Montagnard Reporters at Mosaic Festival

BREAKING NEWS: REFUGEE YOUTH HAVE OPINIONS
PART OF OUR WORK WITH UNCSA DMA-DEGA PROJECT

With a Flip refugees can “talk back” to Americans without first mastering the long checklist of self-sufficiency skills imposed on them.

Simple digital tools like Flip cameras can empower individuals. As part of our collaboration with Bob King and his UNCSA students I gave four young people the assignment to talk about what they saw at an international festival in downtown Greensboro and to interview people we met. They agreed that it would be interesting to ask them the kind of questions they were asked repeatedly, such as Where are you from? How long have you lived here? and Who taught you English?

Today it is common to see people with cameras and video recording devices at public events the world over. What is unusual is to see someone holding a camera and formally interviewing apparent strangers. The interviewer must be a reporter, we think, or have a special duty or job. Our impression might be further reinforced if the interviewer was professionally dressed and was an adult. But in our adventure this was not the case.

Holding a video camera and asking questions not only empowers the interviewer, it makes her responsible.

And participants can say No.

The view of the camera of our youngest reporter betrays her height. She is small.

When you're small everything around you can be alarming and confusing.

Someone who is tall can seem intimidating. In these instances the camera can help the interviewer "level the playing field" by giving the interviewer control of the interview, asking the questions and deciding when it's over.

A camera takes in its operator's unique viewpoint. It can present or "talk about" things that adults generally ignore such as these frightening drawings made by Palestinian kids.

Here is the above image digitally corrected to clearly show the scenes they depict.

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The Mosaic organizers objected to the display of these drawings by the Islamic Center of the Triad and wanted them taken down. Undoubtedly they gave good, bureaucratic reasons (“They upset visitors who came here for a good time” etc.) — all of them clumsy, tasteless, heavy-handed, insensitive — in a word, parental.

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Postcard from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC, depicting Darfur kids living in refugee camps.

Being a refugee youth here in the Piedmont often means being subjected to a set of questions (Who are you? Where are you from? What are you?) that remind you that others regularly see you as an outsider. For some refugees and mainstream Americans, the solution seems simple. The more quickly the behaviors, ideas, language and visual appearance that make refugees seem different can be erased, the less likely refugees will be asked such questions.

Of course, this is an absurd solution. It is absurd because it is both impossible and racist.

What's the difference between “acculturation” and cultural erasure? The mission of omnipotent American agents is not to erase refugees' cultures here in the Triad, but that’s the way the collective system operates. Broadly speaking, acculturation implies some degree of exchange and sharing between two cultures. In practice, it seems to mean encouraging refugees to learn enough English to fill out forms by themselves, to find their own transportation solutions, get jobs, pay taxes, stay out of trouble and allow resettlement agencies to report them as success stories. Since there are few forums to discuss what could be shared between refugee groups and Americans, individual family survival (“self-sufficiency”) tends to replace acculturation as the benchmark for refugee success. This may help Americans avoid being called racists, but it does nothing to address the core question, When is a family “resettled”?  In the absence of dialog, the default relationship — one of huge power disparities between Americans and refugees — prevails.

This is why matters of empowerment and not just economic self-sufficiency are important to young people, refugees, immigrants, people of color, minorities, etc.

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Refugee women armed with Flips tour UNCSA. A simple device like a video camera is a way refugees can “talk back” to Americans without first mastering the long checklist of self-sufficiency skills imposed on them, because a camera has a viewpoint — that is, an opinion — spoken in a universal language.

Skype conference call connecting American and refugee youth. When youth have a voice, they may say things that adults (big surprise!) might not like. Add sounds, music, words and what do you get?

Bom Mondega's breakout CD.  You get cultural expression. You get art. You get opinion.

Push back. Some people belittle culture and artistic expression. They might think that they're decorative niceties, but not as important as making The Other look more and more like themselves. In other words, they're saying their views and reality are more important than say, refugees’. In refugee and immigrant discussions they seek to narrow questions and issues about multiculturalism, remove conflicting or opposing views and frame problems in ways that meet their own organizations’ missions and funding schemes. This is why organizers’ tasteless attempts to remove drawings like the ones shown above are especially reprehensible.

