University of California, Irvine. Dept. of Asian American Studies.

The Southeast Asian American Experience class was first offered in winter quarter 2003 within the Asian American Studies Program at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).

Professor Linda Vo created the class to provide a comparative overview of the ethnically, culturally, and historically diverse Southeast Asian people from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam who relocated to the United States as refugees and immigrants. The class analyzed the resettlement process and refugees' economic adaptations, educational experiences, and social conditions. The focus of the class was on the individual voices of refugees and their experiences in order to understand how they construct their identities, negotiate cultural challenges, recreate communities, and engage in acts of resistance. An interdisciplinary approach was used, drawing upon theoretical frameworks and scholarship from anthropology, education, history, political science, psychology, social work, cultural studies, and sociology. As part of the class, each student completed a project designed to both utilize resources from the Southeast Asian Archive about Southeast Asian American communities, and to teach the students what it means to collect, research, display, and preserve histories. Student projects ranged from focusing on businesses in Little Saigon to Southeast Asian American organizations. A group presentation explaining the project was given at the end of the quarter, as well as a 2 page assessment from each member of the group discussing their collaborative project and their role in the project. The class was also offered in Winter Quarter 2004 and 2005 and will continue to be given in future Winter Quarters.

From the description of The University of California, Irvine class project on the Southeast Asian American experience, 2003-2005. (University of California, Irvine). WorldCat record id: 136963915

Historical Background

The Southeast Asian American Experience class was first offered in winter quarter 2003 within the Asian American Studies Program at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Professor Linda Vo created the class to provide a comparative overview of the ethnically, culturally, and historically diverse Southeast Asian people from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam who relocated to the United States as refugees and immigrants. The class analyzed the resettlement process and refugees' economic adaptations, educational experiences, and social conditions. The focus of the class was on the individual voices of refugees and their experiences in order to understand how they construct their identities, negotiate cultural challenges, recreate communities, and engage in acts of resistance. An interdisciplinary approach was used, drawing upon theoretical frameworks and scholarship from anthropology, education, history, political science, psychology, social work, cultural studies, and sociology.

As part of the class, each student completed a project designed to both utilize resources from the Southeast Asian Archive about Southeast Asian American communities, and to teach the students what it means to collect, research, display, and preserve histories. Before choosing a topic for their project, students were required to visit the archive and see what materials were available, look at its web page, and read a copy of the newsletter. Student projects ranged from focusing on businesses in Little Saigon to Southeast Asian American organizations. Students worked in groups to identify areas in which the Southeast Asian Archive lacked documentation. They then considered ways to direct outreach efforts to a particular group and publicizing the archive in these communities. Students did this through attending local events in the Southeast Asian American communities and contacting organizations about their resources. A group presentation explaining the project was given at the end of the quarter, as well as a 2 page assessment from each member of the group discussing their collaborative project and their role in the project.

From the guide to the The University of California, Irvine, class project on the Southeast Asian American experience, 2002-2008, (Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries)