Original, interdisciplinary essays highlight the pain, struggles, and victories of Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants in a mid-sized New England city
This report analyses the employment of Indo-Chinese refugees in the United States. Its findings are based on existing research and on surveys of Indo-Chinese refugees. It comprises eight sections: 1) Introduction; 2) Aggregate Patterns of Labour Force Activity; 3) Determinants of Labour Force Participation (for example, age, sex, education, knowledge of English); 4) Sponsorship and Employment; 5) Ethnicity and Employment; 6) Methods of Job Search; 7) Jobs; and 8) Concluding Remarks. The author argues that welfare dependency by refugees has not inhibited their search for work. He maintains that their immigration status and previous training, the condition of the local economy and the character of the resettlement programme are the main factors responsible for the difficulties which refugees encounter in searching for employment. The author concludes that the level of public assistance utilization by refugees will only decline when their employment situation improves and not the reverse. He further concludes that reductions in assistance could intensify the hardships which refugees already face in the labour market.
Southeast Asian term covers the major ethnic group who emigrated to the United States from these countries have been Vietnamese, Chinese Vietnamese, Lao, Lao Hmong and Cambodians, in addition to a number of smaller ethnic groups. This document is composed of five sections which provide an overview, explore theoretical and social policy issues, and describe mental health service approaches. Section I provides an introduction to the Southeast Asian refugees' socio-economic and political situation, as well as mental health status. Section II focuses on social policies which affect the Southeast Asian populations through legislation and institutional practices. Section III reports on the community organizing activities which have recently been initiated in these emerging communities. In section IV the articles provides background information on the social and cultural values of the Vietnamese, Lao, Lao Hmong and Cambodians. Section V offers a number of articles related to mental health practice with the Southeast Asian refugees, with an emphais on approaches to treating mental health problems and on models for service delivery. The bibliography lists various sources on the Southeast Asians. (Adapted from the preface).
This issue of “Anthropological Quarterly” is devoted to the adjustment of Indo-Chinese refugees in the United States. The editor's introduction, entitled 'Refugee Resettlement and Public Policy: A Role for Anthropology', presents the five papers and argues the importance of undertaking anthropological studies on refugee resettlement issues. The five papers, which have been abstracted separately are: 1) Segmentary Kinship in an Urban Society: The Hmong of St. Paul-Minneapolis; 2) Indochinese Adaptation and Local Government Policy: An Example from Monterey; 3) The Hmong Refugee Community in San Diego: Theoretical and Practical Implications of its Continuing Ethnic Solidarity; 4) Community Influences on the Occupational Adaptation of Vietnamese Refugees; and 5) Southeast Asian Refugees in the United States: The Interaction of Kinship and Public Policy.