Scars of War: The Politics of Paternity and Responsibility for the Amerasians of Vietnam (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781496200549)

Best First Book Award from the History Honor Society, Phi Alpha Theta

Scars of War examines the decisions of U.S. policymakers denying the Amerasians of Vietnam--the biracial sons and daughters of American fathers and Vietnamese mothers born during the Vietnam War--American citizenship. Focusing on the implications of the 1982 Amerasian Immigration Act and the 1987 Amerasian Homecoming Act, Sabrina Thomas investigates why policymakers deemed a population unfit for American citizenship, despite the fact that they had American fathers.

Thomas argues that the exclusion of citizenship was a component of bigger issues confronting the Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations: international relationships in a Cold War era, America's defeat in the Vietnam War, and a history in the United States of racially restrictive immigration and citizenship policies against mixed-race persons and people of Asian descent.

Now more politically relevant than ever, Scars of War explores ideas of race, nation, and gender in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Thomas exposes the contradictory approach of policymakers unable to reconcile Amerasian biracialism with the U.S. Code. As they created an inclusionary discourse deeming Amerasians worthy of American action, guidance, and humanitarian aid, federal policymakers simultaneously initiated exclusionary policies that designated these people unfit for American citizenship.

Author: Sabrina Thomas
ISBN-10: 1496200543
ISBN-13: 9781496200549
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Language: English
Published: 12/01/2021
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.56lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.94d