5/16

I think people who are struggling with transnationalism can relate to this article, myself included. In this article, second-generation Laotian women discuss their struggle with trying to practice and keep their Laotian culture but also fit in and practice American culture. “...they talked about alienation as a result of not being able to communicate with their parents, parents comparing the lives of their children with their own adolescent lives in Laos, and parents not being able to grasp the pressures and demands of living and going to school in urban, multicultural, poor neighbors.” I relate to this quote a lot because I am a second-generation Cambodian American woman who is trying to connect with my Cambodian culture. I also sometimes feel alienated because of the language barrier that comes between me and my parents. They can’t perfectly speak English and I can’t perfectly or even close to fluently speak Khmer which makes me feel alienated. Even though I don’t go to school in an urban, poor neighborhood, I still notice that my parents have a hard time understanding the struggle I go through regarding going to college and trying to achieve a higher education.

In Said’s film, it was discussed that Orientalism is often seen in a negative way. He first noticed the issue through readings about Arabs. He noticed that Arabs were portrayed in a negative manner and because of that, westerners view the people in the Middle East as underdeveloped and below the people living in The United States. The women are often seen as being “exotic” which is problematic and highly offensive because it implies that women of color are inferior to white women in terms of appearance. Unfortunately, this is still an issue today thanks to the media. The concept of orientalism has shaped westerners into thinking that people, culture, religion, ideas and basically anything associated with the Middle East is taboo or wrong.