Live Free or Die: Lao American Refugees negotiate identity, race, and citizenship in southeastern New Hampshire: An Oral History

by Sing Vivathana

Abstract:

Through participant observation and oral history, this study focuses on the adjustment and acculturation of eight Lao refugees who chose to make the southeastern region of New Hampshire their home. In focusing on adjustment and acculturation, I examined how Lao refugees negotiate their identity, race, and citizenship and how these themes connect with the legacy of the Vietnam War, trauma, healing, and resiliency to better understand how Lao refugees have assimilated in this region. Additionally, I explored how two major recent events (a hate crime and the terrorist attacks on the US), impacted this community and how it has affected their thoughts on identity, race, and citizenship. Furthermore, by focusing on intergenerational dynamics, I sought to understand how families, who have migrated here with a pre-history of culture, identity, and family negotiate the relationship between parent and child and the resulting differences in adjusting to and relating to American culture, and preserving cultural heritage. And finally, the exploration of identity, race, and citizenship will highlight Lao refugee lives and choices in New Hampshire and at the same time briefly highlight their natural progression towards community development. By understanding how Lao American refugees in New Hampshire negotiate identity, race, and citizenship, we may gain a better understanding of their experiences and how their voices, perspectives, and visions may inform and or challenge (mainstream) definitions of American identity, race, and citizenship.

Because very little is known or written about this community, this research will have many implications in the field of American Studies, Asian American Studies, community studies, ethnic and cultural studies, and to a broad range of students, teachers, administrators, and service providers, but most especially, to Lao people themselves, providing them a resource to learn about their predecessors, to understand and connect with what others have gone through, and to create a network of understanding and support.