Orientalism & Laotian Daughter

In the documentary we viewed in class last Thursday, it talked about how Westerners viewed the Middle East and why the Middle East was view in such a way. Many Westerners have never stepped foot or even traveled to such a continent, so why is there so much prejudice and labels for those who live in the Middle East? Edward Said claims this is because of how the media portrays the Muslim community and the history we learn about the community as a young age. However, he quotes Gramsci in a sense that there should not be a guide to how we think and interpret information. We should live through our own experiences and have our own philosophy of thinking.

Moreover, Bindi V. Shah's work talks about the sense of social belonging for the second generation Laotian women community. One point that Shah talked about that I resonated with was when the topic of parents and alienation came up. Coming from a Southeast family myself, it was hard communicating with my parents because of the generation and culture gap. Although my parents no longer live in Vietnam, my parents still hold similar values as if they still lived there. At a young age, I was told and taught that women have a responsibility in the household whereas the men can go out and do whatever they want. The responsibility in the household meant washing dishes and cooking, but the result of washing dishes and cooking meant dry and wrinkled hands. Dry and wrinkled hands were not preferred on women because it meant that the women were not pampered, worked every day in her life, and the likelihood of that women getting hitched decreases greatly. But, how can one have a responsibility in the household and not have dry/wrinkled hands? Another point that follows with the alienation in families was the lack of open communication. Many children in the household are not allowed to talk about when the parents are talking. This leads to relationships that only represent obedience and discipline. The standards and points should be dropped because there is a lack of relationship building and support between the parents and children.