan Night for the first time in 25 years. The doors opened around 6:30 p.m. with music playing to welcome people in. 

Most of the performance seating was in the upstairs balcony of Chapin Auditorium, while booths and tables were set up downstairs for the Matsuri portion of the evening. The downstairs space was decorated with lights and lanterns, calligraphy characters and small Japanese flags in front of the stage. 

The event began around 7 p.m. Everyone was welcomed by the president of the Japanese Culture Club, Yuna Antal ’25, who introduced the rest of the board. The board emceed the evening, giving announcements in both English and Japanese. 

The first three performances were by the J-pop dance team ODotteMita, a Five College group based at Mount Holyoke. There were two guest dance performances, a performance by the Mount Holyoke Karate Club, and four song performances, including one by the band Fire Truck.

Felicia Nemoto-Pace ’27, a board member and the performance coordinator of Japan Night, performed the song “Arigatou” by Ikimonogakari. Nemoto-Pace said it was incredibly fulfilling after all the practice she put into rehearsal. “The song is very dear to me as my mother showed it to me and it’s a really joyful song in my family so my performance in some ways was a tribute to my connection to my mother,” Nemoto-Pace said in an email to Mount Holyoke News.

The performance portion of the evening ended with a fashion show presenting different Japanese cultural styles. A board member gave a description of each of the different styles being modeled. 

Around 8 p.m., there was a transition to the Matsuri portion of the evening, which imitated the form of Japanese festivals with a variety of games and food stalls. Board members took turns explaining each of the different stalls. 

There was Shateki, a game where players use a small toy gun to shoot at prizes. The prizes, in this case, were small boxes of Pocky. There was also a Ramune Ring toss, in which participants attempted to toss a ring around a bottle of Ramune, a Japanese soda drink. 

The event also included Pokémon catching, where contestants tried to knock down cardboard Pokémon using a version of the series’ pocket ball. 

There was Himokuji, a type of fortune lottery found at Japanese shrines. Participants pulled on a string attached to a hidden item to receive a prize. 

Also present was Okashitsuri, a game where participants used a kind of fishing rod with a hook to try to pick up snacks and candies under a time limit.

One booth was dedicated to decorating fox masks, which a board member explained are worn during particular festivals and rituals in order to pay respect to the gods. There was a calligraphy booth where participants could practice writing different kanji and strokes. Event goers could also partake in a chopstick challenge, where the contestants had to use chopsticks to move objects from one place to another, for candy and sticker prizes. The Matsuri section also had a origami booth where one could make mini lanterns, cranes or boxes, or one could choose to make another shape using the instruction manual that was available. 

There was a photobooth with mini Japanese flags as decoration. Lastly, there was a booth with some light food and drink options. Participants milled around the different booths, playing games and winning prizes for the rest of the evening. 

While there are other cultural nights celebrated every year at Mount Holyoke, Japan Night has not been hosted for a long time. Nemoto-Pace explained that she wanted her culture to be represented, so she started asking around and worked together with Joyce Jiang ’27 and Antal. 

According to Nemoto-Pace, “Organizing Japan Night was a long and tedious process of communication with various groups and lots of staying alert and on our feet.” 

However, she stated that “There is something so invigorating about not only seeing your culture represented in a cultural night but also to be able to participate in sharing that culture with my peers through performance and song so I’m so glad we were able to pull it off.”

Karishma Ramkarran ’27 contributed fact-checking.

Mount Holyoke College hosts ‘Protecting the Unprotected’ event

Photo courtesy of Thomas Hawk via Flickr

Recent executive orders and decisions made by the Trump administration have sparked controversy and protests in many cities across the United States.

By Liliana Stinson ’27

Contributing Writer

Three months into the second Trump administration, which has unleashed unprecedented hostility towards immigrants, foreign nationals and racial minorities, Mount Holyoke College welcomed immigration attorney Camille J. Mackler to campus. 

On April 1, 2025, students, faculty, staff and community members gathered in Gamble Auditorium for “Protecting the Unprotected: Making Change in Today’s Immigration Landscape,” a conversation between Mackler and David Hernández, professor and co-chair of critical race and political economy. 

The event began with a land acknowledgment read by Jules Camargo ’25. Then, Hernández welcomed everyone to the space and introduced Mackler. Beyond being an immigration attorney, Mackler is the founder of Immigrant ARC, a visiting senior fellow at the Truman Center for National Policy, and former director of immigration legal policy at the New York Immigration Coalition.

Hernández began the discussion by asking Mackler about her response to Trump’s travel ban on several Muslim majority countries in 2017. Mackler answered by talking about her outrage at the travel ban. The “organic spontaneous reaction to injustice, to racism,” as Mackler described it, led her to John F. Kennedy International Airport the morning after the ban was announced. Eventually, she would be joined by hundreds of attorneys and thousands of protesters. 

