Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States
Authors: Min Zhou and Carl L. Bankston III
Publisher: New York: Russell Sage Foundation Press, 1998
Language: English
ISBN: 0871549956 (paper)
Awards:
The 1999 Thomas and Znaniecki Award, American Sociological Association
The 2000 Distinguished Book Award, Mid-South Sociological Association
Description:
Vietnamese Americans form a unique segment of the new
U.S. immigrant population. Uprooted from their homeland and often
thrust into poor urban neighborhoods, these newcomers have
nevertheless managed to establish strong communities in a short space
of time. Most remarkably, their children often perform at high
academic levels despite these difficult circumstances.
Growing Up American describes the process of building
communities that were distinctive outgrowths of the new environment in
which the Vietnamese found themselves. Familial and cultural
organizations reformed in new ways, blending economic necessity with
cultural tradition. These reconstructed social structures create a
particular form of social capital that helps disadvantaged families
overcome the problems associated with poverty and
ghettoization. Outside these enclaves, Vietnamese children face a
daunting school experience where language difficulties, racial
inequality, deteriorating educational services, and exposure to an
often adversarial youth subculture pose serious threats.
How have the children of Vietnamese refugees managed to overcome
these challenges? Growing Up American offers important evidence that
community solidarity, cultural values, and a refugee sensibility have
provided the Vietnamese second generation with the very resources
needed to get ahead in American society. Zhou and Bankston also
document the price sometimes exacted by the process of adaptation, as
the struggle to define a personal identity and to decide what it means
to be "American" sometimes leads children into conflict with their
tight-knit communities.
Growing Up American is the first comprehensive study of the
unique experiences of Vietnamese immigrant children. It sets the
agenda for future research on second generation immigrants and their
entry into American society.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Scattering of War
Resettlement
The Reconstruction of the Ethnic Community and the Refugee Family
Networks of Social Relations: Support and Control
Language and Adaptation
Experiences in Adaptation to American Schools
Straddling the Gap: Bicultural Conflicts and Gender Role Changes
Delinquency: Insiders and Outsiders
Conclusion: Contexts of Reception, Selective Americanization, and the Implications for the New Second Generation
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