Monkey Dance


In the film, Monkey Dance, we were shared with a few different stories from Cambodian American teenagers living in low-income towns. These youth are exposed to gang, violence, and drugs. One person, Sam, shared that his two older brothers did not graduate from high school so he feels pressured to finish high school and find a good job. He showed resistance by excelling in gymnastics which is a white dominated sport. Another teenager, Linda, shared that her family expects her to be a the traditional Cambodian woman who stays at home, takes care of the house, and doesn’t talk to boys. Linda said that her older sister had been incarcerated for shooting her boyfriend. As a result of being put in jail, people looked down on Linda’s family and expected her to fail. She resisted the negative expectations from her community by dancing and working extra hard in school. I think many Southeast Asian American folks who are trying to achieve higher education can resonate with Linda. Southeast Asians (especially Khmer, Lao, and Hmong folks) have lower graduation rates than other Asian subgroups and because of this, I think this sets a lot of low expectations for SEA students. Some SEA people (especially Khmer and Lao folks) are looked down on by many other Asians. Khmer and Lao folks are looked at as “the dirty Asians” or “the ghetto asians” who do drugs and partake in gang violence but here I am, a Khmer-identified student, showing resistance by trying to achieve higher education instead of staying at home and taking care of the house.

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