A short video titled “Camille Mackler: My Week at JFK” described the movement at the airport and how Mackler ran “a law office out of an airport diner with hundreds of people who [she] had never met.” For nine days, these lawyers worked to help every possible immigrant or foreign national from the banned countries, and, by the end of it, they were able to free the two Iraqi men who were the first detainees following the ban. 

Notably, these lawyers continue to work together, meeting every month to strategize on how to tackle the current legal landscape when it comes to immigration. 

Next, Hernández asked Mackler about her thoughts on the second Trump administration's “ever-evolving deportation plan.” After thinking for a moment, Mackler responded, saying that what scares her the most “is honestly the impunity with which ICE agents behave: You all saw the video of the Tufts student being arrested.” Her statement was in reference to the detainment of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University doctoral student from Turkey who was taken off the street by plainclothes officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 25 after her visa was suddenly terminated.

“[ICE agents] know that they won’t be punished,” Mackler continued, stating it was “just a chilling mark of an authoritarian regime.”

Hernández agreed, saying, “My fear is always a version of vigilantism: People’s neighbors calling [ICE] on their neighbor and the impunity for that. All of this is the product of when you have a society where tens of millions of people are vulnerable, and then people act on that vulnerability.” 

Mackler then touched on the importance of working to protect immigrant’s rights on the local level, saying that because of immigration’s complexity, “it’s easy to inflame the rhetoric around it and that’s what we’ve seen on the national and international levels.” However, that means “the best way to address [immigration] is to start locally and to start having conversations,” Mackler said, telling a story of when she was able to bridge understanding with NYPD officers.

 “[The] good news,” she emphasized, “is that we have that power at the local level.” 

The last question Hernández posed to Mackler was what advice she would give to students. She responded, “If it scares you, you have to do it.” 

“You can’t lose. You’ll either succeed, or you’ll learn something about yourself,” she said.  “Trust that you’ll figure it out, and grab it, because you’re following something inside of you.” 

Next, students and community members had the opportunity to ask Mackler and Hernández questions. 

A student asked Mackler how she “balances advocacy and respect while working within institutional barriers.” Mackler discussed the fact that she does not consider herself an activist, a response that Camargo thought was very notable. 

“I really appreciated [Mackler’s] perspective on why she chooses to distance herself from an activist label and aligns herself as an advocate,” Camargo described in an email to Mount Holyoke News. “Her emphasis on how much planning and intentionality activism requires feels like an important takeaway and distinction to consider.”

In her answer to another student question, Mackler elaborated on how activism is an individual choice, saying, “I think everyone shows up to the fight the way that they can, and we don’t get to judge the way that looks for everyone else.” 

Camargo noted in an email interview how crucial they thought this message was for the Mount Holyoke community. “[Mackler] emphasized time and time again how there is a dire need to assess our positionality (as students and in regard to documentation) in our ability to make the best (deeply personal) decision on whether or not to be outspoken and the consequences that may come with that,” Camargo said. 

The event ended with Hernández calling for all attendees to pick up “know your rights” cards that a community member made after hearing about the event, demonstrating the variety of ways students can get involved in immigration advocacy and activism.

Karishma Ramkarran ’27 contributed fact-checking.

Students talk about experiences studying abroad while Black

Photo courtesy of Adelia Pope

By Kiera McLaughlin ’26

Global Editor

Studying abroad is a daunting experience, but with over 40% of Mount Holyoke students taking part, underclassmen can easily find resources at the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives or talk to their peers to hear personal stories. 

On Feb. 25, these opportunities converged at a discussion hosted by the McCulloch Center and CET Academic Programs, featuring six students speaking about their experiences in a panel called “Studying Abroad While Black.” 

Throughout the talk, each student was asked a series of questions from the guest moderator Sean McGlynn, CET’s Institutional Relations Manager for the Northeast. Questions referenced the panelists’ academic, social life and safety while abroad, and as well as integrating into new communities as a Black person in a different country. 

CET is one of the study abroad programs partnered with the McCulloch Center, with programs in Jordan, China, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Italy and Brazil. Two of the panelists participated in the CET Brazil program, while others studied abroad in the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa and France.

McGlynn explained at the beginning that CET programs based in Latin America are popular with many Black students, as they have courses focused on racial studies and social justice. The program also provides diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships and identity resources such as blogs and alumni discussions.

When asked about their experiences with safety abroad, the students all agreed their programs and cities were generally safe. They recommended students practice common sense and be aware of their surroundings.

