Refugee Memories and Asian American Critique

This article considers the challenges facing Southeast Asian American studies and the interventions the nascent field can make, particularly into Asian American studies, Southeast Asian studies, and American studies. Nguyen argues for dislodging the implicit identity politics and nationalism of these three fields, recognizing the importance of foregrounding war as a framework for linking Southeast Asian American experiences to a fundamental activity of the US military-industrial complex, and working through the challenges thus raised for these disciplines and their traditional modes and objects of inquiry.