Full Dissertation

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA! CRUZ ENCOUNTERING MEMORY AND TRAUMA: TRANSGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF TRAUMA IN CAMBODIAN! AMERICANS A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction! of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY! in! SOCIOLOGY! by! Yvonne Y.! Kwan June !2015 ! The Dissertation of Yvonne Y. Kwan is !approved: _________________________________ !Professor Dana Takagi, chair _________________________________ !Professor Hiroshi Fukurai _________________________________ ! Professor Kimberly Lau _____________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Table of Contents Table of Contents .........................................................................................................iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................v List of Tables .................................................................................................................vi Abstract .......................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ix Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................1 Background ..............................................................................................................4 Critical Intersections: CRT, AsianCrit, and Critical Refugee Studies ...................10 The Cambodian (Auto)Genocide ..........................................................................17 Dissertation Overview ............................................................................................23 Chapter 2: An Affect of Trauma .................................................................................30 What is Affect? .......................................................................................................32 Theories of Trauma ...............................................................................................36 Terminologies .........................................................................................................82 Latent Articulations and the Affective Force of Transgenerational Trauma .........87 Methodology ..........................................................................................................89 Chapter 3: Stories of Trauma as Time Image Episodes ...........................................101 Historical Genealogy of Trauma: Reading Against the Grain ............................103 Affect, Trauma, and Subjecthood ........................................................................115 Recounting the Traumas of War .........................................................................122 The Extended Present: Coming to Terms With Their Past ................................171 Chapter 4: Trauma Formation ..................................................................................178 Beyond Chronos & Kairos: Trauma and the Rupture of Linear Temporalities .180 Trauma and Affect Formation .............................................................................183 Unmaking and Reimagining Trauma ..................................................................188 Mental Health ......................................................................................................205 Non-Verbal Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma ...................................210 Productive Nature of Trauma .............................................................................226 "iii Conclusion ...........................................................................................................248 Chapter 5: The Positive Affect of Trauma and Identity Formation ..........................253 Critical Race Theory in Education ......................................................................257 Cultural Identity Development ............................................................................260 Positive Affect of Trauma ....................................................................................264 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................303 Chapter 6: Encountering Memory and Trauma .......................................................307 Contributions to the Field ....................................................................................313 Direction of Future Research ..............................................................................315 Appendix A ................................................................................................................319 Appendix B ................................................................................................................320 Appendix C ................................................................................................................338 Appendix D ................................................................................................................340 References ..................................................................................................................341 "iv List of Figures Figure 1.1 Concurrent Mixed Methods .......................................................................23 Figure 2.1 Traditional Trauma Frameworks and Approaches ....................................31 Figure 2.2 An Affective Study of Trauma ...................................................................36 Figure 4.1 Hypothesized Relationship Between War Trauma, Educational Background, Income, and Mental Health ...........................................................196 Figure 4.2 Mechanisms of Transmission and Manifestations of Transgenerational Trauma .................................................................................................................226 ! "v List of Tables Table 1.1 Methodology ................................................................................................23 Table 1.2 Participant Characteristics ...........................................................................24 Table 3.1 Transmission of Family History and Parents’ Eagerness to Share ............152 Table 3.2 Percentage of Self-Identified Cambodians Whose Parents or Family Members Have Experienced the Following Traumatic Events ............................161 Table 4.1 2013 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates ..............................193 Table 4.2 Percentage of Self-Identified Cambodians Who Indicated that Either One or Both Parents Have Ever Displayed the Following Symptoms .........................207 Table 4.3 Percentage of Self-Identified Cambodian Who Indicated That They Felt The Following Response to Their Parents’ Trauma ............................................227 ! "vi Abstract Encountering Memory and Trauma: Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma in Cambodian Americans Yvonne Y. Kwan This dissertation addresses the ways in which trauma and violent histories may be transmitted from one generation to the next, particularly via the older generation’s use of narrative fragments, caesuras, and/or silences. It widens the sociological understanding of subjecthood and affect—not just via theoretical interventions but through a mixed methods, data driven analysis of 27 interviews and 69 surveys with Cambodian American college students and graduates from California. First, this study explicates how refugee subjecthood (i.e., the quality of being a refugee subject) does not require discursive utterance or identity naming but instead revolves around an affect of trauma—the positive, negative, and neutral feelings, emotions, and sensations that are elicited in the daily lives of refugee subjects. Instead of just theorizing that trauma reaches beyond the individual who has suffered some sort of catastrophic event, this research provides evidence that better informs individual-based medical and psychological research. Second, by making claims about how trauma is a formation, this research shows how trauma is neither stable nor discrete and is always subject to discursive and affective rearticulation. Trauma is therefore inherently social and collective because it references structures and people at the macro- (e.g., laws, policies, and war), meso- (e.g., community and groups), and "vii micro- (e.g., families and individuals) levels. Third, this study speaks to a specificity of the Southeast Asian diaspora/refugee experience, one that is both raced and classed. "viii Acknowledgements It is difficult for me to succinctly acknowledge all who have been central to the completion of my dissertation. But first and foremost, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to my department and dissertation committee: Dana Takagi, Hiroshi Fukurai, and Kim Lau. As I get ready to embark on my postdoctoral work, I already feel the tremendous sadness that I will have when I will no longer have immediate access to you all. I appreciate how each and everyone of you have always been so supportive, even when you are critiquing my work and pushing me to develop my theoretical analyses. Dana, I will miss our meetings—talking about theory, control variables, doggie digestive issues, and so on. Hiroshi, I hope to one day be able to become a fraction of the inspirational and dedicated mentor you are

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