"We Are the Real, Original Refugees": The Dynamic Nature of Processes of Vietnamese Refugees' Self-Conceptualization. Issue 2 (3rd April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tran, Grace
• Is Part Of: Journal of immigrant & refugee studies. Volume 20:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 307
• Page End: 320
• Publication Date: 2022-04-03
• Subjects: Refugees -- migrants -- Vietnam -- Canada -- identity -- symbolic boundary work; Immigrants -- United States -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Refugees -- United States -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Social work with immigrants -- United States -- Periodicals; 362.8753097305
• DOI: 10.1080/15562948.2021.2010156
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1556-2948

Abstract

Abstract: This paper unpacks 20 Vietnamese-Canadians' sentiments of indifference toward or opposition to Canada's resettlement of Syrian refugees. I argue that participants center their understanding of 'refugee' around their diasporic journeys on boats to memorialize their visceral suffering and to position themselves as deserving of entry into Canada atop a hierarchy of legitimacy. In doing so, participants police 'refugee' as an identity category to reassert themselves as refugees and Syrians as migrants, thus constructing Vietnamese refugees' pathways to citizenship as more legitimate. This article highlights how refugees' self-understandings may be relational and evolve as new arrivals hold the same identity.