Kubler and the Refugee Experience

The survival of the native languages is only an apparent exception to the rule of symbolic extinction.— George Kubler

A poncho from Peru, circa 900 AD

George Kubler's Colonial Extinction of the Motifs of Pre-Columbian Art  (1961) theorizes the relationship between an overwhelmingly dominant culture as it extinguishes a weaker one. Perhaps his model can be used to understand the current situation of refugees and explain the real challenges faced by those who attempt to build, preserve and promote their communities while redirecting the power of those in the dominant culture towards reciprocal acculturation (sharing, mutual respect) and away from benign neglect, coercion, threats or force.

Kubler catalogs the responses of the weak as they salvage whatever they can of their past life while living under the constant pressure and demands of a powerful new culture. Of the five he lists, four should be avoided because they lead to the elimination of the weak by the strong.

“Convergence”, or the convergence of interests between the dominant and weak, is a matter of appearances like the trick of perspective that implies railroad tracks meet in the distance. Those in power are never threatened with face to face encounters with the weak. For the many Montagnard congregations here in the Piedmont, Christianity is an example of convergence, the appearance of shared values between themselves and mainstream churches. Both sides have reasons to maintain the illusion of a common mission but American faith-based organizations and mainstream churches have an especially big stake. They have been in the forefront of refugee resettlement in Greensboro and have recently been subjected to sharp criticism which eventually resulted in one agency quitting the region. A real encounter with all cultural obstacles removed and the playing field leveled would assign blame and reveal the current system for what it is — a mess. So what do Montagnard churches get out this? Surprisingly, they get the freedom to be left alone to tend to their people as they see fit.

Kubler uses the term “explants” to mean the brief continuation of traditional habits or activities (also non-threatening) that eventually whither under the dominant culture. Some refugees believe in the power of amulets and one was amazed that their power could work here in America, protecting its wearer from a hail of bullets during a forced house entry. But it’s unlikely the children of this refugee will share her belief. The remarkable stories of many Montagnards, especially women, are probably destined to go unnoticed and unrecorded however rich their oral culture may be, because the transition from a preliterate society to a collection of detribalized literates (to borrow from McCluhan) is consistent with  funded refugee resettlement practices. What will live on? Probably the selective stories of combat and political struggle as described by Montagnard men who fought alongside Americans and recorded by Special Forces vets who have an interest in the shaping and retelling of these tales. (Notice that the illustration at the end of this entry depicting a Montagnard crossbow breaks with this narrative, suggesting some Montagnards were attacking American forces.)

“Transplants” represent isolated pieces from the weaker culture transplanted into the “soil” of the dominant culture. In the Montagnard community, this literally means growing kabocha squash, bitter melon or water spinach in Greensboro backyards or in buckets and boxes arranged to catch sunlight in the city's rundown apartment complexes. None of these vegetables are in the normal American diet and refugees’ little garden plots are rarely considered a threat to American norms. If local mainstream residents ever discover the healthy benefits of eating a more diversified, locally grown supply of food (that is, if it ever becomes “hip” in Greensboro to eat Thai eggplant, squash tendrils, etc.) then transplanted habits might “take” more firmly in Piedmont dirt. Today the reality is different. Chronic diseases caused by poor diet and lack of exercise plague the Montagnard population, whose health stats more and more resemble mainstream Americans’.

“Fragments” are distantly remembered forms and ideas that might be traced and retraced by survivors who have forgotten their symbolic meaning. Music and the arts can fall into this category. Refugee kids might mouth the words but not understand the context of songs. Weavers might create patterns but forget their origins in a world that has vanished. By Kubler's definition Art, which we tend to associate with reinvention and renewal, instead becomes the signpost of a downward spiral, pointing to the death of a culture. We're reminded of a textile expert who told us traditional weavers in Southeast Asia are dying out as traditional forms and symbols become industrialized, commercialized and sold us tourist items. Here in the Piedmont we see mostly old women, master weavers, with no pupils to inspire. Dock Rmah and Y Suk Bukrong are both skilled traditional musicians who are uncertain who will follow them. Maybe young artists like the rapper Mondega can spark a turnaround by initiating a dialog between generations.

