Southeast Asian in the US - Essay Example

South East Asian in the US Secondary Migration is a term used to define a child whose coming of age in America was the product of one of the following scenarios. The first scenario is that the child came to the USA at a very young age with his parents (First Generation Migrants). Since the children are too young to remember anything about their original roots, they become acclimatized to the US way of life thus making them secondary migrants in the country. However, the most common form of secondary migration is seen through the birth of the child of primary migration parents on American soil.

It is important to understand the term Secondary Migration because it clearly defines why a South East Asian parentage child would consider himself purely American instead of a product of what they commonly term “the old world” of their parents. Midway to nowhere on the other hand, defines the state of mind that a refugee who fled his homeland in a panic oftentimes has. Refugees in this state of mind arrive in their country or place of asylum without any concrete plans and is forced to choose among three choices for his future.

The first choice is to return home. Second, remain where he landed in his quest for asylum. Or third, Accept the offer of other countries for refuge in his quest for asylum. All these choices face a person who left his land without any solid plans except to survive which is he, later on in his life, sometimes exhibits regret in his final decision. This is an experience usually shared by the Viet refugees in America. It is a decision that has them always thinking about the old world and sometimes, sees them taking the secondary migration family members back to their country of roots in order to relive their past lives.

Works Cited“Migrant Literature”. wikipedia.com. Wikipedia. nd. Web. 4 Nov. 2011. Stein, Barry N. “The Experience of Being a Refugee: Insights From the Research Literature”. Refugees and Mental Health. The Refugee Experience. nd. Web 5 Nov. 2011.