Indochina's Refugees: Oral Histories from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam [Hardcover]

Joanna C. Scott (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0899504159 | ISBN-13: 978-0899504155 | Publication Date: July 1989

This poignant collection of oral histories tells the stories of nine Laotians, four Cambodians and nine Vietnamese: what their lives were like before 1975, what happened after the Communist takeover that made them decide to flee their native countries, and how they escaped. The storytellers (housewife, Amerasian child, schoolteacher, government clerk, military officer, security agent, Buddhist monk, artist) create a broad and moving picture of the new realities of contemporary Indochina.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These 22 memoirs focus on life after the Communist victories of 1975 and escape by land or sea. Unlike the accounts in The Far East Comes Near: Autobiographical Accounts of Southeast Asian Students in America ( LJ 7/89), the stories in this book are all from refugees at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center who have not yet reached the United States. They are an older group of survivors from a wide range of backgrounds. Each story is preceded by comments by the author on the storyteller or on life in and outside the Processing Center. Appendixes listing the names of inmates in four "seminar" camps in Laos are included. Recommended for most libraries.
- Charles R. Bryant, Yale Univ. Libs.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A rare book. Of the countless number of books containing interviews with refugees, this is by far the most balanced, best written, and most historically accurate." 
----Journal of Refugee Studies

"A perspective which is totally new. Scott has succeeded in providing some original historical research on a group of people who might otherwise have been forgotten."   ----VOYA

"Unique perspectives and details about the political situations of these countries."  ----South East Asian Refugee Studies Newsletter

"Offers a wealth of information about traditional Vietnamese culture and society . . . essential reading."   ----CHOICE

"Stories that Americans have been reluctant to listen to -- non-American participants' stories of the horrors of the Vietnam war." ----Oral History Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 326 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (July 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899504159
• ISBN-13: 978-0899504155
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,893,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joanna Catherine Scott (1943--) was born in England during an air raid over London, raised in Australia by a rabidly religious mother and a phlegmatic engineer father, married way too young, divorced, fell in love again and came with her American husband to live in the US where, aside from a couple of years in the Philippines, she has lived below the Mason Dixon line ever since. Her five novels and oral history collection have all been based on true life stories, giving voice to the voiceless. Her poetry tells stories too. She has six children, three Australian and three adopted Korean, as well as a young man whom she met while he was on death row whom she regards as her seventh child. A Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, she is a graduate of Adelaide and Duke Universities and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her website is www.joannacatherinescott.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Favor Of Freedom, July 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Indochina's Refugees: Oral Histories from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam (Hardcover)

Stories that American have been reluctant to listen to-non-American participants' stories of the horrors of the Vietnam War itself, of escape from new but undemocratic countries, of conflict-ridden adjustment...personal details about the effects of the war...Scott's collection is prefaced by a dramatic frontispiece, a painting by a Vietnamese artist that depicts boat people on the high seas, titles "A people forced to go a dangerous drama across feats of darkness and turbulent seas in favor of freedom." Collected from Cambodians, Laotians, and Vietnamese in Philippine refugee camps in October 1985 [through] May 1 1986, these twenty-five stories are the testimonies closest in time to many of the events they describes. Scott identifies empathetically with the refugees' search for "the freedom land," as well as with those who failed to come here. In lengthy appendices, she provides maps of the Laotian reeducation camps and memorializing lists of those who have disappeared in them. Pictures of the refugees in the Philippine camps supplement the written stories. Some narratives are told by camp advisors; some are presented by "Name Withheld." While one story was given to Scott "in perfect English," others were told only through an interpreter. Scott presents her subjects' narratives entire, occasionally segmented by asterisks, with provocative titles ("The Hope of Ho Chi Minh Is Fallen Now") and with brief headnotes characterizing the individual or the historical situation. The narratives are occasionally quite long; almost all are organized chronologically... Here is Khamsamong Somvong, a former first lieutenant in the Royal Lao army: "In the seminar camp there were a few men who were Communists. They were there to execute the policy of the Politburo. And it was they who decided who should be killed in the camp. We were supposed to respect the Party only. If one of the Communists said, `This is red,' we had to say, `Yes, this is red.' If we said, `No, this is black,' we would be killed. So I lived a very hard life in there. I saw many people killed before me."--Oral History Review 21/2 (Winter, 1993)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing Stories, July 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Indochina's Refugees: Oral Histories from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam (Hardcover)

Indochina's refugees, who in jungle death camps felt the chill of the heart or saw life turn cold in crowded boats, give their harrowing stories in this collection

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for Most Libraries, July 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Indochina's Refugees: Oral Histories from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam (Hardcover)

These 22 memoirs focus on life after the Communist victories of 1975 and escape by land or sea. The stories are all from refugees at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center who have not yet reached the United States. They are an older group of survivors from a wide range of backgrounds. Each story is preceded by comments by the author on the storyteller or on life in and outside the Processing Center. Appendices listing the names of inmates in four "seminar" camps in Laos are included. Recommended for most libraries.--Library Journal, August 198