4/25 "Laotian Daughters" & "Monkey Dance" Film

            The “Politics of Race” article discusses the struggling efforts of a Laotian community to fight for their social rights by demanding equal access to rights such as a multilingual emergency warning system, effective high school counseling, and the fight against Proposition 227. The APEN and LOP both served significant roles in causing the political mobilization and participation that was crucial in securing the rights they fought for. In fact, it was capable of bringing together multiple minority groups, like Latinos and African Americans, and even brought in the leadership of the youth, as they collectively worked against the same goals of securing their belonging in the United States. The idea of Laotian women, more importantly the entire Asian Pacific American ethnic group, being stereotyped as incapable of engaging in political activism is an overly-believed myth that can be undermined by the activism mentioned in the article. The efforts of the community in their demand for social rights is an example of Gramsci’s idea of a “counter-hegemony” as the Laos community resist against the cultural oppression established in their government, education, and politics.

            The “Monkey Dance” film shown in class captures intimate scenes in the lives of multiple families in a lower-class living environment. It demonstrates culture resistance in multiple spaces of culture. For example, Sam is a Southeast Asian gymnast in a white-dominant sport acting against the hegemonic Asian masculinity in sports. Linda acts against the expected role of a female to stay home and do housework by wanting to socialize with friends, rather than only indulging in Cambodian dancing as her father wishes. She is also working to prove the public wrong by being successful in high school, despite the pressure of not becoming like her sister in jail. Sam, as a worker in a local grocery store, demonstrates an act of resistance by performing a job in his own manner because he wanted to prove his employer that he could do it in a better, more smarter way. The film recreates the monkey dance by infusing break-dancing, influenced by the urban class youth of color. In doing this, it is challenging what is originally seen as proper culture. "Monkey Dance" relates to this week's article because it reveals how Asian American youth respond and behave in underfunded and resource-deprived communities.