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[Review Of] Mary Carol Hopkins, Braving A New World: Cambodian (Khmer) Refugees In An American City, Corswang Ngin

Ethnic Studies Review

Cambodians, officially classified as Asian Americans, are a part of this large group which contributes to the country's fastest growing minority population. The Cambodians in Middle City, the pseudonym of a Midwestern city, however, live in a world unlike any resembling those in middle Asian America. They are victims of poverty, of dangerous urban housing and of social isolation. The majority are of poor health, illiterate in English, and too old or too distracted to learn. Hopkins' study of this community is classic ethnography, describing in vivid details the ordinary family and Buddhist ceremonial life of the Cambodians as they …