Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book traces the departure from Vietnam and the resettlement of 130,000 of the Vietnamese refugees in the United States and focuses on the process by which Vietnamese went from refugees to immigrants. It describes the departure from Vietnam: why refugees left their country, the conditions under which they left, how they left, and how American policy affected the composition of the population which came to the United States. It provides the first phase of the transition from refugee to immigrant. The book details their life outside the camps. It focuses on the initial integration of Vietnamese into the American economy and the development of a Vietnamese community in the United States. The book aims to lay the groundwork for other scholars to deal with such questions in the future when long-term Vietnamese adjustment to the United States becomes clearer.