Title:
Marriage, Migration, and the U.S. Military in the Pacific
Abstract
Marriage and intimacy are frequently overlooked in the study of U.S. immigration. In this talk, historian Sonia C. Gomez will explore how marriage shaped immigration patterns for the Japanese in America. During the period of racial exclusion (1908–1952), intimacy created limited pathways of admission for Japanese women. Permitted to enter the U.S. as wives, their inclusion served broader American interests in the Pacific, setting a precedent for later immigration legislation that privileged spouses and fiancés. This presentation will shed light on the intersection between intimacy, immigration, and U.S. imperialism in the Pacific.
Bio
Sonia Gomez is an Assistant Professor of History at Santa Clara University. Her first book, Picture Bride, War Bride: The Role of Marriage in Shaping Japanese America, won the Organization of American Historians Mary Nickless prize for best book in gender and or sexuality history. She has published in Amerasia, the Journal of American Ethnic History, and the Abusable Past. Her next project, Dear Mollie: Friendship Across Barbed Wire and Racial Lines explores Japanese American wartime incarceration through the lens of interracial female friendship, girlhood, and letter writing.