Elder Voices: Southeast Asian Families in the United States / Edition 1

by Daniel F. Detzner

Overview

More than a quarter of a century has passed since the first Southeast Asian refugees arrived in this country, but because of their age and formidable language barriers, many elders have difficulty making their voices heard. Language barriers, family privacy, and social isolation have made it almost impossible for their experiences to be shared outside the family and community. Elder Voices helps to understand the family life of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, and Hmong refugees from the perspective of the oldest generation. Their stories are composed of complex family narratives that help us understand the ways in which migration and resettlement processes are experienced. The forty life histories of Southeast Asian elders gathered for this study collectively reveal personal perspectives on new immigrant family adaptation to American life at the end of the twentieth century. This volume is a great resource for anyone interested in Southeast Asian families in America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759105775
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	01/05/2004
Series:	Critical Perspectives on Asian Pacific Americans , #14
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Daniel F. Detzner teaches in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.

Table of Contents

1 Preface 2 If the River Bends 3 The Stressful Lives of Southeast Asian Elders 4 Family Stories of Elders 5 Changing Family Structures 6 Divergence in Family Structures 7 Conflicted Family Interactions 8 Multiple Family Identities 9 Critical Perspectives: Elders, Families and Immigration 10 Appendix: Natural Histories of Southeast Asian Families 11 References

Editorial Reviews

Elder Voices adds rich and valuable details to research on the lives of Southeast Asian refugee elders. By focusing on the elders and by being comparative, Daniel Detzner provides qualitative information that is rare in the studies of refugees from Southeast Asia. This volume complements other works on youth and the general Southeast Asian refugee populations. Adding rich and poignant stories of losses and resilience, it serves as an important medium for the preservation of family stories.

Gina Masequesmay

This book provides a vital base line for studying life following enforced migration at a late age.

Ageing and Society

Elder Voices by Daniel Detzner is a long awaited and much anticipated book that captures the vitality of spirit, resiliency, and adaptation to the severe hardships experienced in migration and living in the United States by elders from Southeast Asian families. This book is destined to be a 'classic' in the literature across a wide variety of arenas such as aging, family, refugee and immigrant, Asian American and cross-cultural issues. Detzner ties important empirical findings across the life stories of Southeast Asian elderly and explains them within important theoretical frameworks to help the reader understand the complexities of adaptation by these refugee and immigrant elders. The book is written in the style of a life review with important stories told by Southeast Asian elders. The narrative illustrates systematic themes found across Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, and Hmong elders, while highlighting unique cultural and individual variations found across these human populations. Elder Voices will be an essential book for all university libraries, for academicians in gerontology, family, refugee and immigrant, Asian American and cross-cultural studies. Detzner's book may be used as a supplementary textbook for upper division undergraduates

Barbara Yee

Bringing the voices of immigrant elders to life, Elder Voices is an indispensable resource in understanding the dynamics of family and community life in a new sociocultural environment.

Zha Blong Xiong

Elder Voices is a welcome addition to the literature on Southeast Asian refugees because the voices of elders have not been heard in much of the existing research. Through the elders' life course narratives, we learn of their losses, resiliency, family changes, intergenerational conflicts, and emerging family identities. The book is a useful reference for immigration scholars, policy makers, and resettlement workers because the author demonstrates the importance of family context in studying adaptation and in implementing policies and services. Family scholars interested in ethnicity, intergenerational relationships, and immigration should find this book insightful.

Phyllis J. Johnson

Elder Voices is a welcome addition to the literature on Southeast Asian refugees because the voices of elders have not been heard in much of the existing research. Through the elders' life course narratives, we learn of their losses, resiliency, family changes, intergenerational conflicts, and emerging family identities. The book is a useful reference for immigration scholars, policy makers, and resettlement workers because the author demonstrates the importance of family context in studying adaptation and in implementing policies and services. Family scholars interested in ethnicity, intergenerational relationships, and immigration should find this book insightful.--Phyllis J. Johnson, School of Social Work and Family Studies, University of British Columbia

Elder Voices adds rich and valuable details to research on the lives of Southeast Asian refugee elders. By focusing on the elders and by being comparative, Daniel Detzner provides qualitative information that is rare in the studies of refugees from Southeast Asia. This volume complements other works on youth and the general Southeast Asian refugee populations. Adding rich and poignant stories of losses and resilience, it serves as an important medium for the preservation of family stories.--Gina Masequesmay, Asian American Studies, CSU Northridge

Bringing the voices of immigrant elders to life, Elder Voices is an indispensable resource in understanding the dynamics of family and community life in a new sociocultural environment.--Zha Blong Xiong

From the Publisher