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Free Ebook! Research And Reflections On Southeast Asian American Education And Advancement, Wayne E. Wright

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

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Co-edited by our JSAAEA Editorial Team, this book is in commemoration of the 20^th Anniversary of the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement (JSAAEA) and the 50^th Anniversary of Southeast Asian refugee resettlement in the United States. A paperback version is also available.

This special collection celebrates the contributions of scholars whose works focus on Southeast Asian American (SEAA) issues and highlights empirical research, book reviews, and creative works from SEAA scholars and community leaders whose voices have been prominent in the journal …

The Lessons I Never Took, Nadia Luong

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

“The Lessons I Never Took” is a lyric poem rooted in the author’s experience growing up as a first-generation Cambodian American child in an immigrant family. The poem examines how socioeconomic hardship and language brokering shape a child’s relationship to desire, responsibility, and unrealized possibility. While other children receive formal lessons that allow their interests and talents to be discovered, the speaker develops unrecognized interpretive skill by helping her parents navigate English-speaking institutions. Without assigning blame, the poem holds parental sacrifice and childhood loss together, revealing how survival can limit not only access to enrichment but also a child’s opportunity …

Translating Higher Education Into Vietnamese: An Applied Linguistics Approach To Language Equity And Higher Education Access, Z.W. Taylor, Alan Do, Jase Kugiya, Tuan Le

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

One growing population of non-native English speakers in the U.S. education system are native Vietnamese speakers, yet no studies have examined how higher education communication could be made more accessible for Vietnamese speakers. As a result, this case study reports on human and machine translational linguistics work conducted in partnership with the University of Iowa focused on simplifying and translating English enrollment management information into Vietnamese. Findings suggest that the institution increased the clarity and accessibility of enrollment management information by using second-person pronouns, shorter sentence structures, clearer diction, and explanations of institution-specific jargon. Moreover, analyses of machine and human …

Book Review Of Suburban Refugees: Class And Resistance In Little Saigon, Phoebe T. Pham

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

In Suburban Refugees: Class and Resistance in Little Saigon, Jennifer Huynh challenges the common view that refugee resettlement follows a straightforward path toward assimilation, stability, and upward mobility. Focusing on Vietnamese refugees in Little Saigon, Orange County, California, Huynh examines how refugees navigate displacement, housing insecurity, and political exclusion in suburban spaces often idealized as homogenous and prosperous. Drawing on extensive data, the book presents suburban resettlement as a prolonged process shaped by structural forces and community resistance. Huynh situates her analysis within growing suburban inequality and enduring racialized policies that limit refugee opportunities long after formal resettlement. Her …

The History Of Teaching Indonesian In The United States And Its Pedagogical Shift In The Late 20th Century, Eko Widianto, G.G. Weix, Michael Cullinane

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

The history of teaching Indonesian in the United States has received limited scholarly attention, despite the field's existence for over eighty years. This study traces its development and identifies three main phases. The first phase began during World War II, when Indonesian was taught primarily to meet military needs through a structural and drill-based approach. In the 1960s and 1970s, instruction was restructured to support academic research, with teaching materials and classroom practices aimed at developing reading skills and preparing students for fieldwork. From the late twentieth century onward, Indonesian programs increasingly adopted communicative approaches influenced by broader trends in …

Book Review Of Go West! A Memoir For My Sons: Our Family Journey And Khmer Rouge Life Experiences, Lalinne Suon Bell

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

I came to Go West! A Memoir for My Sons not as a detached reader but as someone who holds Cambodia within me. Like Sideth D. Niev, I am a survivor of the Khmer Rouge, a child who grew up in exile and a mother now raising children in Minnesota, the same state where Niev rebuilt his life. Reading his memoir is like walking through a mirror: his words reflecting the past my family endured, my life reflecting the future his sons now inhabit. Both of us live in the long aftermath of genocide, where silence is both a burden …

Book Review Of Coloring And Learning About Cambodia In The Arts: Learning About Cambodia In The Arts, Lalinne Suon Bell

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

I have long been witness to the silence that trauma leaves behind. I understand how the body remembers what the tongue cannot say. The aftermath of genocide and displacement leaves not only human tragedy but also artistic ones: a fracture in how we imagine, how we create, how we see. For those of us shaped by the Cambodian diaspora, what we can’t express in words lives through art: through lines and colors. Cambodian classical dance shows this clearly: each gesture tells a story without words and that art has always been our language.

