Kyle Wong Asian American Studies San Francisco State University December 8th, 2016 Vietnamese Youth and Heritage Culture is something in America that is as diverse as its people. Through social media websites, advertisements on TV and online, and social interactions, the people, specifically youth, have picked up many different cultures’ habits and way of life. These habits and ways of life have a positive impact on oneself, for instance, partaking in the consumption of different ethnicities food, and thus expanding one’s palate. However, it is because of this absorption of many varying cultures that the youth of today has lost their own heritage, that is to say, their roots. Many youths of today, especially those of Vietnamese descent, have
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This combination of the merging of two cultures is further pushed by many sources like children’s nonfiction novels. Subarno Chattarji’s “The New Americans”: The Creation of a Typology of Vietnamese-American Identity in Children’s Literature, “... examines a body of nonfiction children’s literature written between 1980 and 2005 that deals with Vietnamese refugees and immigrants who entered the United States from 1975 onwards…. Chronologically there is a spread from James Haskins’ The New Americans, published 1980, through Lori Coleman’s Vietnamese in America, published in 2005. He further explains how the literature, while intended for a non-Vietnamese audience, has influenced how the Vietnamese were treated and their expectations on them like how to behave in American culture and society, which is, “... indicative of attempts to place Vietnamese immigrants within a wider matrix of past immigrations…” (Chattarji, 5), meaning that many novelists were using past experiences with Asian cultures already in America as a basis for Vietnamese Americans, as if to simplify all the different cultures and races into one easy-to-understand recipe for …show more content…
However as Olivia Hoang puts it, “... I chose to cultivate my Vietnamese-American identity the same way a great mother cultivates her baby: to accept wholeheartedly what is hers, to nurture that which is beautiful and good, and to call out for rectification the bad behavior.” In conclusion, the problem of many Vietnamese youth’s of today feel unattached to their native culture because of a multitude of problems, some out of their control. However, an effort can be made by each of them to maintain their ties by learning their native language and attempting to connect with their own culture in their own way, such as participating in a course teaching Vietnamese to students, participating in family cultural events like New Year 's celebration, and simply talking to their parents about their culture. And while this may not completely fix the disparity between the knowledge of American culture and Vietnamese culture, a pat on the back of sorts can be given, as being a multicultural American attempting to stay in touch with your native roots is difficult
This combination of the merging of two cultures is further pushed by many sources like children’s nonfiction novels. Subarno Chattarji’s “The New Americans”: The Creation of a Typology of Vietnamese-American Identity in Children’s Literature, “... examines a body of nonfiction children’s literature written between 1980 and 2005 that deals with Vietnamese refugees and immigrants who entered the United States from 1975 onwards…. Chronologically there is a spread from James Haskins’ The New Americans, published 1980, through Lori Coleman’s Vietnamese in America, published in 2005. He further explains how the literature, while intended for a non-Vietnamese audience, has influenced how the Vietnamese were treated and their expectations on them like how to behave in American culture and society, which is, “... indicative of attempts to place Vietnamese immigrants within a wider matrix of past immigrations…” (Chattarji, 5), meaning that many novelists were using past experiences with Asian cultures already in America as a basis for Vietnamese Americans, as if to simplify all the different cultures and races into one easy-to-understand recipe for …show more content…
However as Olivia Hoang puts it, “... I chose to cultivate my Vietnamese-American identity the same way a great mother cultivates her baby: to accept wholeheartedly what is hers, to nurture that which is beautiful and good, and to call out for rectification the bad behavior.” In conclusion, the problem of many Vietnamese youth’s of today feel unattached to their native culture because of a multitude of problems, some out of their control. However, an effort can be made by each of them to maintain their ties by learning their native language and attempting to connect with their own culture in their own way, such as participating in a course teaching Vietnamese to students, participating in family cultural events like New Year 's celebration, and simply talking to their parents about their culture. And while this may not completely fix the disparity between the knowledge of American culture and Vietnamese culture, a pat on the back of sorts can be given, as being a multicultural American attempting to stay in touch with your native roots is difficult