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Sample Student final exam answers 2016 (2016 final exam assignment) Part 3: Model Research Reports |
LITR 4340
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Jessica Tran
Rebuilding a New Life
I
chose to study Vietnamese American for my research topic. While my ethnic
background is Vietnamese, I have little to no knowledge about my culture. The
knowledge that I do have is what I was taught in school about the Vietnam War
and the few short stories that my father shared with me about his childhood. I
have never heard my father speak about any struggles he had coming to America.
Although I have asked if he could share some details with me, he would always
refuse and change the subject.
With
my father being almost secretive about it, it makes me want to know more about
my culture and try to be “in tune” with myself. I am curious and would like to
learn about the experience Vietnamese immigrants faced when migrating to
America.
According to Min Zhou from University of California, “the Vietnamese are
one of the largest refugee groups to have settled in the United States since the
mid-1970s”. For over forty years, the Vietnamese American refugee community has
called the United States of America their home. They began flowing into the
United States after the fall of South Vietnamese government in 1975. Classified
as “political refugees” (Do, 2002), political turmoil forced them to leave.
The Vietnamese had little or no time or choice to prepare for their relocation
into another country due to their fear of unfavorable fate.
The
journey to America and their adjustment to the new land was extremely hard for
many Vietnamese refugees. “With the exception of the relatively small elite
group evacuated at the fall of Saigon, most of the refugees lacked education,
job skills, and measurable economic resources” (Zhou, 2004). They also suffered
from the trauma of war and flight and from the severe emotional distress that
they experienced at refugee camps. Once arrived in the United States, not only
could they not decide where and when they would be resettled, but “almost all of
the refugees starting their American life on public assistance” (Batalova, Zong
2016).
The
children of the refugees had a difficult time growing up in America as well.
Even though both parents and children desperately want to get ahead, the
parents' low socioeconomic status made it hard for the children to succeed.
Another factor that limited the chances for the children to succeed was the
living environment. According to Peter Do, “too many lived in neighborhoods that
are poor and socially isolated, where local schools do not function well and the
streets are beset by violence and drugs.”
Unlike most regular immigrants who are sponsored either by close families or by
U.S. employers and can make decisions as to where to settle in the United
States, “refugees are often sponsored by the government or voluntary agencies of
the receiving country and cannot choose their places of resettlement” (Bankson,
2016). In the case of the Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian refugees who did
not have established ethnic communities in the United States, the U.S.
government of resettlement agencies almost entirely decided where the refugees
would settle. Initially, the United States admitted Vietnamese refugees as a
response to a special emergency, rather than as part of an on-going process of
resettlement. Therefore, the official resettlement policy aimed at dispersing
refugees to minimize the impact on local receiving communities and integrating
refugees into the American economy and society as quickly as possible.
For the children of refugees and immigrants, the adaptation to American society
involves a constant struggles. Some of the struggles consisted of “learning to
speak a new language different from the one spoken at home, developing one's own
identity, going to school, meeting societal expectations, and ultimately fitting
in” (Zhou, 2004). Unlike their parents however, these children are unlikely to
use their parents' homeland standards to assess their process in the new land.
Instead, they consciously develop and modify their own coping strategies in
order to become acculturated and incorporated in American society. Inevitably
the children straddle different social worlds. While they often experience
conflict with their parents, the children also find ample room for agreement.
In
researching this topic, not only did I learn about their struggles with coming
to America, but also with trying to find residency and having the basic
necessities to survive. With what I have read and researched, I have a better
understanding the difficulties the Vietnamese refugees and my father had to
experience.
REFERENCE
Bankson, Carl L. "Vietnamese Americans." Vietnamese Americans - Early
History, Modern Era, Relations with Vietnam. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.
Batalova, Jeanne, and Jie Zong. "Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States."
Migrationpolicy.org. 2016. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.
Do,
Peter V. "Between Two Cultures: Struggles of Vietnamese American Adolescents"
Web. 05 Dec. 2016.
"Straddling Different Worlds: The Acculturation of Vietnamese Refugee Children
-- Min Zhou - Research & Seminars | Migration Dialogue." Straddling Different
Worlds: The Acculturation of Vietnamese Refugee Children -- Min Zhou - Research
& Seminars | Migration Dialogue. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.
