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Abstract
This essay examines post-migration identity of the Montagnard men who came to the United States as refugees. In particular, given the salience of home to identity, interview participants' notions of home space are explored. Findings are discussed first in terms of emotional, relational, sociocultural and political significance of home spaces that were identified by the participants. Then, the articulations of home are discussed in terms of implications they have for the current post-migration theories of cross-cultural adaptation and diaspora. The Montagnard men's experiences with and views of home shed light on applicability and limitations of the theories.
Acknowledgements
A different version of this manuscript was presented at the 2009 meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago. The author thanks the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful and helpful comments for improving her manuscript. The author also thanks the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for the New Faculty Grant which provided financial assistance during her data collection and analysis.
Notes
1. The United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races (FULRO) is a resistance organization established in 1965 to fight for the Dega people's sovereignty and independence.
2. The Montagnard Foundation, Inc. is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization fighting for the human rights for the Montagnard people and preservation of the indigenous culture. The colonization and oppression that the Montagnards have experienced are sometimes compared to those of the Native Americans (see Bailey, Citation2002; Montagnard Foundation, Inc., Citationn.d.).
3. North Carolina became the first and the most popular destination for the Montagnards due to the active support provided by former Green Berets who fought along with the Montagnards during the Vietnam War. The first group included about 200 FULRO fighters, mostly men. After 11 years of hiding in the jungles of Vietnam, they reached a refugee camp on the border of Thailand and Cambodia and eventually settled in North Carolina (Bailey, Citation2002; Rosser-Hogan, Citation1990).
4. I kept the original words used by the Montagnard men, even when they are grammatically incorrect.
5. Through these men, and later through sponsors and websites, I learned that there are largely two groups initiated by Montagnards in the United States that work toward freedom for the Montagnards in Vietnam, and the two groups have very different visions for achieving this common goal. The Montagnard Foundation wants to end the oppression by the Communist government by appealing to the United Nations and the U.S. Government. The other organization, the Montagnard Human Rights Organization (Citationn.d.), primarily focuses on bringing Montagnards out of Vietnam and into the United States. The Montagnard community is split depending on which organization they support.
6. The majority of the Montagnards are Christians. Christianity was first introduced to the Montagnards in the Central Highlands in the mid-19th century by French Catholic missionaries and then by the American Protestant missionaries in the early part of the 20th century (Bailey, Citation2002).
7. Availability of resources was more or less a matter of class (i.e., education) in this study. However, it is certainly also gendered and raced experiences. Since participants in the study were all men, future studies need to give attention to Montagnard women's experiences.