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Long Beach is home to approximately 500,000 Cambodian Americans, the largest Khmer population in the United States. But while attending classes in the Long Beach Unified School District, Savannah Shea said she rarely saw her community represented in the classroom each day.
“The only time I was taught anything about Cambodia was during the Khmer Rouge,” Tee said, referring to the communist regime that ruled the country in the 1970s. According to her history teacher, Cambodians were victims of genocide and war under that regime. There was no mention of the refugees who formed a thriving community in Long Beach along the Anaheim Corridor called Cambodia Town.
“I believe there is more to our culture than just a portion of its history,” Tee said.
But now students across California will have the opportunity to learn about Cambodian Americans and other Asian communities through the nation’s first Southeast Asian Studies model curriculum.
Although not required, K-12 teachers in the state have online access to dozens of suggested lesson plans on Hmong American, Vietnamese American, and Cambodian American history. , can be incorporated into the classroom. This curriculum can now be used by teachers as a whole or in smaller parts.
“It’s really important to center people who have experienced history and culture,” said Mariko Manos, director of history and social sciences at the Orange County Office of Education, who spearheaded the California Department of Education’s curriculum development. spoke. “To me, that’s what’s missing in our history books.”
The curriculum features dozens of lesson plans that explore the history of Asian Americans in the diaspora and how many of them arrived in the United States as war refugees.
“Most Americans have little understanding of how refugee communities formed in the United States,” says Katariya Um, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Om, who was a child refugee, said the United States does not recognize its role in the collapse of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, which contributes to her community’s historical trauma.
“‘We are here because of you,'” Umm said, quoting the late Ambalavana Sivanandan, an activist and author on postcolonial migration. Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese, and Hmong refugees are “the human legacy of wars in which the United States was involved.”
Chan Hobson, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, will speak on “Stories of Resilience and Genocide Survival” at the Long Beach convention.
(Michael Blacksher/Los Angeles Times)
For Umu, what is important about this particular Southeast Asian curriculum is the conscious centering of community voices. The Orange County Office of Education listened to feedback from Hmong, Vietnamese and Cambodian Americans dozens of times as the basis for the study.
Last month, the Orange County Department of Education hosted a two-day academic conference at the Long Beach Hilton to develop the Cambodian American Model Studies Curriculum. More than 500 people participated from as far away as Florida.
“The great thing about this project is that it was built by the community, for the community,” said Tori Fu, one of the Orange County Office of Education’s curriculum program specialists.
Phu grew up in Santa Ana and visited Little Saigon with his family every weekend, but his parents didn’t talk much about their experiences during the Vietnam War. She hopes the curriculum will bridge the gap for refugee children like her who have never heard the full story.
“As you progress through the curriculum, you will hear stories that may relate to your uncles, aunts, moms, dads, and grandpas,” she said, crying happy tears.
Cambodia Town Chairman Sithea Sang gave a video interview during the Cambodia-American Studies Conference held at the Hilton Long Beach last month.
(Michael Blacksher/Los Angeles Times)
teach compassion
But Fu said the curriculum also aims to engage students from all backgrounds who might relate to these stories.
“There are threads of connection to other cultures, not just Vietnamese students or students born of Vietnamese refugees.”
Tawhida Graham, a fifth-grade teacher in the San Diego Unified School District, said the Long Beach conference broadened her perspective as a non-Cambodian-American educator.
“As an African American, I know I have a story. [listened] The story of the killing fields…the year I was born [in] 1979,” Graham said. “I think this just brings to light the fact that we all carry so much trauma.”
Ms. Graham plans to share what she learned from the conference with her younger students.
Sitaly Lee holds a postcard depicting a man wearing traditional Cambodian costume and playing the Skor Tom drum.
(Michael Blacksher/Los Angeles Times)
Opportunity to heal and be resilient
For many scholars and activists, the new curriculum felt like a long-awaited recognition after erasure and neglect have left Southeast Asian communities less heard and underserved. According to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center, Asian Americans have the widest income gap. Approximately 1 in 10 Asian Americans live in poverty, compared to 17% of Hmong Americans and twice that number, nearly 1 in 5 Cambodian Americans. It will be.
“If we don’t know about different communities and their experiences, we won’t have federal money to fund different community efforts,” said Laura Oak, who wrote about the Cambodian American curriculum. say.
Chia Van, history professor and associate dean for inclusion at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, sees the three-pillar curriculum as a testament to the resilience of Southeast Asian communities. Her family resettled in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has the highest concentration of Hmong people living in the United States.
“People didn’t think we could survive in this country because we came from a more agricultural background,” Vann said. “A curriculum like this completely goes against these predictions. In fact, we’ve not only survived, but we’ve really thrived because we tell our stories in this way.”
Ethnic studies has faced a national backlash, but other states, such as Wisconsin, may follow California’s lead. Last year, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill requiring Hmong Americans and Asian Americans to attend K-State through 12th grade.
Tee was raised by her grandmother, listening to stories about Cambodians and performing traditional Cambodian classical dance with the Modern Apsara Company. But she said many Cambodian Americans don’t have the same access to their culture and history.
“It’s very sad to see kids my age not being able to talk to their grandparents because of the language barrier,” Tee said.
But she’s looking forward to the opportunity for younger generations like her baby cousins to learn about their communities through the curriculum.
“I’ve been waiting for this to happen for a long time, and I hope the next generation can know more about their culture,” Tee said.
Joy Okada (left) and Laura Oak pose for a portrait after speaking on “Cambodian American English Studies Course: Authentic Strategies and Approaches to Teaching Cambodian American History.” Mr. (right).
(Michael Blacksher/Los Angeles Times)
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