A Poetry Collection By Vannida S. Kol, Vannida S. Kol

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This is a poetry collection by Vannida S. Kol.

Book Review Of A Dozen Delicious Donuts: A Sweet Cambodian-American Story, Syra Yang

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

In A Dozen Delicious Donuts: A Sweet Cambodian-American Story, Chanda Ouk Wolf tells a story about the connection of donut shops and the Cambodian community in southern California while acknowledging the cultural experiences and donut creation that originated in Cambodia. The actual making, and step-by-step process of these donuts, are shared when a baking contest is announced by the main character’s teacher at school.

Book Review Of To Save And To Destroy: Writing As An Other, Nguyen H B Le

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Viet Thanh Nguyen’s To Save and to Destroy is a collection of his Norton lectures where he uses his generational stories of continuous immigration throughout Vietnam and the United States to explore how writing, with both internal and external experiences, shape our own identities, and forces that come into oppression, silence, and Otherness. In other words, the book depicts how he himself is seen from multiple others: “the Vietnamese, the Asian, the minoritized, the racialized, the colonized, the hybrid, the hyphenated, the refugee, the displaced, the artist, the writer, the smart ass, the bastard, the sympathizer, and the committed” (p. …

Book Review Of Koan Khmer: A Novel, Christine Su

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

On rare occasions, I come across a book that truly resonates with me, with storylines and narrator enquiries that echo my own, and characters whose dispositions harken back to my own family members, friends, and myself. As the U.S.-born daughter of a Khmer (Cambodian) father, this is a rare occurrence. This is not to say that I do not enjoy reading works of fiction that transport me to other worlds or allow me to see things through the eyes of someone whose experiences are vastly different than mine—I do. Yet I long for narratives that offer familiarity, understanding, and a …

Hmongcentric Niche Charter Schools: The Role Of Social Capital On Students’ Perceived Academic Competence, Zha Blong Xiong, Ting Xu, Kyle Nickodem, Malina Her

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Using Coleman’s (1988) social capital theory, this study investigated the connection between family and school social capital and the perceived academic competence of students enrolled in Hmongcentric niche charter schools. The study analyzed 124 participants consisting of third, fourth, and fifth-grade students residing in Minnesota, with 93% identifying as Hmong. Results of structural equation modeling showed that school social capital, as measured by school attachment and school connection, is significantly linked to students’ perceived academic competence. Further analyses suggested that school attachment, especially in charter schools that focus on culture and language, plays a more crucial role in shaping students’ …

Book Review Of Re-Membering Culture: Erasure And Renewal In Hmong American Education, Mai H. Vang

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Re-membering Culture: Erasure and Renewal in Hmong American Education is a valuable contribution to the growing field of critical Hmong studies and education studies in general. This ethnographic study critically examines power dynamics between U.S. schools and Hmong Americans by centering narratives that highlight Hmong knowledge systems. The book provides insights from over 50 Hmong American leaders, parents, students, and district staff (Hmong and non-Hmong) that exemplifies re-membering, the recovery of culture and history to reclaim rights, space, and voice in the present. Although education is often seen as the great equalizer, especially for immigrants and refugees, the realities of …

New Book: Research And Reflections On Southeast Asian American Education And Advancement, Wayne E. Wright, Vikrant Chap, Phitsamay S. Uy, Chhany Sak-Humphry, Vichet Chhuon, Bryan Thao Worra

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This book is in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement (JSAAEA) and the fiftieth anniversary of Southeast Asian American refugee resettlement in the United States. Pivotal research articles, reviews, and creative works from past issues of JSAAEA have been selected for this volume to document the history and experiences of Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, and Vietnamese Americans since initial refugee resettlement began in the United States in 1975, as well as the experiences of more recent Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee groups. Reviews of academic books, novels, memoirs, children’s books, and motion …

A Lao Chinese American Perspective On Law School, Tommy Souravong

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This creative work provides a Lao Chinese American perspective on law school.

A Fragment Of 50 Misrememberings: A Collection Of Poetry, Chanida Phaengdara Potter

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This literary work includes three selected poems from a larger collection of poems.

A Language Narrative, Jer Xiong

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

"A Language Narrative" is about the author's own journey with the English language, fanfiction, online spaces, and the decision to be a writer.

Literary Orphan, Jer Xiong

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

"Literary Orphan" is a flash creative nonfiction.

Sara Above, Sothear Nget

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This is a creative literary work from Sothear Nget.

