W&M Featured Events
[PAST EVENT] APiA Lecture: ?Fighting to Belong: Asian American Military Service and U.S. Citizenship?
The Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies presents
?Fighting to Belong: Asian American Military Service and U.S. Citizenship?
Asian Americans have a long and distinguished history of patriotic military service on behalf of the United States, despite the prejudice and discrimination that they have often faced living in America. In this talk, I present my research exploring how Asian Americans used their service in the U.S. military to challenge legal barriers to US citizenship, and to fight for fuller citizenship rights. More specifically, I examine the history of how Asian foreign nationals used the military to prove their patriotism and their worthiness to receive U.S. citizenship, as well as of how U.S.-born Asian Americans used the military to prove their loyalty and worth as citizens. In doing so, I highlight the significant role Asian Americans played in the legal evolution of conceptions of U.S. citizenship, and in contesting racialized beliefs regarding national belonging.
Contact
Francis Tanglao-Aguas, [[w|fjtang]]