The Hyphenated-Generation

Vietnamese people have a rich and varied immigration history, but migrant stories rarely end there. Generational gaps between immigrant families and their descendants are prevalent and often inevitable in America. Every immigration experience differs from the next, but each migration constitutes a journey riddled with emotions and designates a call for the preservation of a migrant’s cultural identity. Immigrants who come to the United States have the arduous task of adapting regardless of how much English they may speak or their knowledge about American culture. What most people don’t seem to understand is how difficult the process of adaptation after immigration can be. Normally people who are not immigrants themselves do not know how life can become challenging in a foreign land. Questions of identity are raised as a migrant’s life is continually intersected by juxtaposing cultural ideas. Identities are formulated and reformed by offspring, causing divisions known as generational gaps. What is it about the generational dynamics that create this angst and division among families that come to the States?

Being an immigrant myself I continuously struggle with this idea of identity and how to integrate culture in my life. Having migrated to the United States at the age of two, I was introduced to both Vietnamese and American culture. I was subject to an American lifestyle upon entering the U.S. educational system while I was taught Vietnamese culture and beliefs at home. I never felt accepted at school and I often felt out of place upon returning to Vietnam. Straddling the culture of both the native land and the new land is not uncommon for younger generations of immigrant families but as time goes on subsequent generations will embrace the lifestyle of the new land more so than the native land. Even if most embrace American culture they also retain their heritage in subtle ways forming a hybrid culture and therein a hybrid identity that gives depth to the term “Asian-American”.

The constant struggle of the older generations nagging the younger ones about the importance of keeping one’s roots and the younger generation’s incessant ability to adapt quickly, and readily, creates the schism between generations. Having travelled so far from home, older generations naturally want to keep traditions alive whereas the younger generations seek acceptance in America. The generation gaps occur with every immigrant family, not only Vietnamese people but these shared characteristics only bring us closer and give us a story to share.

With this story, it can only be told by tracing the journey from the initial migrants and vicariously living it or personally connecting to it. Either way we can only learn from it and embrace the issues deeper by being more aware of the situation and dynamics that take place. The entire journey is a process and with each step of the process it takes some investigating and evaluating, all there is now is to start at the beginning.