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135 Acknowledgments T H I S B O O K began as a personal journey to critically understand the transforming world around me, but it quickly evolved into an intellectual pursuit that forced me to engage, interrogate, and theorize the entangled histories of Vietnam and the United States as well as the lived experiences of survivors of an unpopular war. The narratives collected in these pages provide powerful examples of a community in transition. I am grateful to have met so many people along the way who were willing to share their perspectives and stories. I did my best to render their accounts accurately and respectfully. At the University of Michigan, where this project began, I had the fortunate opportunity to work with a handful of brilliant scholars who eventuallybecame mytrusted mentors. Susan J. Douglas, George J. Sánchez, Catherine Benamou, David Scobey, and Roger Rouse provided guidance and intellectual support. Susan Douglas, in particular, encouraged me to be bold and to think creatively. She continues to give me invaluable advice regarding career and family. I hope one day I can follow in her footsteps by successfully balancing a lucrative career with a happy and fulfilling family life. George Sánchez taught me to trust my instincts and urged me to think broadly without compromising individual voices. I credit him for energizing me every time we met and I thank him for his astute advice and wise strategies. I am grateful to Jack Tchen for his support and willingness to serve on my dissertation committee despite the distance between us. Both he and Catherine Benamou offered insightful comments on my dissertation, which eventually became this book. I would not have imagined pursuing a career in academia had it not been for the inspiration of my undergraduate professors. At the University of California, San Diego, Stephanie McCurry, Dorothy Ko, Lisa Lowe, Rachel Klein, Vicente Rafael, Yen Le Espiritu, and Lisa Yoneyama introduced me to 136 Acknowledgments the world of knowledge-seeking in ways I never knew existed. I owe them for introducing me to academia and continuing to support me to get to where I am today. I did not get the chance to work with George Lipsitz while we were both at UCSD, but he is an incredible scholar as well as one of the most gracious and generous human beings I have ever met. George took time to read earlier versions of my manuscript, provided thoughtful and detailed comments, and injected a sense of gravity to this project. The emotional and intellectual support of my friends has sustained me throughout the years. Grace Wang has been like a sister to me. She was there to help me through rough patches and celebrate minor victories. It is comforting to know that I could always count on her to lift my spirits during my moments of insecurity and self-doubt. Her great sense of humor brings laughter and her feedback is always reassuring. Helen Jun also made me smile and taught me to not take myself too seriously. I will always be indebted to Helen for her timely assistance in getting me back on the academic track. My constant and enduring friendships with Anna Pegler-Gordon, Daryl Maeda, John McKiernan-Gonzales, Nicole Stanton, Larry Hashima, Sonya Smith, Paul Ching, and Jennifer Beckham helped me through graduate school and beyond. Were it not for academic conferences, I would not be able to share and test out my ideas with friends and colleagues. The Michigan connection runs wide and deep. I always find pleasure catching up with Kate Masur, Ines Casillas, Pablo Ramirez, Alex Textor, Carla McKenzie, Colin Johnson, Cynthia Wu, Richard Kim, BarbaraKim,RobinLi,NataliaMolina,TomGuglielmo,Maria-TeresaMacedo, Adrian Burgos, Barbara Berglund,Tom Romero, and Nick Syrett. I appreciate the friendships I have found in colleagues I have met over the years. I thank Adria Imada, Glen Mimura, Julie Sze, Emily Ignacio, Ana Aparicio, Hung Thai, David Hernandez, MimiThi Nguyen,Thuy LinhTu, Jim Lee, Mariam B. Lam,Thuy Vo Dang, Viet Nguyen, Lan Duong, Linda Trinh Võ, Nina Ha, and K. Scott Wong for providing me intellectual rigor and camaraderie. AnneFrankisnowenjoyingherretirement,butherworkattheSoutheast Asian Archive at the University of California, Irvine, was remarkable. She went above and beyond to get me the materials I needed when I conducted long-distance research. She took me seriously when others did not. Active and committed to her work, Anne pointed me to valuable sources that I used, which enabled me to build my own archive...

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