Vietnamese Americans Living in between Outlines on Research Essay General Problems with the Outlines: Lacking in substantial and specific ideas Too broad in scope; need focusing Thesis statement needs to be interpretive, asserting a view about the topic Bibliographies should show more reading on the topic Five-Step Writing Process (from Donald Murray, Write to Learn) Collect Focus Order Draft Clarify Thesis Statement: Theme + Assertion about the Theme = Thesis Statement Find Your Focus With A title A category A key image A comparison/contrast An example or examples A list A metaphor or symbol A sequence Etc. Southeast Asian Facts A diverse group: refugees and immigrants form Laos, Kampuchea, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Vietnamese Americans: 593,213 in 1990 Southeast Asian Context South-East Asia: term became current during World War II Area of ethnic mixings and differences. D.G.E Hall: “’a chaos of races and languages’” (Lim and Chua xi) Two main cultural spheres: of Indian influences, of Chinese influences Kinship systems; East Asian Confucian values; influences from Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity; syncretic religious practices and belief systems Separation into territories, and “This tendency to fragmentation was exacerbated by the actions of Western colonial powers” (Lim and Chua xi). Portugal, Spain, Holland, England, the United States Southeast Asian Context 2 Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, “colonized by the French as ‘Indochina,’ share a francophone colonial history” (Lim and Chua xii). ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, inaugurated in 1967, created regional identity devoted to “common security and economic goals” (Lim and Chua xii). SE Asian population: ~500 million; total economy = nine tenths that of China Southeast Asian Context 3 SE Asian Americans in 1990: 2.5 million, the largest bloc of Asian Americans (larger than the 1.64 million Chinese Americans) (Lim and Chua xiii). Vietnamese American Chronology 1954, “Vietnamese forces defeated the French to regain Vietnam’s independence in the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Vietnam had been a French colony since the late nineteenth century” (Baron and Gall 93) 1960, “The National Liberation Front, also known as the Vietcong (South Vietnamese Communists), was formed in South Vietnam” (Baron and Gall 96) 1965, passage of the Hart-Cellar Act constituted “the relaxation of anti-Asian U.S. immigration laws”; it “removed ‘national origin’ as a basis for immigration quotas and allowed form family reunification” (Lim and Chua xiv). Vietnamese American Chronology 2 1975, “More than 130,000 refugees from Vietnam, Kampuchea, and Laos enter the United States as Communist governments come to power in their homelands” (Chan 198) 1975, April 29-30, “when 86,000 South Vietnamese refugees were airlifted from their homeland in the wake of the failure of American military and political strategy after the decade-long Vietnam War against the North Vietnam-led Communists” (Lim and Chua xiv). Vietnamese American Chronology 3 1976, April 30, “South Vietnam surrendered to the Communist forces of the North. The fall of Vietnam and neighboring Cambodia caused large-scale immigration of Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian refugees to the United States. The first-wave refugees came mainly from urban areas, especially Saigon (a former capital of South Vietnam). Later, repression within Vietnam and Laos resulted in a second wave of refugees, called ‘boat people,’ who fled their homes to seek immigration to the United States” (Baron and Gall 112) Refugees and Immigrants 1965 Immigration Act gave the U.S. Attorney General to “parole” aliens into the U.S. for “emergency reasons” 1975, U.S. Attorney General grants parole status to 130,400 Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees Receiving countries: First asylum countries, in same region as refugee’s homeland Second asylum countries, where refugees resettle: U.S., Canada, China, Australia, France Resettlement Agencies United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees (UNCHR) Office of Refugee Resettlement VOLAGS – Volunteer Agencies, such as the U.S. Catholic Conference, the United Hebrew Immigration Aid Society, the World Church Service. Receiving $500 grant for each refugee settled Mutual Aid Associations, created in 1975 Vietnamese American Chronology 4 1978, “Thousands of ‘boat people’ arrived from Vietnam, a second wave of refugees risking their lives in small, leady vessels hoping to find a better life in the United States” (Baron and Gall 116). 1980, “The Refugee Act of 1980 was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter; it enabled greater numbers of refugees to enter the United States. An Office of Refugee Resettlement was established within the Department of Health and Human Services to assist in administering the program” (Baron and Gall 118) Vietnamese American Chronology 6 1989, “Patrick Purdy fired 105 rounds from an assault rifle at children in an elementary school yard in Stockton, California, killing five Southeast Asian children and then himself. Purdy had blamed all minorities for his failings, and targeted Southeast Asians for his homicidal plans” (Baron and Gall 136) Southeast Asian Americans Today Southeast Asian Americans have been dispersed across the country. By 1980, 45% relocated to ethnic enclaves primarily in California, Texas, and Louisiana Revitalizing American communities nationwide, as in Westminster, California: Orange County’s “Little Saigon” Assigned Author: Isabelle Thuy Pelaud Graduate student in Ethnic Studies, University of California at Berkeley Bay Area writer of prose and poetry Public readings of works since 1993 Story: “Christmas ‘95” (Tilting the Continent 8-11) “Christmas ’95” Narrator asked to translate stories of 2 Frenchmen, “free riders of their mother country.” “Colonial leftovers are thus preserved, passed on, rehearsed into normality” (8). Narrator Fr-Viet-Am French Grandfather abandoned family “Little Saigon” in Westminster South Vietnamese anti-Communism Religious master Ching Hai “the privilege and curse of living ‘in between’” (10). Mass culture: American Buddha and MTV The theme of lives, masks, destinies A Buddhist sensibility expressed during Christmastime Between Worlds On Vietnamese immigrant families and The generation gap Challenges and accomplishments of Vietnamese in America