Dorothy Swaine Thomas (1899-1977) was an American sociologist & economist. She was the first female President of the American Sociological Association. During World War II, she conceived and headed the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study. The team consisted of Caucasian women anthropologists including Rosalie Wax and Katharine Luomala and incarcerated researchers of Japanese descent including Charles Kikuchi, James Sakoda, and Tamotsu Shibutani, and Richard S. Nishimoto. Its purpose was to study the effects of internment on the 130,000 Japanese Americans held in concentration camps. Some of the data collection methods were later criticized as participants claimed they were not totally informed of the purpose of the study as formal university protocols for informed consent did not exist. However, the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study was vital for revealing the emotional, psychological, and economic devastation forced relocation caused. e...