Family Tightrope

Download or read book Family Tightrope written by Nazli Kibria and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1995-03-06 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years the popular media have described Vietnamese Americans as the quintessential American immigrant success story, attributing their accomplishments to the values they learn in the traditional, stable, hierarchical confines of their family. Questioning the accuracy of such family portrayals, Nazli Kibria draws on in-depth interviews and participant observation with Vietnamese immigrants in Philadelphia to show how they construct their family lives in response to the social and economic challenges posed by migration and resettlement. To a surprising extent, the "traditional" family unit rarely exists, and its hierarchical organization has been greatly altered.