Laotian Daughters // Orientalism

Both society and Laotian culture impose expectations upon the Laotian girls in APEN. They’re expected to marry another Laotian, be the ideal wife, and stay close to home rather than go away for college. This is similar to the expectations had for the teens in the film, “Monkey Dance”. Linda’s older sister was incarcerated, and Sam’s older brothers dropped out of high school, so their community believed Linda and Sam weren’t going to succeed in life. Meanwhile, their parents expect their younger children to break free from this path and finish their education, get a good job, and eventually buy a house for them.

As we all know, parental pressure can be extremely stressful and given the poverty-stricken environments these Asian American youth live in, it can be very difficult to go after the coveted American dream. In fact, for women in Laotian culture, their parents don’t even believe they are a part of this American Dream. They’re just to be stay at home wives who need to be perfect for their husbands. Most of the teens are very outspoken about their opposition to their parents’ beliefs. Americans like to brag that our capitalist society allows anyone of any color and social class to be able to “chase after their dreams”, but this is just an illusion and not a reflection of our reality,

Groups like APEN are so important for Asian American youth because they give these girls a chance to be independent and to discuss and make conclusions about topics applicable to their own lives, like teenage pregnancy. They are able to form their own identity that is not based off only their culture or what their parents want.

APEN encourages the girls to prove to society that they are not just silent bystanders. Because as in the case with the issues brought forth by the previous reading by Shah, it’s so easy for Asian immigrants to be taken advantage of by hegemonic groups like our own local government, when they are afraid to stand up for themselves. Not only that, but the group provides them with resources so they can take charge of their own lives.

Although the Laotian girls treasure their families and want to take into consideration their beliefs, Asian American youth should not allow expectations from those around them to dictate their lives or the adults they become.

Oh, also there was that film about Orientalism. I had previously thought that the Orient was just, like, South East Asia and the like? So I was embarrassed when I learned it was actually the Middle East, but it makes more sense to me now. I thought one of the most important ideas was that the people talking, and spreading these false ideas of the Orient are people who have never been there before. These people only learned about the "Orient" from other people, and what if those people also have never been to the Orient before? Then we're in this cycle of false ideas and media. A lot of people these days complain about the media because the media can shape our perception of the world, and in a larger picture, our personality. I think... in a way, our false image of the Orient could make the Middle East Asians angry at us, and to be honest, yeah, I don't think there's not a good reason for that. And their anger might continue to fuel our agenda of painting them in a bad light and... well, the cycle continues.