The College of Liberal Arts’ University Forum Lecture Series presents "Soldiering Through Empire: Race and the Making of the Decolonizing Pacific," a talk by Simeon Man, Associate Professor of History, University of California, San Diego. 

In the decades after World War II, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilian contractors across Asia and the Pacific found work through the U.S. military. Recently liberated from colonial rule, these workers were drawn to the opportunities the military offered and became active participants of the U.S. Empire, especially during the U.S. war in Vietnam. Drawing from his new book, Soldiering through Empire, Dr. Simeon Man will discuss the little-known histories of Filipinos, South Koreans, and Asian Americans who fought in Vietnam, and how they participated in the making of U.S. Empire and the struggles for global decolonization.