10 Conclusion

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee offers us the possibilities in viewing into the experiences of a post-war subject, a post-colonial subject, and a diasporic subject embodying the histories and memories of war. Korean military brides, Korean women who married GI soldiers, carry the experiences and subject positionalities of what it means to navigate life as the diaspora within the US. Through this research, it became clearer as to how the impacts of the Korean War have both persisted and proliferated through the lives of the Korean diaspora. Korean military brides, key figures to understanding Korean diasporic life in the US, enable us to understand the resiliency and strength in navigating life as post-war subjects.

While this paper does not aim to answer the questions of all Korean diasporic experiences as post-war subjects, this paper does seek to offer a glimpse into how sociality is maintained amongst military brides. Together, the lived experiences of Korean military brides and Cha’s Dictee examine the ways in which the Korean diaspora negotiate multiple personhood, conflicting tongues, and memories of self relational to the pasts they carry.