Jane's mother immigrated to the United States in 1990 after marrying Jane's American father in Vietnam. Financially it was difficult for the family as Jane's father's business partner took all the money. Jane's mother had to quit college and take a minimum wage job. Jane grew up speaking both English and Vietnamese in the home. While she considers herself American, she identifies ethnically as half white and half Vietnamese. Jane credits her own hard work and God for her educational achievements, though her mother still sees her as not successful despite pursuing higher education.

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Immigration experiences can come in all shapes and sizes, many different ways, and
include different outcomes. Refugees, economic migrants, and undocumented immigrants all
have their own reasons for coming to the United States, but there is another experience of
immigration to taken into account: migration due to marriage. Intermarriage is an important part
of the assimilation process that comes with immigrating to the United States. It is an indicator of
assimilation as well as a facilitator of assimilation, Cynthia Feliciano explains in lecture (2015).
Intermarrying as a 1st generation can have multiple effects on you and the children, as well as
how they perform throughout their education. In the following narrative, I interview a young
woman who has dual frames of reference which shape the way she views her mother’s
immigration experience and ultimately her education.
Jane is a 21 year old, Vietnamese-American college student. A pseudonym is used to here
to protect the privacy of the participant. Jane’s mother moved from Vietnam to Southern
California in 1990 after she married an American man in Vietnam. In the interview, Jane
explained that her mother moved to American because her husband lived there and “there was a
more promising future.” Jane’s mother did complete college in Vietnam but did not get her
degree because she would have had to stay to work for the government. Latinos and Asians with
college education are more likely to intermarry (Feliciano Lecture 2015). Her mom and dad were
given $5000 by Jane’s grandfather to find a place to move when they came to the United States.
Jane talked about how they lived in Diamond Bar for a few months with Jane’s aunt and then
rented in Norwalk for a few years. While her father’s family is originally from the east coast, her
mother had a brother and sister in California because they came over a few years earlier. Family
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reunification is one of the main reasons that people migrate as we learned in the first few weeks
of class.
While almost every immigrant has the American Dream in mind when migrating to the
United States, it does not always work out to everyone’s favor. Jane recalls stories that her
mother would tell her about first moving to the United States.
“Financially, it was tough. My dad had a business, but his partner took all the money and
disappeared. My mom had to quit school here and picked up a minimum wage job she
found in the newspaper. She still has that job.”
This is a prime example of how migration can change the dynamic of a family. In these types of
situations, women often gain power (Feliciano Lecture 05/14/2015). Jane’s mom had to find
work outside the home due to necessity and opportunity. Jane’s father passed away in the year of
2000, ten years after him and his new bride moved from Vietnam to the United States. This was a
huge decline in patriarchy for Jane’s family at this time. In this situation, the wife is not the
household head and has to make decisions for the whole family. Jane and her mom had to co-
raise Jane’s baby sister. “My parents were very strict with me and very lenient with her. My mom
continues to spoil her to this day,” Jane explained. Those are the things her and her mother
generally disagree on.
The decisions that Jane’s parents made when they got married have ultimately affect Jane
in a number of ways. When asking Jane how she, personally, identifies, she tells me that she is
half white and half Vietnamese. She considers herself American simply because she has
citizenship in America. In an article entitled “‘Not Mexican-American, but Mexican’: Shifting
ethnic self-identifications among children of Mexican immigrants” by Tovar and Feliciano, we
learn that how a person identifies changes over time (2009). Being half white and half
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Vietnamese is all Jane has ever known. On the flip side, society identifies people in a different
way. “Excluded from the collective memory of who constitutes as a “real” American, Asians in
the United States, even as citizens, remain “foreigners-within” — “non-Americans” (Espiritu
2001). Although society identifies people racially, people personally identify themselves
ethnically.
Jane has visited Vietnam twice since her mother migrated here in 1990. She told me with
firmness that she would never think about living in Vietnam. She grew up in a home speaking
English and Vietnamese simultaneously. While she can understand the language fluently,
speaking it is still very difficult. Because Jane has grown up in a home with Vietnamese and
American influence, she has experienced dual frames of reference. This includes selective
acculturation in which the children learn english and some american ways while still retaining
the parents’ language and cultural forms (Feliciano Lecture 05/14/2015). Thinking about this, I
was curious about the ways that this ultimately affected Jane’s education.
Research shows that all racial and ethnic groups highly value education; interestingly
enough, blacks value education more than asians. When talking about how far Jane has gone in
her own education, she gives credit to herself and to God’s full blessing. Jane’s parents always
wanted her to go to college and was included in much of the college planning. Her time in
college has not been easy, taking time off to work and make money for the past four years. As we
have seen throughout the quarter, immigrants parents often stress the need to get a higher
education and the children often are restricted by finances and end up paying their own way or
taking out loans (Flores 2007). Jane is currently still making her way through her undergraduate
career after graduating high school four years ago. When continuing with the conversation, I
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asked her if she considers herself successful, she said “Absolutely. I have a long way to go but I
have worked hard to pursue the opportunities God gave me.” I found it interesting that instead of
giving credit to her parents, she continually talks about the opportunities that God gave her. In
certain ways, Jane has gone through creolization which is the combination of old and new aspect
of culture to create new cultural patterns. Since Jane has been so high-achieving, as an outcome
of that, has rejected the traditional roles and is going away to college.
