In narratives dominated by money, exchange is the route to Asian American visibility.

Shadowlines: Women and Borders in Contemporary Asia explores the often ambiguous and contradictory roles of Asian women in the postcolonial world. As globalisation advances, labour mobility is transforming traditional definitions of women’s work. The commodification of female sexuality in both the international and the national marketplace generates conflicting dynamics of oppression and liberation, as do the wider possibilities of employment and migration more generally. The consequences can be enslaving or empowering, depending on context. How do the women themselves experience these changes? What are their opportunities for engagement with the wider political world which shapes these processes? In this volume, a range of eminent academics address these questions by placing the testimony of individual women within the wider discourse of postcolonialism and gender studies.

There have always been mail-order brides in America—but we haven’t always thought about them in the same ways. In Buying a Bride, Marcia A. Zug starts with the so-called “Tobacco Wives” of the Jamestown colony and moves all the way forward to today’s modern same-sex mail-order grooms to explore the advantages and disadvantages of mail-order marriage. It’s a history of deception, physical abuse, and failed unions. It’s also the story of how mail-order marriage can offer women surprising and empowering opportunities. Drawing on a forgotten trove of colorful mail-order marriage court cases, Zug explores the many troubling legal issues that arise in mail-order marriage: domestic abuse and murder, breach of contract, fraud (especially relating to immigration), and human trafficking and prostitution. She tells the story of how mail-order marriage lost the benign reputation it enjoyed in the Civil War era to become more and more reviled over time, and she argues compellingly that it does not entirely deserve its current reputation. While it is a common misperception that women turn to mail-order marriage as a desperate last resort, most mail-order brides are enticed rather than coerced. Since the first mail-order brides arrived on American shores in 1619, mail-order marriage has enabled women to improve both their marital prospects and their legal, political, and social freedoms. Buying A Bride uncovers this history and shows us how mail-order marriage empowers women and should be protected and even encouraged.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Few Westerners escape the images, expectations and misperceptions that lead us to see Asia as exotic, sensual, decadent, dangerous, and mysterious. Despite - and because of centuries of East-West interaction, the stereotypes of Western literature, stage, and screen remain pervasive icons: the tea-pouring, submissive, sexually available geisha girl; the steely cold dragon lady dominatrix; as well as the portrayal of the Asian male as effeminate and asexual. These "Oriental" illusions color our relations and relationships in ways even well-respected professional "Asia hands" and scholars don't necessarily see.The Asian Mystique lays out a provocative challenge to see Asia and Asians as they really are, with unclouded, deeroticized eyes. It traces the origins of Western stereotypes in history and in Hollywood, examines the phenomenon of 'yellow fever,' then goes on a reality tour of Asia's go-go bars, middle-class homes, college campuses, business districts, and corridors of power, providing intimate profiles of women's lives and vivid portraits of the human side of an Asia we usually mythologize too well to really understand. It strips away our misconceptions and stereotypes, revealing instead the fully dimensional human beings beyond our usual perceptions. The Asian Mystique is required reading for anyone with interest in or interaction with Asia or Asian-origin people, as well as any serious student or practitioner of East-West relations.

Everyone is part of a family, but what constitutes a family is one of the most hotly debated issues in the United States today. Battleground: The Family provides extensive coverage of those critical issues in U. S. culture concerning current and future family life, such as dating, marriage, parenting, work and family, abuse, and divorce. The scholarly contributors to this set provide unbiased coverage on these often incendiary topics, allowing students to assess the role of these controversies in their own lives. Entries thoroughly introduce the topic of concern, describe the problem as it currently exists, provide context for the controversies surrounding it, synthesize the current knowledge on the topic, and guide the reader to additional areas for consideration. Battleground: The Family serves as a starting point for those advanced high school and beginning undergraduate students who wish to pursue a more detailed study of family controversies and cultural concerns for classroom assignments. Non-specialist readers will also find this a useful resource in critically assessing current trends and conflicts in constituent groups' conceptions of family.