Beyond the Shadow of Camptown: Korean Military Brides in America (Nation of Newcomers)

Rating:
Summary: Confusing
Review: After reading this book, which reads more like a piece of propaganda work, I'm not sure whether these poor women were actual brides or "comfort women" (no disrespect intended... I'm trying to be skeptical).

Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Well Written
Review: As the author points out, there is very little work on international military wives, and Korean military wives in particular. By such a logic, this book is a welcome project indeed.

Essentially, Yuh Ji-Yeon sets out to make sense of why Korean women set out to marry American [military] men along with the consequences of such decisions. What becomes apparent throughout this book is the gendered set of relations in both US-Korean and soldier-wife relations. While many Korean women may seek American husands (especially those tricked and coerced into camptown USA) in order to escape Korean societal restrictions and shape better lives for themselves, many American men seek Asian wives in order to fulfill the ultimate Orientalist fantasy of Asian women as meek, erotic, and subservient. Through numerous interviews, Yuh finds out that many of the hopes that Korean military wives bring with them to America become easily dashed as they experience racism and cultural colonization. These Korean wives (many of whom are societal outcasts) thus become marginalized, their identities stolen from them as they are neither accepted for their cultural value by either their own indigenous community and the new American community. While such wives try hard to acculturate themselves to the demands of American life, suffering and pain continues to follow them, and in some cases poverty despite the alllure and so-called attainability of the great American dream. Perhaps even more important, Yuh makes clear that not all Korean wives are former camptown girls. Such simplistic stereotypes carried by the American public is damaging in creating pejorative connotations of the "Korean wife." Furthermore, even those wives who are former camptown girls should not be condescended. Being a prostitute is not exactly a free choice in Korea. Moreover, why should camptown girls be discriminated and labeled whore when the American soldiers who frequent red-light districts are sometimes actively encouraged by their commanders and more often than not treated with minor slaps on the hand for engaging in prostitution. Sadly, US military policy discriminates against the supply rather than dealing with the demand in prostitution. So much for the high morals of the US military.

In this context, many Korean wives act out a latent form of resistance. Their husbands and in-laws may forbid them to speak Korean, to eat Korean food, to teach their children Korean culture, but in the privacy of their homes when husbands and children are out, these women cultivate friendships with other Korean wives, watch Korean movies, and make attempts to demand the respect that they undoubtedly deserve. In short, while Korean wives may be denied meaningful relationships with their husbands and children due to lack of support in learning the English language and subsequently sharing the Korean language, these women are basically trying to survive and separate themselves from their sad and sometimes lurid pasts.

"Beyond the Shadow of Camptown" is a book that anyone in the military, and especially any soldier thinking of taking an Asian wife or mail order bride should read. Conversely, this book should also be read by foreign women around US military bases worldwide, who are thinking that a green card is an entry into a better life. This book shows the complexities of immigration, and of negotiating two different contexts. Truly, this book is very powerful and more importantly supported by interviews and other forms of empirical evidence that even those in self-denial can't rebut. Last but not least, we must consider the stories of each Korean wife that has come to the US. Their stories deserve to be heard and remembered.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Well Written
Review: As the author points out, there is very little work on international military wives, and Korean military wives in particular. By such a logic, this book is a welcome project indeed.

Essentially, Yuh Ji-Yeon sets out to make sense of why Korean women set out to marry American [military] men along with the consequences of such decisions. What becomes apparent throughout this book is the gendered set of relations in both US-Korean and soldier-wife relations. While many Korean women may seek American husands (especially those tricked and coerced into camptown USA) in order to escape Korean societal restrictions and shape better lives for themselves, many American men seek Asian wives in order to fulfill the ultimate Orientalist fantasy of Asian women as meek, erotic, and subservient. Through numerous interviews, Yuh finds out that many of the hopes that Korean military wives bring with them to America become easily dashed as they experience racism and cultural colonization. These Korean wives (many of whom are societal outcasts) thus become marginalized, their identities stolen from them as they are neither accepted for their cultural value by either their own indigenous community and the new American community. While such wives try hard to acculturate themselves to the demands of American life, suffering and pain continues to follow them, and in some cases poverty despite the alllure and so-called attainability of the great American dream. Perhaps even more important, Yuh makes clear that not all Korean wives are former camptown girls. Such simplistic stereotypes carried by the American public is damaging in creating pejorative connotations of the "Korean wife." Furthermore, even those wives who are former camptown girls should not be condescended. Being a prostitute is not exactly a free choice in Korea. Moreover, why should camptown girls be discriminated and labeled whore when the American soldiers who frequent red-light districts are sometimes actively encouraged by their commanders and more often than not treated with minor slaps on the hand for engaging in prostitution. Sadly, US military policy discriminates against the supply rather than dealing with the demand in prostitution. So much for the high morals of the US military.

In this context, many Korean wives act out a latent form of resistance. Their husbands and in-laws may forbid them to speak Korean, to eat Korean food, to teach their children Korean culture, but in the privacy of their homes when husbands and children are out, these women cultivate friendships with other Korean wives, watch Korean movies, and make attempts to demand the respect that they undoubtedly deserve. In short, while Korean wives may be denied meaningful relationships with their husbands and children due to lack of support in learning the English language and subsequently sharing the Korean language, these women are basically trying to survive and separate themselves from their sad and sometimes lurid pasts.

"Beyond the Shadow of Camptown" is a book that anyone in the military, and especially any soldier thinking of taking an Asian wife or mail order bride should read. Conversely, this book should also be read by foreign women around US military bases worldwide, who are thinking that a green card is an entry into a better life. This book shows the complexities of immigration, and of negotiating two different contexts. Truly, this book is very powerful and more importantly supported by interviews and other forms of empirical evidence that even those in self-denial can't rebut. Last but not least, we must consider the stories of each Korean wife that has come to the US. Their stories deserve to be heard and remembered.

Rating:
Summary: A moving and eye-opening account
Review: This book fills a need by covering Korean women who married American military men and their experiences in life, the prejudices they've encountered from other Koreans and white Americans, and how they stake out a place of meaning for themselves through church activities with other Korean military wives.

The author describes the women's family and educational background as well as how they met their husbands. Although a few were sex workers in Korea, the majority were not.

It seems that it's not common for Korean military wives to have Korean girlfriends whose husbands are Korean as well. I found that surprising because I grew up in a Korean community of Jehovah's Witnesses where my mother, a Korean woman married to a Korean man, had (and still has) many girlfriends who were Korean military wives.

I would have appreciated a religious history of these women, whether they were always Christian or became such after meeting their husbands.