Constructing at a Crossroads

My dissertation reframes the Vietnam War as not just a geopolitical conflict but as a global developmental and transnational labor project that mobilized labor from decolonized Asian nations, reshaping East and Southeast Asia’s economic geography.

Beginning in the late 1950s and intensifying after 1965, U.S. military agencies collaborated with private contractors to build a vast network of roads, ports, airfields, hospitals, and storage depots throughout the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). These logistical investments relied not only on capital and machinery but also on a transnational workforce, including Filipino and South Korean engineers and laborers as well as Vietnamese workers.

My project bridges diplomatic, labor, and migration histories by tracing how U.S.-funded infrastructure initiatives mobilized and relied on labor flows across Asian countries during the Cold War period.