Laotian Daughters

This piece was particularly interesting to me since it deeply focuses on the generational gap between first and second generation immigrant families as well as the gender roles that are especially present in Laotian (and other Asian) families. In addition, I think it covers the struggle of identity in a way that is relevant to me since I, too, have trouble figuring whether I identify as Indian, Punjabi, American, or a combination of the above. In terms of Laotian girls, the strict parental control that is present in their lives and the emotional effect that it has on them pushes them away from their Laotian culture and pulls them into assimilating into American culture. Love for family, on the other hand, pulls them away from American culture and pushes them back into their Laotian culture. Overall, social meanings of gender, generation, and ethnicity are produced, appropriated, and contested through social interactions inside and outside ethnic communities.