Laotian Daughter & Monkey Dance

Erica Lee

FRS 004

25 April, 2017

Laotian Daughters

In “Laotian Daughters,” Shah talks about how the Laotian youth raise awareness for their community. These Laotian youth are American citizens, but they weren’t acting like citizens by Shah’s definition. Shah defines citizens as “A sense of belonging, participation, and equal access to rights.” The Laotian community had stayed on the down low, not really participating in local policymaking and not bothering to try to improve conditions. This all changed after the Chevron explosion. The youth got together to make changes for their community — to make it easier for the other Laotians. By doing so, they raised awareness of the growing Laotian presence in west Contra Costa County. I think this is really significant because this challenges the idea of the model minority. The Laotian youth showed people that the Laotian community weren’t just filled with submissive people who accepted whatever happened. They showed people that they weren’t upper middle class — that they shared a lot of traits with poor black, latinx, and white families. The Laotians didn’t just accept the fact that the emergency warnings only came in English. By seeking to change these norms, they resisted. It was resistance against the model minority stereotype that plagues Asian American communities, it was resistance against the idea that citizenship was only for adults, and it was resistance against the thought of Asians being reserved and submissive. 

Monkey Dance

Monkey Dance was a film about Cambodian American youth. While I watched the first half of the film, I realized that this film had set out to break down stereotypes about Asian Americans. The Cambodian Americans that were portrayed were’t the piano-playing, helicopter mom managed, math nerds that people thought of Asian Americans to be. In all honesty, the kids were lower middle class and could even be considered “at risk” youth. For example, Linda’s sister was convicted of murder and was sentenced to 18-20 years of jail time. Sochenda works a minimum wage job at a grocery store and most of his funds go to his brother’s car. These portrayals challenge the norms of Asian America youth. It changes how people see Asian Americans and therefore can be considered a form of cultural resistance. The Cambodian Americans grow up in America, but they haven’t fully lost their Cambodian roots and this is evidenced through their participation in traditional Cambodian dancing. This connects to the idea of transnationalism or culture stretching across national boundaries. The youth are taking their Cambodian heritage and their American experiences and creating something uniquely distinct.