Through this weeks
reading, "Brother Enemy: The War after the
War" by Nayan Chanda, many realizations were brought upon me.
Growing up I felt like I knew little about Viet Nam as a result of lack of
representation within my education systems. I knew even less about the
Southeast Asian community. As a result, many of the pieces of information that
I did know about my SEA roots was unclear. However, after reading this weeks
readings, I now understand more about the things I didn't understand when I was
younger. Having a hxstorical perspective to go off of really did bring
reasoning, narrative, and understanding to many matters that I was previously
unaware of. Additionally, I felt like this weeks reading heavily encapsulated
the weekly theme of "Ancient Hxstory of Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos"
because it highlighted the relations between the countries identified as
Indochina.
Growing up, I only
knew that there was tensions present between SEA communities. I never
understood why. I only knew that some of my peers growing up didn't want to be
friends with me because of my Vietnamese roots. Though I didn't know the
hxstorical backing of these seemingly severed relations between different
Southeast Asian communities, I could see them prevalently as I grew up. Even to
this day I hear folx mentioning how they were raised to not really like or
befriend certain people. Through reading about the political relations in the
readings, I see where many folx's concerns arise from. There is deeply rooted
hxstorical tensions that began years ago and still trickle into the present. As
a result, this brings me to question: How can there be healing between SEA
communities?
For me, I've been able
to see healing between these communities as many have fought for unity and
solidarity between South East Asian groups. I've seen healing in how South East
Asians have begun to distinguish themselves from the rest of the Asian American
community so that our hxstories can be further understood, renarrated, and
reillustrated.
Below is a depiction
of the identified "Indochina".
Sources:
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