Only the fifth response Kubler cites, “juxaposition”, offers the slim possibility of an intact survival of old ways. Reciprocal acculturation “of which there are very few examples in the history of Christianity” means a policy of listening to the needs and interests of refugee communities and working with them to create joint solutions, even while power disparities remain starkly drawn. A recent suggestion to locate a refugee welcome center at a popular international shopping complex was an example of accommodation in the spirit of juxtaposition. Its quick rejection by refugee resettlement specialists suggests that power, not collaboration or cooperation, continue to underly and guide most decision making about refugees in the Piedmont.

LEARNING FROM KUBLER: WHENEVER REFUGEES SUCCEED IN 
ALTERING AMERICAN BEHAVIOR, THEY HAVE THE CHANCE TO 
PRESERVE IMPORTANT PARTS OF THEIR CULTURE.

Agriculturist to agriculturist: An American farmer 
and ESOL teacher works alongside his students at 
a community garden.

Refugee farmers learn about “lasagna gardening”...

... And quickly adopt their skills.

This team started a new community garden in a 
single morning.

International sustainability: Refugee farmers 

attended a Carolina Farm Stewardship Association 

conference on best practices and organic techniques.

Woman to woman: A university researcher is 
shown various food products by refugee women 
at their local ethnic store.

Artist to artist: Montagnard artist shares his portfolio 
on an iPod with a Canadian performance artist.

Artist to artists: A traditional Montagnard musician 

demonstrates before American student artists and musicians.

Youth to youth: University art students Skype with 

rapper Mondega (right), voted MTV Iggy Artist of 

the Week in December 2010.

An Amerasian learns how to tell her life story

 through digital media.

While video documenting a traditional recipe to 

students, a Montagnard woman connects her farm, 

her escape into the jungle, her relationship to 

her mother and the importance of food in her life. 

Electronic media used by refugees from oral societies to 

record their trip to UNCSA. McCluhan would approve.

Craftswomen meet: Two master weavers meet with 

an Australian expert and North Carolina fabric artists.

A Montagnard mom shares her spinning technique.

Communicating by doing. A master weaver from 

Vietnam with only rudimentary English skill

shows women weavers from Bhutan how to transfer 

the warp to the loom. A shared passion to continue 

their craft brought these women together.

Public health grad students interview a community health worker.


Lay health workers help a university
researcher to conduct interviews.

A lay health worker who never received formal
schooling in her country discusses emergency 
planning with her community.

Multilingualism versus ESOL. The celebration of 
the sounds of languages from oral societies. Many 
Montagnards speak 3, 4, 5 or 6 languages.

Translation of Census 2010 paid by a grant from the 
Southern Coalition for Social Justice.

The opening of the largest Montagnard-owned 
store attracted hundreds of neighbors including 
African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians to share 
food and music.

Kitchen to kitchen: A collaboration between refugee 
and American chefs to produce a new dish reflecting 
each chef's food traditions.

An American chef, immigrant chef, and Bhutanese

refugee mom create a collaborative dish.

Refugee and American chefs share the stage.

 
Iraq meets America: A group effort

 Food as a medium for communication. 
The interviewer is a blogger and media 
specialist. The respondent is a refugee
who rarely has the opportunity to share 
her culture with mainstream Americans.

Public presentation of collaborative dishes in Winston-Salem.

