Asian Refugees in America: Narratives of Escape and Adaptation

Asian Refugees in America: Narratives of Escape and Adaptation
ISBN-10
0786486325
ISBN-13
9780786486328
Category
Social Science
Pages
233
Language
English
Published
2011-09-29
Publisher
McFarland
Author
Eleanor Herz Swent

Description

When Eleanor Swent began teaching English as a Second Language in 1967 at a school for adults in Oakland, California, she soon learned that many of the Asian immigrants in her classes had remarkable tales to tell of struggles in their homelands and their efforts to make new lives in America. This oral history, based on interviews Swent conducted with her students over thirty years, documents the Asian immigrant experience as never before. Here are the stories of desperate individuals who swam to escape from China to Macao and Hong Kong; of Chinese daughters considered worthless by their families; of political refugees from Vietnam; of ethnic Chinese who fled by boat from Vietnam; of refugees from the genocide in Cambodia. As these remarkable new Americans learn different words and customs, they also enlarge our national vision, enriching our culture while assuring us that human dignity can rise above terrible circumstances.

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