Jasmine Greene ’25 said that while abroad, “I found a queer community, which is always more accepting no matter where you go, which made me feel more safe.” 

When discussing their experiences as Black students in a new country, their responses varied on where they were located in the world. 

Kayla Nelson ’25 shared that during her time in Australia, she would think, “Oh wow, I’m the only Black person in this room.”

“It was different being the only one there, and I felt like I had to represent my identity [by] myself because there was no one else there like me,” Nelson continued.

Nelson said that she made friends, and, eventually, she was able to think about her time abroad differently. “It just took some time,” she said. 

Some of the other students had a different experience. Sarah Bell ’25 said, “Being a Black person in Brazil, you’re the majority … I feel like there is a lot of pro-Blackness.”

According to Travel Noire, a digital media company covering content about the African Diaspora, Brazil had the largest Black population outside of Africa. About 55% of the population identify as Black or mixed African descent. 

“In general, it’s a very beautiful experience to go to Brazil as a Black person,” Bell said.

Ruth Poku ’26 was in the same program in Brazil, and shared that the majority of the program cohort was made up of Black students. 

She did note her experience was different as a dark-skinned Black woman. She reflected that there are “not a lot of dark skinned people,” and she was catcalled in the white, middle class neighborhood where they lived. 

“Not different than what I experience in America,” Poku said. 

Opening up about these negative experiences did not counteract the support the panelists expressed for underclassmen to go abroad during their time at Mount Holyoke College. 

In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, Sarahjeen Paul ’25 said she decided to participate in the event because “I just really want more Black people to go abroad and have fun, and have this experience because it was so life changing. It’s really valuable to spend a semester or year somewhere different, and somewhere as beautiful as South Africa, too.” 

Paul recommended all students going abroad to be financially responsible and push themselves. “Budget your money, please! Please, please, please! And prioritize having experiences, not everything you do has to cost money … but also it’s important to get out there,” Paul said. 

Nelson shared a similar sentiment in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. “Don’t let the difficulties you might face, wherever you’re going, stop you from going. Go wherever you want to go, do what you want to do … Just plan ahead, and just know what you’re getting into, but don’t let that discourage you,” Nelson said.

Karishma Ramkarran ’27 contributed fact-checking.

Dr. Jessica DiCarlo presents Annual Geography Lecture on Global China

BY OLIVIA RUSSO ’25

STAFF WRITER

On Thursday, Feb. 13, the Mount Holyoke College community welcomed University of Utah Professor Jessica DiCarlo in presenting the College’s Annual Geography Lecture.

Motivated by several years of work in the non-governmental organization and education sectors of Tibet and China, DiCarlo’s research is focused on infrastructure, China’s global integration and socio-environmental issues, according to her website. As a human geographer, she has situated her research at the intersection of development studies, political ecology and Global China studies, with an emphasis on connecting ground-level cases observed from local communities to overarching global processes through ethnographic fieldwork. 

At the beginning of her lecture, entitled “From the Ground to the Global: Conceptualizing Global China and How it is Transforming Development,” DiCarlo introduced a critical approach to thinking about the concept of Global China. Global China often encompasses different connotations and perceptions, which are sometimes contradictory but seemingly always dynamic and in flux. She emphasized the importance of analyzing the term’s historical roots: while the mention and usage of the term “Global China” sharply increased post-2013, the exact phrasing began to circulate in the 1970s. The discussion at that time primarily focused on whether China could become a global power and on Global China as a phenomenon happening to China rather than something China was doing to the rest of the world. However, it gradually transitioned to indicate China’s integration into global markets and its active shaping of global systems. 

Using a genealogical approach, DiCarlo presented “six paths” of Global China: “other,” “integration,” “status,” “bridge,” “threat” and “alternative.” She notes that each path builds on particular lineages and understanding of both “China” and “global,” and while they are interlinked, tensions also exist within and between paths. For example, while “other” treats China as an external or alien force, and traces Western fear and anxiety about a rising China, “bridge” understands China as connections between people, cultures and ideas. While “status” frames China’s global rise as evidence of shifting power hierarchies, “threat” portrays China’s global footprint as a challenge to the existing order. Such conceptions of Global China have important implications for developmental thinking, as well as security measures, policies, development projects and more.

In contrast to the implications of Global China on an international scale, these paths simultaneously unfold in a different manner on a local scale. DiCarlo presented several projects indicative of this dissonance that she studied through fieldwork in Laos: the Laos-China Railway, Laos-China Economic Corridor and the Boten Special Economic Zone. These projects were part of the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive global infrastructure development strategy adopted by China. She described that, on a larger scale, these projects have extravagant launch parties, dominate the land as massive structures, are showcased in headlines and supposedly represent economic development and modernity. However, the fanfare that surrounds these global infrastructure projects often obscures the local, everyday experiences of people actually on the ground.