Book Review Of Voices Of A New Generation, Vanna Nauk

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

The book offers an ample narrative archive that can serve as a source for scholarly inquiry, especially for scholars interested in Fine Arts, Contemporary Music, Fashion Design, Culinary Arts, and Film and Theatre Arts. The book can also serve as a resource for K12 social science teachers interested in personal narratives to supplement course lessons. However, as a college professor of Ethnic Studies, I would advise the book to be used in conjunction with scholarship on deviant and model minority myths. After all, affective stories without theory and context can change hearts, but they do not offer abstract tools for …

A Poetry Collection By Kev Minh Allen, Kev Minh Allen

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This is a poetry collection by Kev Minh Allen.

A Poetry Collection By Soul Vang, Soul Vang

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This is a poetry collection from Soul Vang.

Bunkong Tuon's Poetry Collection, Bunkong Tuon

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This is a poetry collection by Bunkong Tuon.

Editors’ Introduction To The 20th Anniversary Volume, Phitsamay S. Uy, Vichet Chhuon, Bryan Thao Worra, Chhany Sak-Humphry, Vikrant Chap, Wayne E. Wright

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

2025 is a momentous year as we launch Volume 20—and thus celebrate—the 20^th Anniversary of the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement (JSAAEA)! For two decades now JSAAEA has provided readers from all over the world with an interdisciplinary online academic peer-reviewed journal featuring scholars and writers from diverse fields who share a common interest in Southeast Asian (SEA) Americans and their communities. And it has done so through a completely free and fully accessible Open Access publishing model without any author publishing fees or reader subscription charges. 2025 also marks another important historical milestone—the 50^{th …}

A Poetry Collection, Jenna Le

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This is a poetry collection by Jenna Le.

Literacy Skills And Practices In Cambodian-American Families: A Portraiture Of Ten Women, Sothy Tep

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Abstract:This research article describes the literacy skills and practices in ten Cambodian-American (CA) families within their home environment. It also investigates such contextual problems as CA students not being a part of the Asian model minority and the invisibility that some experience at school.Its literature review addresses the evolving concept of family literacy scholarship, specifically diversity scholarship, with a conceptual framework focusing on Dewey’s (1916) ideas linking family literacy ultimately to human empowerment, hope, progress, growth, and meaning within society. A narrative inquiry technique called portraiture is employed to collect the data of its ten participants’ …

Book Review Of A Career In Student Affairs, Brandon Xiong

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

A Career in Student Affairs: Reflections from Hmong Student Affairs Educators is a collection of unique experiences from Hmong professionals who work in student affairs, edited by Dr. Soua Xiong and Dr. Brian V. Xiong. This volume highlights different stories about how Hmong students came into their current student affairs careers. Each chapter has important advice for Hmong students considering a career in student affairs and examine what it means to be a first-generation Hmong student affairs professional. The collection of stories beautifully captures the hopes and dreams of those who immigrated from Thailand to America. In comparison, the book …

#35 Understanding In Lao, Victoria Gill

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This piece is a celebration, an interpretation, and translation of Lao words and of the Lao language as poetry. This poem dissects and discuss the differences between how the word "understand" is conceptualized and embodied in the Lao language versus English. Further, it shows how in Lao, there are even deeper nuances between what it means "to know" versus "to understand" in Lao.

A Review Of Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir Of Love, Loss, And Family Recipes, Engheang Nol

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

"Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes" by Chantha Nguon, with assistance from Kim Green, is a poignant exploration of the author's journey from a Cambodian refugee to a beacon of empowerment in her homeland. This review delves into the book's narrative structure, which intertwines personal anecdotes with culinary reflections, offering a unique lens into the complexities of Chantha’s personal life. Through a detailed analysis of select chapters, including "Chicken-Lime Soup for the Village Soul" and "Instant Noodles," the review examines themes of resilience, identity, and especially societal expectations for what and how Cambodian women should …

A Review Of Building Little Saigon, Manoka Y

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Building Little Saigon: Refugee Urbanism in American Cities and Suburbs by Erica Allen-Kim is a multidisciplinary exploration that integrates perspectives from urban studies, refugee studies, and cultural geography. In this book, Allen-Kim, a second-generation Korean American, draws on her own experiences living near Vietnamese American and Chinese communities. She examines how Little Saigon developed its identity and the ongoing challenges of establishing and sustaining these neighborhoods in American cities and suburbs.