Kubler goes on to explain which bits and pieces are likely to survive cultural cataclysm. In the example of the destruction by the Spaniards of native American culture, he dashes hopes for finding evidence of surviving old customs — so fast, powerful and complete was the overthrow of traditional life. As we consider today how modernity and consumerism have swiftly crushed traditional peoples, Kubler the forensic investigator details the process of destruction and where to look for remains. Original religious beliefs are first to collapse, followed by the arts, then symbolic knowledge such as language. Crafts are rarely viewed by the dominant culture to be a threat and so will persist for a longer period of time. Local agricultural knowledge may be too useful to entirely disappear. Applied to Montagnard culture, we see Kubler's model at work. Christianity replaced traditional religion after decades of war and dislocation and by the late 1960s seems to have been firmly in place, well before refugees began to arrive in the US. Today few women know how to weave and only some recall how to play traditional instruments. The pressures to learn English quickly upon their arrival here in the US cause many parents to worry their children will forget their tribal language. As they punch the clock at the start of their shift at the poultry plant, they may recall their lives as agriculturalists, skilled foragers and farmers with some remaining knowledge about raising plants and caring for animals.

Then they will be Americans. Then they will be just like us. By current standards, this is success.

Culture raffle today. “Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen.” — Mark Twain

The antidote to Kubler’s devastating assessment of Spanish power in the New World is the plea by anthropologist Wade Davis to regard traditional people not as failed attempts to be like us, but rather to see them as equals faced with the same profound questions about what it means to be human. McCluhan specifically identifies artists as specialists able to deal with and respond to collapse, change, and revolutionary technologies. And it is they who most easily connect to the refugee experience because they are attuned to the fundamental cultural struggle they're engaged in. For these reasons, we have supported direct exchanges between refugee and mainstream creatives and artists. To reconsider the presence of thousands of refugees who now call Greensboro or Guilford County their home in this light would be to reconsider the policies and practices that treat them as social problems. It would make us question the agencies that carry out these policies under the banner of faith (or limited budgets) and ask if there are not better models for community building and dialog?

Southeast Asian Bob becomes American Bob, courtesy of Face of the Future

Weaving as a Language Medium

As usual, kids “get it” and are able to bridge the language gap.

MAKING WEAVING THE MEDIUM of conversation and interest instead of the English language reframes our ideas about language learning and what is effective communication. At the Goat Lady opening and at Glenwood neighborhood's Glenfest, women weavers with very rudimentary English skills were able to interact and engage with visiting Americans and sell their wares.

Goat Lady Dairy's Open Farm was an opportunity for three Montagnard women from the Rhade, Bahnar and Bunong tribes to demonstrate their weaving expertise and to interact with American visitors. One is a master weaver who has been here for many years but had only spoken haltingly and with no confidence. Another arrived in the US about a year ago and has only recently been attending weaving meetings, getting out to join her husband working at Goat Lady and coming to MDA ESOL classes. A third has been here about a year, is a dedicated weaver, and comes to MDA ESOL classes and is a regular at weaving meetings.

What drives these women when they're given a chance to express themselves through their art and other meaningful cultural activities? Below is a photo I snapped of one woman who'd just gotten her loom the day before, happily weaving after having attached the loom to a heavy TV set. For one, these are values they believe and they're confident in. They want to talk about and share them. They want to explain complex processes and problems, designs and ideas. In this context, learning English becomes less of a trial, less of a problem, and less of yet another burden they must assume during their "adjustment" to American life.

Such approaches to ESOL and language acquisition aren't meant to do away with traditional ESOL classrooms. What we're trying to show is that communication is a partnership. If Americans really want refugees like the Montagnards to learn English more quickly, then we should also engage them about their interests and from their perspective. Language is fundamentally about expression. It does not have to be exclusively about filling out job forms and reading traffic signs.

This is not rocket science. Artists and musicians and designers have been communicating across language barriers and different cultures for thousands of years. You could say this is our specialty. Still, it makes you wonder why the arts and cultural pursuits are at the bottom of refugee resettlement concerns.

At the end of the page is a simple reader we created for these women, with pictures and recorded audio for them to use for practice while weaving, washing dishes and working around the house.

No language barrier here.

Setting up in the middle of the sidewalk did not require seeking “permission” 

— an almost perpetual state of mind for some refugees who have preferred to avoid 

contact with Americans .

When interested people recognize the passions of one another,

 they share strong reasons to engage and communicate.

This refugee mom could be doing a lot of other things besides weaving, but 

because this is what she's chosen to do, we want to support it and build on her 

interest by introducing an English text that reflects her knowledge.