Introducing this collection of personal narratives, renowned author Sucheng Chan presents a history of Vietnam that enables readers to understand the larger historical, social, and political contexts within which the refugee exodus occurred between 1975 and 1997. The heart of the book consists of vivid personal testimonies written by members of the 1.5 generation of Vietnamese Americans when they were students at various campuses of the University of California. Six of the stories recall the April 1975 evacuation on U.S. military aircraft and naval vessels; nine tell tragic but ultimately triumphant tales of the "boat people" who fled by sea and were confined in refugee camps in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Hong Kong while awaiting resettlement abroad. As testaments to the strength of human beings who persevere against severe odds in horrifying circumstances, the stories are gripping and inspiring. The book's bibliography and videography serve as guides to students, teachers, and other readers who may be interested in more in-depth knowledge about particular topics.
Sucheng Chan is Professor Emerita of Asian American Studies and Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Though her Ph.D. is in political science, she retooled herself as a historian while teaching Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley because so many questions that students asked could only be answered through historical research. She is the author or editor of 18 books, 5 of which have received awards: This Bittersweet Soil: The Chinese in California Agriculture, 1860-1910; Asian Americans: An Interpretive History; Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America; Claiming America: Constructions of Chinese American Identities during the Exclusion Era; and Survivors: Cambodian Refugees in the United States. Her other books have likewise been influential in the field. She has also written dozens of articles and book chapters, some of which have won awards.
A dedicated teacher, she is the recipient of 2 Distinguished Teaching Awards (the first from the University of California, Berkeley in 1978 and the second from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1998), as well as awards for service to students, the campus community, and the profession. She was the first Asian American woman to be appointed as a provost in the 10-campus University of California system, becoming Provost of Oakes College at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1984. She moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1988, where she transformed the Asian American Studies Program into a full-fledged department in 1994, chairing the program and then the department from 1988 to 1997. She is also a co-founder of the Global Studies Program on the same campus.
She retired at age 60 in 2001 because the post-polio syndrome from which she has suffered for many years made it impossible to continue teaching. She has continued to write and is presently working on three book manuscripts: Asian America in Global Perspective; Vietnamese Refuge-Seekers and the Politics of Resettlement; and The Japanese in California Agriculture: Land, Labor, Race, and the Law, 1900-1942.
