War, Migration, and Identity-Building: Understanding the Battles of Southeast Asian Refugees
Since the Indochinese Wars, refugees and their descendants from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos have called the U.S. their home. Demographic surveys categorize all ethnic groups from these countries as “Asian.” However, each of these communities has been affected by these conflicts in different ways, and the poignant history of their migration, resettlement, and acculturation deserves more attention than a simple geographic label.
The “Indochinese Wars” consisted of three major stages beginning in 1946 and subsiding in 1991, the first stage being the First Indochina War, an anti-colonial struggle against the French. The second stage was a manifestation of the American-led fight against communism, consisting of the Vietnam War, Laotian Civil War, and Cambodian Civil War, and the third stage consisted of wars between Southeast Asian states for regional influence, including the Cambodian-Vietnamese War and Sino-Vietnamese War. The Vietnam War inflicted a massive human cost, with estimates of over one million lives lost. Likewise, the Cambodian genocide, following the victory of the communist Khmer Rouge in the Cambodian Civil War, killed between 1.5 and 3 million people, almost a quarter of that country’s population. Southeast Asians became exposed to an immense loss of life during these years.
Photo Credit: AP/Hoanh
Not only did refugees contend with these calamities directly, but they also made treacherous journeys to other countries to escape the violence. About two million Vietnamese refugees fled by boat to other parts of Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, before resettling in the West. Termed “boat people,” many died at sea, and those who survived were likely to endure traumatic experiences on their journeys, such as kidnapping and sexual assault from pirates.
Photo Credit: AP Photo
Since entering the United States and other host countries, Southeast Asian refugees have faced the challenges of integrating into a new culture and economic system, and the reality of generational trauma among their descendants has added additional strain to their community. According to Yuying Tsong, a researcher at California State University, Fullerton, Vietnamese Americans have higher rates of PTSD, anxiety, and depression than Asian groups that migrated primarily for professional reasons. Vietnamese Americans’ history of experiencing war, dangerous migration, and adjusting to American life have all contributed to this phenomenon. To be able to recognize and reconcile the mental health struggles of Southeast Asian refugees, this history must be revealed. The Hmong and the Cham are two examples of how ethnic history plays a large role in shaping identity-making and the consequent impacts on mental health.
The Hmong, who trace their lineage to southwest China, migrated to Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand in the nineteenth century. During the Laotian Civil War War, the CIA recruited Hmong soldiers to work for them in northern Laos, resulting in their persecution after the victory of the Pathet Lao, a communist group. About ten percent (35,000 people) of the Hmong population in Laos were killed, and those who survived bore traumatic accounts of being attacked with napalm, an incendiary weapon that causes severe burning and asphyxiation. Many Hmong survivors lived in refugee camps in Thailand before immigrating to the United States and other countries.
While arriving in the United States aided the immediate safety concern of Hmong refugees, it did not allow them to readjust completely to normal life. In Asia, the Hmong had relatively simple lives in the highlands of their countries, subsisting from their land and thriving off of a close-knit community. However, despite their skills in agriculture, the Hmong arrived in the United States largely without formal education or English language training.
Since many Hmong refugees also lost family members throughout their persecution, migration, and resettlement process, many of them have experienced social isolation. Hmong Americans have an overall poverty rate of about 25 percent, compared to the national average of about 12 percent, and have limited access to culturally sensitive mental health services. Whilst they have been diligent in empowering themselves by preserving their traditions and history, many Hmong Americans feel disillusioned with the country that relied on them for support during the Laotian Civil War.
Another group of people from Southeast Asia with a unique history are the Cham, an ethnic minority native to Cambodia and Vietnam with Malay-Polynesian roots. Most Cham are Sunni Muslim, though some practice Hinduism. During the Cambodian genocide, thousands of Cham were killed, with death toll estimates ranging anywhere from 11,000 to 500,000. The Communist regime in Cambodia used tactics such as prohibition of the Cham language, Qur’an burning, and forcing Cham to eat pork to destroy the Cham identity. To this day, Cham in Southeast Asia face discrimination; Cambodian authorities have threatened the Cham with eviction efforts to “beautify” the capital of Phnom Penh.
In the United States, the Cham are mainly concentrated in South Seattle. The Cham Refugees Community is an organization providing social and religious services for the Cham and other predominantly Muslim refugee groups such as East African, Iraqi, and Rohingya groups. One Cham-American describes herself as a “minority within a minority within a minority,” contending with ignorance surrounding her racial, ethnic, religious, and refugee identities. She notes that, despite her parents being from Cambodia and Vietnam, she wouldn’t identify herself as Cambodian-American or Vietnamese-American, as neither of these terms accurately describes the Cham identity. The experiences of the Cham further demonstrate the interconnectedness of mental health and understanding the intersectionality of identities, especially within refugee communities.
The experience of Southeast Asian refugees can also inform Americans on how to contribute to the advancement of other refugee groups. From 2010-2020, the most common countries of origin for U.S. refugee arrivals were Myanmar, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bhutan, and Somalia. Many of these refugees have embarked on dangerous journeys during their migration and faced risks such as human trafficking, similar to Vietnamese refugees. The atrocities these individuals have faced have largely been ignored or forgotten. The Rohingya genocide in Myanmar and the ethnic cleansing of Nepalis in Bhutan, for example, are topics that have received little to no sustained public attention among U.S. consciousness. Similar to how the history of the Hmong and Cham, and their significance in the Indochinese conflicts, remains obscure. Knowledge of war, displacement, genocide, or other struggles that refugee groups have faced would provide a more welcoming environment for refugees that seek to restore their mental health.
Additionally, common knowledge of cultural practices and beliefs would allow refugees to sustain their unique identities without feeling excluded once they are resettled. Southeast Asian refugee communities have been active in showcasing their identity to other Americans. For example, the Hmong New Year, an important cultural tradition, is celebrated in Fresno, Long Beach, Minneapolis, Stockton, and other American cities, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year. The Seattle Asian American Film Festival screened the documentary Ramadan in 2019, which detailed the stories of three Cham high school students that overcame adversity throughout this month of fasting. These events not only empower those ethnic groups, but also provide the chance for Americans to acknowledge and embrace the diversity and experiences of the country’s refugee communities.