For example, DiCarlo found that in the Boten Special Economic Zone, workers were tasked with long, tedious labor that was ultimately intended to market a certain vision of prosperity, fanfare and money in the zone. Once the guests left, the whole city shut down. Another example she presented was the Laos-China Railway, which physically dominated the landscape and presented many issues for people on the ground. DiCarlo highlighted that people on the ground often don’t talk about the BRI or understand the project as a Chinese initiative despite being affected by issues such as farmland loss, deforestation or being displaced from their homes. She described that local residents were more concerned with land appropriation and lack of compensation for the displaced. Thus, while the BRI may seem to be everywhere, it’s not always visible to those most affected by it.

In general, DiCarlo argues that such development projects display the need to pay attention to “politics of sight,” pertaining to how the projects themselves as well as people are seen, and “downstream effects and flows,” or how power flows downstream from China and encounters obstacles along the way. Infrastructure projects exist on a spectrum of visibility, and visible projects, such as gleaming highways or giant ports, often hide or distract from less visible issues, like labor disputes and environmental damage.

Karishma Ramkarran ’27 contributed fact-checking.

Letters to MoHome: Trump’s desire for Greenland while living in Denmark

BY EMMA QUIRK ’26

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Hello from Copenhagen! 

I’ve been living in Denmark for the past month (and a half). There is so much to say about my experience studying abroad so far, but, for now, I just want to share what it’s been like to be here while Donald Trump is claiming he wants to buy Greenland. 

While this has mostly been taken as a joke by Americans, the Danes take this threat quite seriously. It has also brought up larger conversations about the status of Greenland as part of the Danish kingdom. Trump and Greenland are mentioned in news headlines and overheard in bars, coffee shops and bakeries. I’ve had conversations about this situation with my visiting host family and in the majority of my classes. 

In my course, “Postcolonial Europe: Narratives, Nationalism and Race,” we’ve specifically delved into the history of Greenland and Denmark, and the current conversations surrounding their relationship, as well as Trump. 

Denmark’s colonization of Greenland began with Christian missionaries in 1721. The overarching attitude in Denmark was one of superiority, based on racist and imperial beliefs. Like other Indigenous Peoples, the Inuit in Greenland were both scorned as being underdeveloped as well as idealized for their connection to, as the Danes saw it, traditional ways of life. Greenland remained an official colony of Denmark until 1954, when it became recognized as an autonomous state. Greenland was and still is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. 

Trump’s recent offer to buy Greenland wasn’t the first time the United States has shown an interest. There have been discussions within the United States government at various points, including a private offer after World War Ⅱ. Trump himself also talked about buying the island during his first term as president.

The official response from Denmark has been to say that Greenland is not for sale. King Frederik updated the royal coat of arms to have a larger polar bear, representing Greenland, and a larger ram, representing the Faroe Islands, apparently in response to Trump’s comments. Additionally, a satirical petition was started for Denmark to buy California. This petition has amassed over 244,000 signatures as of Feb. 13. 

The official response from Greenland has been to affirm that they are not interested in being purchased. In a statement, Prime Minister Múte Egede said “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.” 

Tensions are not only high in Denmark because of Trump but because of the current relationship between Denmark and Greenland. Many Greenlanders want independence, and Egede has been working toward this. With a successful referendum, Greenland can be its own nation. Greenland will be having a parliamentary election in April, and Danes are watching to see what will happen. 

The Inuit of Greenland have been pushing for freedom and trying to rewrite the colonial narrative that Denmark has created. One way that this is being done is through art. With my Postcolonial Europe class, we’ve had the opportunity to explore some of this art. 

We visited Nordatlantens Brygge — which translates to North Atlantic House — which is a cultural center in Copenhagen, to see the exhibit The Arctic Exotic. The exhibit is the work of Ivínguak’ Stork Høegh, a Greenlandic contemporary collage artist. Her collages push back against exoticizing narratives of the Arctic and Greenland. 

Additionally, we had a guest lecture with Emile Hertling Péronard, a Greenlandic film producer, director and writer. He discussed the role of Danish film in curating stereotypical narratives about Greenland. Péronard works on films that represent Greenland and Greenlanders from their perspectives. He is a producer for the Greenlandic production company Ánorâk Film and one of the founders of Polarama Greenland, Greenland’s first production service company. 

Ignoring colonial histories disregards the current material effects of colonialism for both the colonizers and the colonized. Art like Høegh’s collages and Péronard’s films both presents history and presents Greenlandic culture from another perspective. 

Karishma Ramkarran ’27 contributed fact-checking.