Paternalism and the victimization of the refugee population are prominent issues that continue to hinder the efficacy of state practices, and in response, this essay highlights the importance of self-reliance and autonomy in resettlement through an examination of Cambodian refugees’ exemplary prosperity in the Californian donut industry. [...] In becoming small business owners, Cambodian refugees were able to overcome many of the challenges of resettlement and achieve outstanding levels of prosperity after arriving in the United States, thus exemplifying the invaluable benefits of restaurateurship in navigating the arduous processes of societal integration. [...] As such, these indicators are the premise of this essay and are referred to throughout the paper to examine the experiences of Cambodian refugees in the United States. [...] This drastically changed after the onset of the Cambodian civil war in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge, formally referred to as the Communist Party of Kampuchea, belligerently took control of the state in an attempt to revert the country back to an agrarian socialist society (Ling and Austin, 2010). [...] This preservation of culture is one of the key indicators of Ager and Strang’s (2008) domains of successful integration and demonstrates the immensely positive impacts that the donut industry had on the sociocultural identities of Cambodian refugees.
- Pages
- 19
- Published in
- Canada
