Join us for our 2025 Conference!

Rob Buscher is a film and media specialist, educator, arts administrator, and published author with over a decade of leadership in the nonprofit sector. Of biracial Japanese American heritage, he brings expertise in cultural sensitivity, community organizing, and AAPI advocacy.

Rob specializes in Japanese and AAPI Diasporic Cinema and has worked as a film programmer, critic, and lecturer. Since 2017, he has taught courses on cinema and activism at the University of Pennsylvania. He hosts the Heart Mountain podcast Look Toward the Mountain and PBS WHYY’s Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders: A Philadelphia Story. His recent work includes curating Okaeri (Welcome Home): The Nisei Legacy and co-producing a documentary on activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya.

He serves on the board of the Japanese American Citizens League Philadelphia Chapter and the editorial board of Pacific Citizen. Outside of work, Rob is an accomplished guitarist and songwriter.

Topic: Hollywood at War: WWII Anti-Japanese Propaganda, and Impacts on Japanese Americans

Thomas Edison’s 1898 documentary newsreel Wreck of the Battleship Maine and subsequent film coverage of the Spanish-American War were the origins of film propaganda in the United States. Since then, film and video have influenced the way Americans understand and consume conflict. As motion picture technology improved, Hollywood became increasingly intertwined with the military industrial complex. During WWII, the integration of anti-Japanese propaganda narratives into major studio films reached a new level of collaboration. This presentation will explore anti-Japanese propaganda in entertainment-based Hollywood films (fictional scripted narratives), cartoons, and documentary news reels – and how they failed to distinguish between the Japanese Imperial Army, and persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States.

Janet M. Davis is Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Texas at Austin and incoming Director of the Plan II Honors Program (July 2025). She is the author of The Gospel of Kindness and The Circus Age, and editor of Circus Queen and Tinker Bell. Her scholarship has earned numerous honors, including the Constance Rourke Prize and induction into UT’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

Davis has contributed to the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN, and served as a consultant for the PBS series The Circus. She is currently writing Sharkmania: A Transnational American History. In 2024, she was a research fellow at the Nantucket Historical Association

Topic: World War II Propaganda

On December 29, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave an urgent fireside chat. Using the power of radio to communicate his message to millions of Americans, Roosevelt spoke gravely about the looming dangers of a world at war. While remaining cognizant of U.S. neutrality in 1940, FDR exhorted his fellow citizens, “We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself.” This talk will explore the critical role that popular culture played in building U.S. public morale in support of the war effort during World War II. It will analyze the historical context of Isolationism that preceded U.S. entry into World War II, and the ways in which the Office of War Information and the Office of Strategic Services collaborated with culture industry leaders in film, music, radio, and news media to build and sustain popular consensus in support of the nation’s successful global fight against the Axis Powers.

Richard B. Frank is an internationally recognized leading authority on the Asia-Pacific War. He published his first book Guadalcanal in 1990. His second work, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, appeared in 1999 and has been called one of the six best books in English about World War II. Both Random House books won awards and became main selections of the History Book Club. In 2007, he completed MacArthur as part of the Palgrave Great Generals series. Besides his numerous appearances on television and radio, he was a consultant for the epic HBO miniseries, “The Pacific.” He serves on the Board of Presidential Councilors of the National World War II Museum, including a term as head of that body. The first volume of his trilogy on the Asia Pacific War 1937-1945, Tower of Skulls, published in March 2020, was a finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History 2021.

Conference Overview: Frank will give a conference overview. Below is he description of this.

This year’s Conference will explore how pop culture, propaganda, and politics have shaped public memory of the Pacific War over the past 80 years. Through discussion of media, cultural narratives, and political discourse, the program reflects on how these forces continue to influence our understanding of the conflict.

Dr. Ambyre Ponivas is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and Psychology at Young Harris College in Georgia. She holds a PhD in Interpersonal Communication with a focus on Health from the University of Connecticut, as well as an MA in Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and a BA in Cognitive Science.

Her research focuses on how hormonal systems like cortisol and oxytocin influence health and behavior, and she has published widely on these topics. At Young Harris, she teaches courses in Health Communication, Social Psychology, and more. She also serves on the IRB, Faculty Senate, Title IX team, and undergraduate research committee.

An award-winning presenter at national conferences, Dr. Ponivas is active in several professional organizations, including the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Outside of work, she enjoys time with her family, her pets, and exploring pop culture and history.

Topic: Fear Appeals as Propaganda: An Overview and History of Use of Fear Messaging

Fear is a basic universal emotion. As such, generators of messages have attempted to appeal to and instill this emotion to influence human behavior much of history. While some fear appeal messaging is used to try and influence constructive behaviors, many types of fear appeals can be used unethically, and for propagandic purposes. We see this often in political and war communication, where messages are designed specifically to breed fear and discontent of an enemy. This presentation will give
an overview of the science of fear appeals, when and how they are used, potential consequences, and highlight specific instances of fear of appeal propaganda utilized during World War II.

Steven Rawle is Professor of Film at York St John University, UK. He is the author of Transnational Cinema: An Introduction, Performance in the Cinema of Hal Hartley, and Transnational Kaijū: Exploitation, Globalisation and Cult Monster Movies. He has also co-edited several volumes and co-authored Basics Filmmaking: The Language of Film. His research explores American independent cinema, Japanese cult film, and transnational media, with published work in Film Criticism, Asian Cinema, and The Journal of Fandom Studies, among others.

He was a co-investigator on the Cinema and Social Justice Filmmaking project and executive producer of the award-winning film Cost of Living (2022). At York St John, he teaches across film and media programs and serves as Research and Knowledge Transfer Lead for the School of the Arts.

Topic: ‘Baptized in the Fire of the H-bomb’: Japanese monster movies and the Pacific War

From Godzilla (1954) to Godzilla Minus One (2023), Japanese monster movies (kaijū eiga) have served as enduring reflections of the Pacific War and its aftermath. These films revisit images of nuclear catastrophe, military defeat, and survivor trauma—whether through direct references to Hiroshima and Nagasaki or allegorical battles with giant monsters. The original Godzilla, shaped by its creators’ wartime experiences, mediated themes of victimhood and postwar pacifism less than a decade after Japan’s surrender. Over the following seventy years, kaijū films have continually reimagined the war’s legacy, offering insight into Japan’s shifting political and cultural identity. This talk examines how these movies, once dismissed as mere entertainment, reveal the powerful role of popular culture in shaping and sustaining collective memory of conflict.

Henry Sledge is the son of Eugene B. Sledge, author of With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa and China Marine. Growing up, he witnessed his father’s memoir take shape and developed a deep passion for World War II history through their many conversations.

He is the author of The Old Breed… the Complete Story Revealed, a companion to his father’s work, and has contributed to World War II Magazine, Valor, and Naval History Magazine. Henry has co-hosted and appeared on numerous WWII podcasts, including The Jocko Podcast, and has been featured in documentaries on Fox Nation, History Channel, and American Heroes Channel.

He has spoken at the Library of Congress, the Society for Military History, and the International WWII Conference. A graduate of Auburn University, he also brings over 20 years of experience in the heavy equipment industry.

Fireside Chat

Henry Sledge reflects on how With the Old Breed continues to shape our understanding of the Pacific War. He will also discuss his new book, The Old Breed… The Complete Story Revealed, which draws on newly uncovered material from his father’s original manuscript and interweaves his own memories to add depth and context. The result is an intimate portrait of Eugene Sledge’s service, his struggles to return to civilian life, and the enduring impact of his story on future generations.