In her essay “AshwiwoÌ hada: Feeling the Want of Something More,” Dr. Sue-Je Gage reflects on her ethnographic research with the Amerasian Christian Academy and the Sunlit Sisters’ Center, a community center for elderly women, many of whom once worked in the militarized sex industry for U.S. soldiers in Camp Humphries, in South Korea. Many of these women had sent their children for adoption to the U.S., and they quickly “adopted” Sue-Je, an Amerasian Korean American, as a fictive daughter. When describing the complexity of the evolving interpersonal relationships with the women who desired a deeper connection with her, Sue-Je writes:
I also feel the want of something more, the want to continue, to listen with my heart, to help in the ways that they want, to share with them, and to be a medium through which their lives can be known.
Dr. Sue-Je Gage embodied this ethical attunement, through her open heart, sincere generosity, and compassionate attention in all of her research, writing, and teaching. The radiance of her inner light, for those who were fortunate to feel its warmth, has made her unforgettable to so many friends, teachers, colleagues, students, and loved ones.
My primary research strives to understand people's experiences with race and racism, citizenship structures and U.S. militarization and empire. While these topics might seem bleak, they reveal their fissures to help create openings for positive change.
- Sue-Je Lee Gage
In the spirit of helping "create openings for positive change," Sunlit Residency invites scholars, writers, artists, and activists to Dr. Gage's former home in Ithaca, New York, to pursue projects related, but not limited, to mixed race studies, Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies, as well as social justice, reproductive and human rights.
Select Publications by Sue-Je L. Gage
2018. “Forward.” Mixed Korean: Our Stories. C. Kim, K. Kim, S. Kim-Russell and M-K. Arnold, eds. Truepeny Publishing Co.
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2015. “Almost Korean: Korean Amerasians in an Era of Multiculturalism.” In Multiethnic Korea? Multiculturalism, Migration, and Peoplehood Diversity in Contemporary South Korea. John Lie, ed. Institute of East Asian Studies Publications.
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2013. “We’re Never Off Duty”: Empire and the Economies of Race and Gender in the U.S. Military Camptowns of Korea. Cross-Currents: East Asia History and Culture Review. E-journal no. 6 (March). URL: http://cross-currents.berkeley.edu/e-journal/issue-6
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2012. “AshwiwoÌ hada: Feeling the Want of Something More.” Practicing Anthropology 34 (2): 35-38. URL: https://doi.org/10.17730/praa.34.2.h227q83011888641
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2007. “The Amerasian Problem: Blood, Duty, Race.” International Relations 21(1): 86-102.
2007. “Pure Mixed Blood: The Multiple Identities of Amerasians in South Korea,” Ph.D. Diss. Anthropology, Indiana University.