Lam's piece "Love, Money. Prison, Sin, Revenge" reveals the often hidden side of transnationalism in reference to refugees. The idea of the nation as an imagined community is seen as a positive force since it ties together people however, this imagined community alienates people like the Nguyen brothers since no real community fills its place. Most U.S. citizens accept the independence one must have in our society and the loneliness that emerges but for refugees, this culture can be devastating when dealing with the damage war has on the mind. Just like historical forgetting, society as a whole forgets very quickly about the loneliness, desperation and trauma of refugees. Although should be held responsible for their reprehensible actions, the Nguyen brothers were shaped by a society that either didn't care about them or pitied them but did nothing to help. Instead of feeling accepted by American society, many Vietnamese refugees occupy the nether land between American and Vietnamese aka the hyphen in Vietnamese-American. As a result, they turned to violence in order to feel in any way important when their broken families and uncaring society could not help.
Will our distance as Americans from the Syrian refugee crisis cause a repeat of the same alienation of Vietnamese refugees?
Laura Roser
Week 8 blog
11/5/15
The Good Guys in a standard American shopping center versus the violent reality in Vietnam for refugees
No comments:
Post a Comment