Liz Shigetoshi - Week 6

Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao. One of the main focuses that Long uses for her article, telling the story of Mai and her mother Thanh.

In “Contemporary Women’s Roles through Hmong, Vietnamese, and American Eyes”, Lisa A. Long stresses the differences and similarities between the representations and expectations of Hmong and Vietnamese women to Hmong American and Vietnamese American women. She does this by reviewing sources of publications, museums, narratives, and anthologies. For Vietnamese women and Vietnamese American women, she acknowledges that Vietnamese women are represented as women warriors by sacrificing themselves for their family and culture, while Vietnamese American women identify themselves as women warriors who are “manipulating American stereotypes about meek Asian women... by drawing upon traditional Vietnamese role” and who emphasize that “…life is seen in battle terms…”. I thought this was an interesting way to think about feminism and gender roles as a result of cultural and historical influences; it's an example of the underdog. Though my personal history is nothing similar to the struggles of most refugees or immigrants, I still found myself relating to Long’s Vietnamese American ideology through Mai, and not too long after I started relating my mother’s expectations of herself to those of Long’s Vietnamese women ideology. It may sound a little over exaggerated to some, but I felt connected to the line, “make the enemy “see a weak front” but… have “strengths—columns of reserves” from which to draw upon”. In the end, Long's article made me question the motives behind the Vietnamese American woman's ideology of being defensive. Could it be a matter of lacking trust in a new environment, or do they feel more as though they have something to prove in their new environment, or is it a mixture of both that shapes their identity?