The Far East Comes Near: Autobiographical Accounts of Southeast Asian Students in America

by Lucy Nguyen-Hong-Nhiem, Joel M. Halpern

Overview

'This work accomplishes precisely what its editors tell us they intend to do. We hear clearly the unedited voices of the refugees. They share with us their experiences, hopes, fears, bloody nightmares, and dreams. The telling is poignant. Each essay evokes an intensely emotional response. Each educates...In sum, the book is a stunning, moving descriptive ethnography.'--American Ethnologist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870236723
Publisher:	University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date:	07/11/1989
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.95(w) x 9.01(h) x 0.66(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Editorial Reviews

Professors at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the editors here gather autobiographical essays written by 25 students who fled the upheavals in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and settled in Massachusetts. Handicapped in their use of English, the refugees are not gifted stylists, but their narratives convey the pain and horror of their experiences. Many describe escapes by boat, contending with Thai pirates and with the well-grounded fear that rescue might not materialize. Others discuss the children's camps, where, separated from their parents, they were compelled to labor strenuously and to witness the wanton murders of siblings and young friends. A few entries by American journalists and scholars superficially analyze political unrest and its psychological ramifications; and the comparative homogeneity of the student contributors--their ages, their having enrolled in the same course at the same institution--affords only a narrow perspective on the diverse plight of the refugee. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)

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