Rice Outside the Field Available to Purchase

Chapter 5 homes in on Blackness and queerness in Thailand during the GI era. American Blackness was new to Thailand, and the identity category called “gay” did not exist until 1965. Both Blackness and gayness were introduced and negotiated in Thailand anew at this time and became something different from what they were in the United States. Maurice Rocco was at the center of these profound changes in Thai society. The chapter traces how these categories were developed. In the years leading to the American withdrawal of troops from Southeast Asia in 1976, Thailand was increasingly destabilized. The comforts that Rocco had experienced in Thailand fell away. In spring of 1976, during a period of social upheaval, Rocco was murdered by two young male sex workers.