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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. 35 mm slides or 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Accessing theUMI World’s Information since 1938 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Order Number 8820660 Family, ethnicity, and power: Chinese Cambodian refugees in the Washington metropolitan area Hackett, Beatrice Nied, Ph.D. The American University, 1988 Copyright ©1988 by Hackett, Beatrice Nied. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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Curling and wrinkled pages______ 15. Dissertation contains pages with print at a slant, filmed as received_________ 16. Other _______________________________________________________________________ UMI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. FAMILY, ETHNICITY, AND POWER: CHINESE CAMBODIAN REFUGEES IN THE WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA By Beatrice Nied Hackett submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology Signatures of Committee Chairman ../ w j )ean of* the College April 18, 1988 Date 1988 The American University Washington, D.C. 20016 A d z THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © COPYRIGHT BY BEATRICE NIED HACKETT 1988 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. FAMILY, ETHNICITY, AND POWER: CHINESE CAMBODIAN REFUGEES IN THE WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA BY Beatrice Nied Hackett ABSTRACT An important urban minority in Cambodia, ethnic Chinese suffered greatly under Pol Pot's regime after the 1975 Khmer Rouge victory. Emphasis on a "pure" Khmer people and a policy of agricultural revolution meant that Chinese ethnic society was destroyed and their families decimated. In 1979, some Khmer and Chinese were able to flee Cambodia and a small number of ethnic Chinese Cambodian refugees eventually settled in the Washington metropolitan area. Because the family is the most salient unit of Chinese society, the dissertation seeks 1) to describe how the area's Chinese from Cambodia are re-forming families and kin-based groups, 2) to see whether and/or how the re­ formed groups further constitute an ethnic group, and 3) from their history and experience, to ascertain what individual, family, and ethnic identity means in contexts of fluctuating power. Data for the research was gathered from observation, structured questionnaires, and, most importantly, life ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. stories. The life stories, divided into sub-texts and arranged by categories suggested by the data, are analyzed for principles and patterns underlying the said and unsaid. Data show Chinese Cambodian refugees are re-forming families and kin-based units by marrying and bearing children, bringing surviving family members together, and using the intricate and flexible Chinese kinship system to pull distantly related kin and non-related friends into closer circles of kinship. There is no evidence that Chinese Cambodians are acting as an ethnic group yet, rather they are emphasizing families as repositories of ethnic identity. Refugee status acts as an ethnic marker separating them from other groups, including the area's older Chinese community, and encouraging greater participation in the host community. Looking at the data differently to focus on incentives and constraints under which Chinese Cambodians make choices, patterns of general behavior are discernible: Chinese Cambodian refugees value their families and their behavior generally, specifically, and consistently promotes family welfare; redefinitions of identity allow ethnic and/or family identity to contract or expand with other identities; and Chinese Cambodian refugees are accruing resources lost during Pol Pot. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Of all the people I wish to thank for being my "teachers" during this research, my sincere gratitude goes first to the ethnic Chinese Cambodian refugees who taught me much by telling me their stories, crying and laughing with me as I tried to understand. I am grateful to other teachers as well: Dr. Geoffrey Burkhart, my advisor and chairperson, and Drs. Ruth Landman and Linda Bennett of my dissertation committee. With great sensitivity they guided me as good teachers do and helped me understand the theoretical, ethnological, and practical process I was attempting. Dr. Phyllis Chock of The Catholic University gave me her assistance as I worked out the method I had chosen to analyze the data. The members of the Anthropology Department dissertation seminar were teachers of another kind. As interested colleagues, they challenged and commented on early presentations of methodological and theoretical ideas I was forming. They too deserve my thanks. My thanks too, to my husband Cliff for his support and interest— a teaching example of the virtue of patience. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress and the Washingtoniana Division of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Library provided the basic maps included in the dissertation. Finally, I am grateful to The American University for its support in the form of tuition awards and a Dissertation Fellowship which enabled me to finish the study with a minimum of financial worries, and to Dr. Barbara Gordon for advice and assistance. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . .............................. iv Chapter I. AIMS AND THEORETICAL APPROACH ............... 1 A i m s ........................................... 1 Theoretical Approach ........................ 2 Ethnic Boundaries .......................... 4 "Dynamic" Ethnicity ........................ 5 Primordial Ethnicity ........................ 6 Circumstantial Ethnicity ................... 6 The Concepts as Guideposts ................. 7 Origin and Focus of Study..................... 8 Choice of Topic ............................ 8 Focus of Study .............................. 9 Clarifications and Definitions ............... 10 Cambodia and Its Chinese Minority............. 12 Geographical and Early Historical Background................................ 13 The Chinese in Cambodia ................... 15 The Economic Importance of the Chinese in Cambodia .............................. 19 Chinese Community Organization in Cambodia.................................. 22 After World War I I .......................... 24 Cambodian Chinese in the Washington Area . 33 II. FIELDWORK, METHODOLOGY, AND PRESENTATION OF D A T A .......................................