Bringing the Marginalized into Conversations about American Raciality - Erin Kane - Keely Gaeta - Emily Norris

MILITARIZED MIGRATIONS BY CRYSTAL MUN-HYE BAIK

Refuge Migration The Korean War had many consequences, one being an increase in Korean refuge migration. A sense of security was desired, and many Korean migrants sought it in the United States. The shared experience and trauma of the Korean War led to the overall connection of these specific refugees. The most immediate migrations that followed the war were military bride migration and adoption migration. Korean Military Brides

When exploring the experience of Korean military brides, Baik reflects on the story of Sergeant Johnie Morgan and his Korean wife Yong Soon. The assimilation of women like Yong Soon was necessary in order to gain a sense of belonging in a country still riddled with Orientalist misconceptions and stereotypes. The relationships between Korean military brides and their American husbands are extremely sensationalized and romanticized, rarely depicting the struggles Korean women had to face in order to achieve "blissful marriage and the materialization of an American Nuclear family". Korean women faced numerous obstacles in order to assimilate into the US culture. They faced language barriers, racial AND gendered ideologies, class and gender based oppression within the workforce, social alienation, and cultural suppression. In navigating through all of these obstacles, Korean women had to do so all the while adhering to American heteronormative and gender expectations. The marriages between Korean women and American men reenforced the racial exclusivity of immigration and refugee policy in the United States. Nearly 84% of the 14,000 Koreans who migrated to the U.S. were spouses of American soldiers or Korean/ multiracial children adopted by U.S. families.

It is important to acknowledge the gendered role Korean women had in American soldiers' lives. Prior to achieving bride status, Korean women were fixtures in the districts surrounding U.S. military bases, known as "camptowns" or "gijichons". Within these camptowns, there were service and entertainment

businesses, but the most important aspect of these areas in the context of Korean women were brothels. Military brothels are seen as places of leisure for soldiers, when more importantly, they are representations of women in territories of conflict becoming sexual objects at the disposal of soldiers. "NOT QUITE REFUGEES AND NOT QUITE IMMIGRANTS" 17