Scholars who study Southeast Asian American (SEAA) communities are in consensus that this group's realities diverge from their Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) counterparts. In fact, nearly four decades after large-scale immigration as political refugees from Southeast Asia (SEA), this population composed of Cambodians, Hmong, Laotians,…

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious global public health issue. At least one in three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused during her lifetime. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than three women in the United States die every day from physical abuse suffered at the hands of an intimate…

An illustrated guide to aspects of life in the United States is presented in Lao for recent Laotian arrivals. The guidelines address such topics as resettlement agencies, community relations and national customs, the U.S. government, local and long distance transport, mail and telephone communication systems, employment practices, the educational…

Firsthand accounts by refugees from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, telling how they escaped from Indochina and how they are adjusting to life in Canada (and particularly Nova Scotia), form the greater part of this book. Most of the accounts are by Vietnamese. Information is also provided on the history of the Canadian refugee program, and on the…

This annotated bibliography provides information for use in developing culturally appropriate mental health services for South East Asian refugees in the United States. The annotations are divided into four sections by population group: Cambodian, Laotian and Hmong, Vietnamese, and Indochinese. For each annotation, the primary audience is noted,…

Discusses responses of the Catholic church to the special needs of Indochinese refugees in the United States. Reviews the influence of Catholicism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, and describes activities of itinerant ministries to Catholic refugee communities across the U.S. The church's mission must be openness and hospitality toward newcomers.…

This book explores what it means to be a new American through the history of a refugee from Laos, Shou Cha, a community liaison for an elementary school. The experiences of Shou Cha, evangelical preacher, community leader, and father, show the historical and sociological contexts that have shaped his life. These contexts include the history of…

Upon arrival in the United States, the Southeast Asian "Boat People" faced a multitude of problems that would seem to have hindered their achieving economic self-sufficiency. Nonetheless, by the time of a 1982 research study which interviewed nearly 1,400 refugee households, 25 percent of all the households in the sample had achieved…

The resettlement experiences of a Laotian family in a Midwestern agricultural community is studied. The characters and places are fictitious, but the story is based on actual experiences of refugee families resettling in areas without a heavy refugee influx. The information is drawn from interviews with refugees of several nationalities and with…

The study reported here is an analysis of discourse in conversations with a Laotian woman who has lived in the United States with her husband and children since 1986. Analysis focuses on the nature of women's agency in Lao and U.S. cultures, highlighting the woman's perception of her changing identities as wife and mother. Excerpts of the…

The experiences of a Hmong man from Laos who has spent 15 years in the United States illustrate the possibilities of being both Hmong and American and demonstrate the acculturation process even as they show what it means to become American. The three values of resourcefulness, relationship, and respect are an integral part of the identity of Shou…

This study was conducted to determine the effects of the influx of 56,000 Indochinese refugees into Orange County, California between 1975 and 1982 and to make recommendations for integrating these people into the local labor force. In order to identify employer needs, characteristics of the refugee population, and the perceptions of both the…

Papers presented at a 1984 conference on research on the Hmong in the United States are collected in this book. The 24 papers are organized around four central themes (Hmong culture and change, adaptation to a new society, language and literacy, and health care issues). Titles and authors are: (1) "Stages of Hmong Cultural Adaptation"…

This paper reviews the concepts of acculturation and adaptation to provide a framework for understanding the highly variable relationship between acculturation and mental health in refugee populations. It begins with an extended definition and discussion of the concepts of acculturation and adaptation. The characteristics of acculturating groups…

This publication provides autobiographical essays by students originally from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, all of whom arrived in the United States as refugees between 1975 and 1982. Following an introduction is an initial essay, "Becoming a Refugee, Being a Refugee, Ceasing To Be a Refugee," by L. Nguyen-Hong-Nhiem. The student essays are…