Identities on Trial in the United States: Asylum Seekers from Asia unravels the tormented stories that lie behind asylum claims in the United States. This fieldwork based book offers a fascinating range of cases that illustrates the dilemmas, conflicts and contradictions of cultural expertise. It poignantly argues against the narrow use of culture for a fair adjudication and makes a convincing case of the involvement of anthropologists in court.

Livia Holden, University of Oxford

Immigration today is so misrepresented, and the political asylum process so daunting, that a book as readable and scholarly as Identities on Trial in the United States is most welcome. Particularly invaluable are presentations of cases that involve each of the grounds for granting asylum claims – race, nationality, religion, political opinion, and social group membership – for which cultural analyses emerge as crucial for verifying conditions of persecution and credibility of accounts. This promises to be a significant resource for students and professionals involved in human rights, anthropology, migration, current Asian affairs, and law.

James Loucky, Western Washington University