Traces of places: A vicarious journey into memories of the homeland in a Lao-American community

While much has been written on the adjustment of Southeast Asian refugees after the Vietnam War, little has been written on the sharing of the first generation's memory of place with their children who grew up here. There is also little written on the outside researcher's experience making meaning in a Lao-American community. This study develops a bricolage methodology to attend to both of these issues simultaneously and the paper describes the dynamic and symbiotic learning that resulted from it. The author focuses on one Laotian-American community's experience and examines how, when, where, and why memories of place are passed from one generation to the next. Using the organizing concepts of ecological identity, migrating stories, and hearths and market places, the paper examines the interplay between stories told, memories practiced, and Lao folk music sung in the community. The paper is written as several stories and attempts to capture the distinct voices and experiences of the ten participants, the translator, and the researcher. The paper honors the role of heart in the research process while probing into the fictions and subjectivity resulting from the author's analysis, experience as a U.S. born daughter of a refugee, and connection to Southeast Asian American communities. The paper finds that, even in a tight community with a rich tradition of oral storytelling, the passing of memories of place is a difficult and endangered process embedded in cultural practices and language that are at risk of moving out of circulation. This paper suggests the need for future research on: (a) the dynamic passing of memories of place over time in whole families and communities; (b) the identification and revival of language and cultural practices that foster the passing of culture from one generation to the next; (c) the identification and support of intimate and public places that can house those practices; and (d) the development of bricolage methodologies that evolve in the cross-cultural meeting ground between the researcher's and participants' worlds.