Blog post May 16th, Shah

Blog post May 16^th

Bindi Shah, 2012. Chap 6 - “Family, Culture, Gender: Narratives of Ethnic Reconstruction.”  Laotian Daughters: Working toward Community, Belonging, and Environmental Justice (pp.  106-129).

In Laotian Daughters: Working toward Community, Belonging, and Environmental Justice, Bindi Shah uses the example of Lao teenagers of immigrant parents to talk about the cultural and social norms put in places for these girls. Shah relates the experience of the teenagers to cultural authenticity, cultural belonging, and being a cultural bridge for their parents’ generation. I think a newer theme from this reading is also the focus Shah puts on the gender specific expectations of the Lao daughters. The girls have more constraints and higher expectations, but also have more power to act as the cultural link their community. I thought it was interesting how deep the expectations and judgment of the girls went, especially with the marriage and dating expectations within their race. The reading uses the themes of every day acts of resistance as well, used by the Lao girls to gain independence from their parents. All of these struggles contribute to the ways in which Lao teens define their own cultural identities, and then seek authenticity within the bridging roll they have in a Lao American culture.