![\"cropped-Asian-in-minnesota.png\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/888\/2016\/07\/cropped-Asian-in-minnesota.png\")
<\/a>Beneath the North Star <\/em><\/strong>explores the multifaceted Southeast Asian population in Minnesota, the heartland of America. While the experiences of Asian immigrants are well documented on the coasts, the tales of those in the Midwest, especially those of the refugees, have been largely overlooked. A major goal of this project is to collect and present their experiences. How well did they settle in Minnesota? How did they face the challenges of assimilation, stereotype, and discrimination while keeping their own cultures, languages, traditions, family values, and identities? What does it mean to be an “American” and live an \u201cAmerican” life in Minnesota?<\/p>\nDuring the summer of 2016, the research team interviewed 16 Southeast Asian Americans, both first and second generation, who come\u00a0from diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Cambodian, Filipino, Karen, Vietnamese along with college professors and educational experts who have extensive knowledge and worked closely with Southeast Asian students. The stories that are presented here also encompass those participants with heritages from Indian-Thai, Malaysian, and Laotian in earlier research. For the most part, the semi-structured interviews took place on the St. Olaf campus as well as the homes of the informants. The interviews usually last between one and one and a half hour.<\/p>\n
Their stories bear some similarities. Many struggled between learning English and holding onto their heritage language. Others experienced some form of racism. All of them stressed education, family, and community as most important to them. However, there were also differences, chiefly regarding individual identity, ethnic labeling, and the idea of the \u201cAmerican Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
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[\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n
I just say . . . I don\u2019t know, kind of be open and be assertive in a sense, yeah. I feel like there are a quite a lot of Filipinos that \u00a0. . . kinda stick to their own crowd and . . . yeah. I think, especially if you\u2019re coming here, there are a lot of opportunities beyond just, you know, I think there\u2019s, it\u2019s nice to have people that understand you, you know like, the struggles from going from the Philippines to here. So it\u2019s nice to have that but . . . yeah, \u00a0be open. <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8o2Xlr6a9cY&feature=youtu.be”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” disabled_on=”on|on|off”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/QSfgcWxYTj4″]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n I think women, though speaking as a woman . . . I am probably thinking maybe because we want here, especially in the US, they work so hard for recognition. They want women to be empowered because . . . I have also seen cases myself even here. That if women don\u2019t have the skills, if they don\u2019t have the confidence, if they are not empowered enough, if they are not educated, if you are not visible, if you are not vocal, if you don\u2019t tell people what you want, people will just step on your hands sometimes. So . . . my advice to some of my friends is you have to go out there, tell people what you can do. But be nice, don\u2019t be mean. Be sensitive to issues.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” disabled_on=”on|on|off”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n You know if I just speak about the Cambodian community first, I think our challenge is to stay relevant. You know, we haven\u2019t got to the point where we are all succeeding in the United States here. \u00a0I, I, I think we, we fought very . . . very violently back against some of the hardships in America here.I think for the Cambodian Americans too . . . I think seeing themselves now being part of the greater Asian community is hard too because we are one of the smallest Cambodian pop–Asian populations in Minnesota, and even nationwide. So that\u2019s a struggle. For the Asian communities themselves, I think we struggle to unite and find one voice, and because we come from so many cultures and so many backgrounds that is really hard for us to talk about these struggles as the Asian American struggles. I think we tend to compare and say, \u201cThis is the Hmong American struggle,\u201d \u201cThis is the Cambodian American struggle\u201d, and I think we tend to fall into the area where we tend to fight against each other to see who struggle more, instead of working with each other to move forward. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve come to that point yet, and I think we need to soon.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_-v4YvOQLig”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” disabled_on=”on|on|off”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CMFG2rUQFEY”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always said to my girls, \u201cWhen you get older, whenever that happens, love what you do, who you do it for, and why you do it. If you don\u2019t love it, don\u2019t do it!\u201d I walked away from great pay, great salary, typical corporate job and said, \u201cI\u2019ll run a non profit because that seems it\u2019ll be \u2018loads of fun\u2019\u201d. And it hasn\u2019t been fun, but it\u2019s been so rewarding. And so I love what I do, and it defines me and who I am. But it doesn\u2019t define my family, it has–I certainly had to make sacrifices and things have been lost along the way, but my success is what I\u2019m doing right now. And at 43, being able to say that, that\u2019s great.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” disabled_on=”on|on|off”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n I think from my experience and what I\u2019ve gone through I would say that try to learn the language. To me, that is very important. Even if it is basic, but at least you can get around, you are able to do things by yourself, and also to be able to interact with others around you. Without that it\u2019s really hard to do so. I think also another thing is to try and take part in events or just, attend events that, you know, you see everywhere here in town. By doing that then you feel more at home, you know. You feel part of the community, and to me that\u2019s really important. And also the ability to share, you know, where you are from and share your culture, and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fPMtrC9IeGw”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Beneath the North Star explores the multifaceted Southeast Asian population in Minnesota, the heartland of America. 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