“Making it Out”: Uncovering and Recovering the Cambodian Identity at Stanford University

Abstract

In efforts to seek refuge from the Khmer Rouge genocide, Cambodian communities began to form ethnic enclaves in the United States as more immigrants arrived in waves throughout the 1980s. Assimilation for these immigrants and their children was taken up through multiple forms; one prominent one identifying as language. Therefore, this begs the question of how one maintains a sense of identity and community away from home for college students at a predominantly white institution. This effort to recover the Cambodian identity can be observed through the lenses of the historical diaspora of refugees, socio-cultural impacts in the United States, and the intersection of education. Applying these to observed findings with interviewed college students at Stanford University leads us to conflicted results, where the institution can act to expand this gap but also help foster community resilience within the population. Thus, identity maintenance is still attainable with the assistance of academic courses relating to culture and language, as well as funding to student associations to promote community. However, there is still work to be done in order to fully aid in assimilating to the greater student population and into the community itself.