Sonia Gomez

Picture Bride, War Bride examines the role marriage played in the lives of Japanese women during periods of racial exclusion in the United States.

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Gomez begins with the first wave of Japanese women's migration in the early twentieth century (picture brides), and ends with the second mass migration of Japanese women after World War II (war brides), to illustrate how popular and political discourse drew on overlapping and conflicting logics of race and gender to either exclude the Japanese or facilitate their inclusion via immigration legislation that privileged wives.

Picture Bride, War Bride retells the history of Japanese migration and exclusion by focusing on gender and sexuality, and in the process, troubles notions of inclusion and exclusion. While the Japanese were racially excluded between 1908 and 1952, Japanese wives and fiances were permitted entry because their inclusion served American interests in the Pacific. However, the logic that facilitated their inclusion circumscribed their lives in the United States.

“Proposes a groundbreaking alternative perspective to conventional Asian American history narratives, which have primarily focused on individual male immigrants. Gomez brings forth two significant changes in this realm: firstly, by illustrating how factors such as gender, marital status, and motherhood drastically influenced the Japanese immigration into the US right from the start; secondly, by portraying how interracial mingling was a part of the Japanese American journey right from the earliest times. Honoring her personal family history, Gomez skillfully intertwines these two elements of this alternate narrative."—

Emma J. Teng, MIT

“Examines the role of marriage in facilitating female immigration from Japan in order to highlight how laws and norms regarding gender, heteropatriarchy and race shaped Japanese America. Particularly valuable is Gomez’s attention to those marginalized in Japanese America by this legal and social regime—Issei bachelors who never created families and Japanese war brides who married Black servicemen. Picture Bride, War Bride provides a more nuanced portrayal of Japanese America that I have long been looking for.”

Naoko Shibusawa, Brown University

“An important, well-researched contribution to our collective understanding of how America came to be “a nation of immigrants,” and an excellent, humane rendering of the lives of historical actors normally silent in the archive. Gomez’s illuminating study joins a scholarly debate shaped by Valerie Matsumoto, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, and Ji-Yeon Yuh, all remarkable pioneers in the study of Asian American women and war brides in the U.S. Hers is a vibrant and lyrical voice within the conversation, one whose enunciation and critique of intersecting gender, class, and racial hierarchies will stand as a model for future historians.”

Matthew M. Briones, University of Chicago

“Proposes a groundbreaking alternative perspective to conventional Asian American history narratives, which have primarily focused on individual male immigrants. Gomez brings forth two significant changes in this realm: firstly, by illustrating how factors such as gender, marital status, and motherhood drastically influenced the Japanese immigration into the US right from the start; secondly, by portraying how interracial mingling was a part of the Japanese American journey right from the earliest times. Honoring her personal family history, Gomez skillfully intertwines these two elements of this alternate narrative."—

Emma J. Teng, MIT

“Examines the role of marriage in facilitating female immigration from Japan in order to highlight how laws and norms regarding gender, heteropatriarchy and race shaped Japanese America. Particularly valuable is Gomez’s attention to those marginalized in Japanese America by this legal and social regime—Issei bachelors who never created families and Japanese war brides who married Black servicemen. Picture Bride, War Bride provides a more nuanced portrayal of Japanese America that I have long been looking for.”

Naoko Shibusawa, Brown University

“An important, well-researched contribution to our collective understanding of how America came to be “a nation of immigrants,” and an excellent, humane rendering of the lives of historical actors normally silent in the archive. Gomez’s illuminating study joins a scholarly debate shaped by Valerie Matsumoto, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, and Ji-Yeon Yuh, all remarkable pioneers in the study of Asian American women and war brides in the U.S. Hers is a vibrant and lyrical voice within the conversation, one whose enunciation and critique of intersecting gender, class, and racial hierarchies will stand as a model for future historians.”

Matthew M. Briones, University of Chicago

“Proposes a groundbreaking alternative perspective to conventional Asian American history narratives, which have primarily focused on individual male immigrants. Gomez brings forth two significant changes in this realm: firstly, by illustrating how factors such as gender, marital status, and motherhood drastically influenced the Japanese immigration into the US right from the start; secondly, by portraying how interracial mingling was a part of the Japanese American journey right from the earliest times. Honoring her personal family history, Gomez skillfully intertwines these two elements of this alternate narrative."—

Emma J. Teng, MIT

“Examines the role of marriage in facilitating female immigration from Japan in order to highlight how laws and norms regarding gender, heteropatriarchy and race shaped Japanese America. Particularly valuable is Gomez’s attention to those marginalized in Japanese America by this legal and social regime—Issei bachelors who never created families and Japanese war brides who married Black servicemen. Picture Bride, War Bride provides a more nuanced portrayal of Japanese America that I have long been looking for.”

Naoko Shibusawa, Brown University

“An important, well-researched contribution to our collective understanding of how America came to be “a nation of immigrants,” and an excellent, humane rendering of the lives of historical actors normally silent in the archive. Gomez’s illuminating study joins a scholarly debate shaped by Valerie Matsumoto, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, and Ji-Yeon Yuh, all remarkable pioneers in the study of Asian American women and war brides in the U.S. Hers is a vibrant and lyrical voice within the conversation, one whose enunciation and critique of intersecting gender, class, and racial hierarchies will stand as a model for future historians.”

Matthew M. Briones, University of Chicago

“Proposes a groundbreaking alternative perspective to conventional Asian American history narratives, which have primarily focused on individual male immigrants. Gomez brings forth two significant changes in this realm: firstly, by illustrating how factors such as gender, marital status, and motherhood drastically influenced the Japanese immigration into the US right from the start; secondly, by portraying how interracial mingling was a part of the Japanese American journey right from the earliest times. Honoring her personal family history, Gomez skillfully intertwines these two elements of this alternate narrative."—

Emma J. Teng, MIT

“Examines the role of marriage in facilitating female immigration from Japan in order to highlight how laws and norms regarding gender, heteropatriarchy and race shaped Japanese America. Particularly valuable is Gomez’s attention to those marginalized in Japanese America by this legal and social regime—Issei bachelors who never created families and Japanese war brides who married Black servicemen. Picture Bride, War Bride provides a more nuanced portrayal of Japanese America that I have long been looking for.”

Naoko Shibusawa, Brown University

“An important, well-researched contribution to our collective understanding of how America came to be “a nation of immigrants,” and an excellent, humane rendering of the lives of historical actors normally silent in the archive. Gomez’s illuminating study joins a scholarly debate shaped by Valerie Matsumoto, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, and Ji-Yeon Yuh, all remarkable pioneers in the study of Asian American women and war brides in the U.S. Hers is a vibrant and lyrical voice within the conversation, one whose enunciation and critique of intersecting gender, class, and racial hierarchies will stand as a model for future historians.”

Matthew M. Briones, University of Chicago

Events

Upcoming

Aug. 20 2024, 1-4 PM, Barnes & Noble, Palmdale, Calif.

Sept. 10, 2024, 7:00 PM, Los Altos Library, Calif.

Sept. 22, 2024, 2:00 PM, Gilroy Library, Calif.

Oct. 22, 2024, 6:00 PM, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan

Nov. 1, 2024, 4:40 PM, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan

March 29, 2024, Saratoga Library, Calif.

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