While in some ways Jane cooperates with her immigrant mother, there are sources of
conflict that were mentioned in the interview. She notes that her and her mother do not see eye-
to-eye on how raise the youngest child. Jane lost her father when she was very young leading to
co-parenting between Jane and her mother. She mentions that her parents were very strict with
her [Jane] and very lenient with the little sister. This is an example of dissonant acculturation.
Dissonant acculturation occurs when the child learns of American ways and loses their parent’s
culture. This leads to losing authority over the child as well as losing respect from the child. In
Jane’s case, I feel as if she experienced a combination of dissonant and selective acculturation.
Jane’s final words in the interview certainly struck a chord with my own being. I asked
her if she had anything else to say about her experience as a child of an immigrant:
My mother never let me forget how hard it was for her back in Vietnam, and she would
always compare how independent they had to be in Vietnam and how what we do here is
not enough. She also made sure to remind me daily that she didn’t come here for us to not
take advantage of all the opportunities we were given.
Although she has not face much discrimination from society, her mother does not find Jane
successful even though Jane believes that she is. Her mother’s immigration experience has had a
noticeable affect on Jane as she is driven to do whatever it takes to make her dreams alive. She
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does give credit elsewhere along the way but her mother has been her main motivation through
many of the obstacles she faced. Many immigrants face these similar obstacles when obtaining
higher education including financial instability and struggle in the family dynamic.
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Works Cited
Espiritu, Yen L. 2001 "We don't sleep around like white girls do": Family, Culture, and in filipina
american lives." Signs 26(2):415-440.
Flores, Glenda M. et al. 2014 "The Social Dynamics Channelling Latina College Graduates into
the Teaching Profession." Gender, work and organization 21(6):491-515. Retrieved from
on Jan 1, 1980
Tovar, Jessica and Feliciano, Cynthia. 2009 "‘‘Not Mexican-American, but Mexican’’: Shifting
ethnic self-identifications among children of Mexican immigrants." Latino Studies
7:197-221.
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Interview Notes
My dad was born in the US and my mom came in 1990. I was born here in the United
States. My mom came here after she married my dad in Vietnam. My mom came to live
right away.
My mom moved to America after marrying my dad in Vietnam because he lived here and there
was a more promising future. She planned to stay in America. She had a green card because she
married my dad who was an American citizen. My mom and dad had $5000 from my grandpa to
find a place to move. They lived in Diamond Bar for a few months with my aunt, then rented an
apartment in Norwalk for a few years. My dad had family on the east coast, and my mom had
her sister and brother on the west coast because they came over a few years earlier. Financially it
was tough. My dad had a business, but his partner took all the money and disappeared. My
mom had to quit school here (she was going for her American degree in engineering) and picked
up a minimum wage job she found in the newspaper. She has kept that job ever since.
I believe so, but I think they would have planned differently financially. [[Parents would have
done the big immigration move again]]
Visited the country of Vietnam twice, definitely does not want to go live there
I learned English and Vietnamese simultaneously
Speaks mostly english at home now. Grew up speaking English. Understand Vietnamese fluently
but speaking it is a little difficult. Mainly speaks Vietnamese with mom’s friends who don’t
know English. Prefers to speak English.
Not personally [negative feelings or prejudice or discrimination], but I've watched it happen to
my mom. The fact that she is Asian and has an accent or says some things incorrectly usually
causes people to either make fun of her by putting her down, or simply assume she was in the
wrong.
When people ask what ethnicity she is. I tell them I am half white, half Vietnamese.
Strongly identifies as this ethnicity and thinks of herself as an American. To be an American it
means to have citizenship in America.
Thinks there is a thing as a stereotype for Asians. Definitely. It is assumed that Asians are smart,
good at math, and bad drivers. Yes [[voted in elections]], because I believe it’s important to use
the voice we have to shape our own future. If I don’t take the opportunity I have to change the
country, I have no right to complain.
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I am currently in college at a university level. I’ve only been able to go to college because of my
desire to go, and God’s full blessing. My parents always wanted me to go to college. It was
talked about quite a bit in the way they always included me in college planning. It was just
expected the way we are all expected to get a high school diploma.
Currently works as Children’s Ministry Preschool Director and Receptionist Ministry. In the past
I mostly nannied, babysat, and tutored, but I also worked in both public and private schools as
teaching assistants, extended care teacher, summer camp counselor, and behavioral aide.
[[Experiences in the labor force]] They’ve been incredible. My mom allowed me to pursue my
biggest passions and God surrounded me with incredible opportunities.
I plan to finish my bachelor’s degree, get my teaching credential, start a school, and pursue my
Master’s degree in Youth and Family Ministry and Administration. Success: Absolutely. I have a
long way to go but I’ve worked hard to pursue the opportunities God gave me. Success is
stewarding what you have been given well. My mom does not consider me successful though.
We have different definitions of success.
My mom deals cards for big games at a casino. I would never consider that job because of the
way my mom talks about it. It’s just something she did to provide for her family.
We(mom and her) generally disagree on most things. We would usually disagree on how to raise
my sister. I have one full sister who was always considered the baby and my mom continues to
spoil her to this day. My parents were very strict with me and very lenient with her. I also have
2 half sisters and a half brother who were all raised long before I was born. My dad and their
mom were white.1
I think being female has really made it easier for me to achieve my goals in the education field.
It can be more difficult for a male to work with children. People tend to be more cautious with
males.
My mom never let me forget how hard it was for her back in Vietnam, and she would
always compare how independent they had to be in Vietnam and how what we do here is
not enough. She also made sure to remind me daily that she didn’t come here for us to not
take advantage of all the opportunities we were given.
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