{"id":11456,"date":"2014-04-15T01:33:08","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T06:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=11456"},"modified":"2015-11-12T08:20:46","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T14:20:46","slug":"invisible-newcomers-revealed-in-research-on-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/invisible-newcomers-revealed-in-research-on-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Invisible Newcomers\u2019 revealed in research on refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A dance featuring the Karen group in Milwaukee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A startling 39 percent of recent refugees from Burma and Bhutan to the U.S. are high school dropouts, and 30 percent live below the poverty line.<\/p>\n

Those are among the findings that Chia Youyee Vang details in a landmark report she co-authored and released earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Burmese and Bhutanese have become the largest refugee groups coming to the U.S. in recent years,\u201d says Vang, a UWM associate professor of history and comparative ethnic studies.<\/p>\n

\"Karen<\/a>
Karen youth in Milwaukee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vang and her co-author, Monica Mong Trieu of Purdue, researched and wrote \u201cInvisible Newcomers: Refugees from Burma\/Myanmar and Bhutan in the United States.\u201d The Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund issued the report in collaboration with the Association for Asian American Studies. The focus of much of Vang\u2019s work is on refugees, and the association approached her because of that background. Officials wanted to learn more about these large groups of refugees coming to the U.S. and how they were faring in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are coming in great numbers, but yet they were invisible in some ways,\u201d says Vang. \u201cInformation on these two groups has been so limited, but we wanted to provide some basic background in this preliminary report so people can understand and have some general knowledge about them.\u201d The research \u2013 \u201ca preliminary snapshot\u201d \u2013 was based on both published data and interviews with community members.<\/p>\n

Different cultures, shared stress<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Karen<\/a>
Karen refugees from Burma take English classes at the International Learning Center in Milwaukee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Burmese and Bhutanese refugees have different cultures and traditions, but those who are in the U.S. share a history of flight in search of refugee status due to tensions in their homelands. Since 2004, more than 80,000 Burmese have arrived in the United States after fleeing political, religious and economic persecution, according to the report. Refugees from the Kingdom of Bhutan, a landlocked<\/a> country in South Asia<\/a> located at the eastern end of the Himalayas<\/a>, began coming in 2011 to escape discriminatory social and political rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary reason is political instability in their home country,\u201d says Vang of the Burmese.<\/p>\n

A new regime renamed Burma as Myanmar, but many of the refugees prefer the name Burma.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs responsible scholars, we didn\u2019t want to take sides,\u201d says Vang. We let people refer to the country by the name they chose.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Burmese and Bhutanese have settled all over the U.S., there is a larger concentration in the South than in the Northeast and significant numbers in the Midwest, particularly Ohio and Indiana.<\/p>\n

While warmer climates in these areas play a role, support from existing refugee resettlement groups and others in their ethnic communities are also factors, says Vang.<\/p>\n

Language barriers, dropout rates are obstacles<\/b><\/p>\n

The high school dropout rate of the Burmese and Bhutanese \u2013 which is twice that of non-Asian teens \u2013 is alarming because education is so directly linked to job opportunity and the ability to escape poverty, says Vang.<\/p>\n

Many of the teens in both groups have spent years in refugee camps where they received little education. Language challenges and bullying can add to their difficulties and contribute to the high dropout rate, Vang explains.<\/p>\n

Many of the adults in these communities are illiterate in their native languages because they grew up in rural areas of their homelands where formal education was scarce, so they are not equipped to help their children, the authors note.<\/p>\n

The duration of life\u00a0in a refugee camp is also a factor in the particular problems of the Burmese and Bhutanese refugees, says Vang.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe length of time in the camp impacts how they view themselves and the world. Refugee camps can be demeaning environments. They are not free to move back and forth. If you are resettled in a new country after a short period of time, you struggle, but it\u2019s not the same as living in a camp for 10 or 20 years. It\u2019s a different kind of migration experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suggestions, signs of progress align<\/b><\/p>\n

The authors make a number of recommendations to school administrators and policymakers based on their findings.<\/p>\n

Vang and Trieu say that intensive educational and social support should be provided to teens to improve the likelihood that they will complete high school. \u201cAt some camps, lessons consisted of rote memorization rather than critical thinking analysis,\u201d the authors wrote in the study. As a result, some immigrant teens don\u2019t know how to learn and struggle to even grasp the English alphabet.<\/p>\n

Vang and Trieu suggest that high schools train academic counselors in cultural competence about these refugee populations and step up after-school tutoring. Teens also need programs to ease their transition. They also suggest extending English Second Language Services\u00a0for adults.<\/p>\n

On the positive side, the authors found the Burmese- and Bhutanese-Americans are making some strides in higher education. For example, 23 percent of Burmese Americans hold bachelor\u2019s degrees and another 8 percent have advanced degrees.<\/p>\n

Vang also finds it hopeful that a number of members of Congress attended the Washington news conference about the report\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cA significant amount of work and resources are still needed to assist these two new communities, especially in the educational realm,\u201d Vang and Trieu write. They also suggest additional studies. \u201cUnderstanding a population is the critical first step to facilitating better educational opportunities, and subsequently leading to the reduction of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Refugees from Burma\/Myanmar and Bhutan subject of newly published study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[175],"tags":[],"section":[],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[158,159],"class_list":["post-11456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-humanities"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Invisible Newcomers\u2019 revealed in research on refugees<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Refugees from Burma\/Myanmar and Bhutan subject of newly published study.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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