Cold War Refugees: Connected Histories of Displacement and Migration across Postcolonial Asia

Book

Cold War Refugees

Connected Histories of Displacement and Migration across Postcolonial Asia

Edited by: Yumi Moon

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

Published by

View more publications by Stanford University Press

To Publisher Page

About this book

Scenes of refugees fleeing Communist countries have created iconic images of the Cold War in Asia. Despite their symbolic prominence, the experiences and trajectories of these refugees have remained relatively obscure in Cold War history and global refugee studies. Featuring contributions from Phi-Vân Nguyen, Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang, Yumi Moon, Ijlal Muzaffar, Robert D. Crews, Sabauon Nasseri, and Aishwary Kumar, Cold War Refugees meticulously investigates and connects cases across East, Southeast, and South Asia. Offering a transnational and transimperial perspective, this book illuminates the massive mobility of refugee populations across Asia and emphasizes the critical roles of artificial borders, displacement, and violence in shaping the global Cold War.

Drawing from multilingual archival sources, the authors explore the local, regional, and global contexts of displacement through five cases: Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. They examine the agendas, identities, and cultures of the refugees who left their homes due to revolutions or wars amid the conflict between the US and the USSR, presenting them as historical actors rather than mere subjects of legal, governmental, or humanitarian discourse. By revisiting key Cold War events in Asia, the book provides a critical revision of Cold War history through the lens of refugee experiences and agency.

Author / Editor information

Yumi Moon is Associate Professor of History at Stanford University. She is the author of Populist Collaborators The Ilchinhoe and the Japanese Colonization of Korea, 1896–1910 (2013).

Reviews

"A fine example of critical refugee studies, this groundbreaking volume retells Cold War histories in postcolonial Asia from the vantage point of refugees escaping Communist countries. In foregrounding refugees' own narratives, the authors reconceptualize Cold War refugees as complex historical actors who pursue multifaceted strategies and ideologies to navigate thechallenging circumstances of their displacement and resettlement. Highly recommended!" —Yen Lê Espiritu, Distinguished Professor, University of California, San Diego --- "The Cold War created refugees, and refugees reframed the Cold War through their transnational perspectives. This is an excellent collection of essays that will be very valuable for anyone interested in Cold War migration, especially in Asia." —Arne Westad, Professor of History, Yale University

Topics

Publicly Available

Frontmatter
i

Download PDF
Publicly Available

Contents
vii

Download PDF
Publicly Available

Contributors
ix

Download PDF
Publicly Available

Notes on Romanization
xi

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

INTRODUCTION
1
Yumi Moon

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

ONE Vietnam’s 1954 Partition and Displacement in a Global Perspective
22
Phi-Vân Nguyen

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

TWO The Cold War, Anti-Communist Propaganda, and the Resettlement of Dachen Refugees from Coastal Zhejiang to Taiwan
43
Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

THREE Northern Refugees and the Rise of Cold War Nationalism in South Korea, 1945–1950
74
Yumi Moon

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

FOUR Rethinking Spatial Politics and the Legacy of the Cold War in Karachi
110
Ijlal Muzaffar

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

FIVE Afghan Refugees as Political Actors
135
Sabauon Nasseri and Robert D. Crews

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

EPILOGUE After Cruelty: The Last Subject of Cold War Humanism
158
Aishwary Kumar

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

Notes
197

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

Index
241

Download PDF

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

July 21, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9781503643147

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

266

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503643147

eBook ISBN: 9781503643147

Keywords for this book

Refugees; Cold War; Partition; Border; Repatriation; Decolonization; Communism; Anti-Communism; Occupation; Propaganda

Audience(s) for this book

For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research

Cold War Refugees

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Contents

Contributors

Notes on Romanization

INTRODUCTION

ONE Vietnam’s 1954 Partition and Displacement in a Global Perspective

TWO The Cold War, Anti-Communist Propaganda, and the Resettlement of Dachen Refugees from Coastal Zhejiang to Taiwan

THREE Northern Refugees and the Rise of Cold War Nationalism in South Korea, 1945–1950

FOUR Rethinking Spatial Politics and the Legacy of the Cold War in Karachi

FIVE Afghan Refugees as Political Actors

EPILOGUE After Cruelty: The Last Subject of Cold War Humanism

Notes

Index

Bibliographic data