Elder Voices

Elder Voices adds rich and valuable details to research on the lives of Southeast Asian refugee elders. By focusing on the elders and by being comparative, Daniel Detzner provides qualitative information that is rare in the studies of refugees from Southeast Asia. This volume complements other works on youth and the general Southeast Asian refugee populations. Adding rich and poignant stories of losses and resilience, it serves as an important medium for the preservation of family stories. -- Gina Masequesmay, Asian American Studies, CSU Northridge
Bringing the voices of immigrant elders to life, Elder Voices is an indispensable resource in understanding the dynamics of family and community life in a new sociocultural environment. -- Zha Blong Xiong
Elder Voices is a welcome addition to the literature on Southeast Asian refugees because the voices of elders have not been heard in much of the existing research. Through the elders' life course narratives, we learn of their losses, resiliency, family changes, intergenerational conflicts, and emerging family identities. The book is a useful reference for immigration scholars, policy makers, and resettlement workers because the author demonstrates the importance of family context in studying adaptation and in implementing policies and services. Family scholars interested in ethnicity, intergenerational relationships, and immigration should find this book insightful. -- Phyllis J. Johnson, School of Social Work and Family Studies, University of British Columbia
Elder Voices by Daniel Detzner is a long awaited and much anticipated book that captures the vitality of spirit, resiliency, and adaptation to the severe hardships experienced in migration and living in the United States by elders from Southeast Asian families. This book is destined to be a 'classic' in the literature across a wide variety of arenas such as aging, family, refugee and immigrant, Asian American and cross-cultural issues. Detzner ties important empirical findings across the life stories of Southeast Asian elderly and explains them within important theoretical frameworks to help the reader understand the complexities of adaptation by these refugee and immigrant elders. The book is written in the style of a life review with important stories told by Southeast Asian elders. The narrative illustrates systematic themes found across Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, and Hmong elders, while highlighting unique cultural and individual variations found across these human populations. Elder Voices will be an essential book for all university libraries, for academicians in gerontology, family, refugee and immigrant, Asian American and cross-cultural studies. Detzner's book may be used as a supplementary textbook for upper division undergraduates -- Barbara Yee, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences
This book provides a vital base line for studying life following enforced migration at a late age. * Ageing and Society *
Elder Voices by Daniel Detzner is a long awaited and much anticipated book that captures the vitality of spirit, resiliency, and adaptation to the severe hardships experienced in migration and living in the United States by elders from Southeast Asian families. This book is destined to be a 'classic' in the literature across a wide variety of arenas such as aging, family, refugee and immigrant, Asian American and cross-cultural issues. Detzner ties important empirical findings across the life stories of Southeast Asian elderly and explains them within important theoretical frameworks to help the reader understand the complexities of adaptation by these refugee and immigrant elders. The book is written in the style of a life review with important stories told by Southeast Asian elders. The narrative illustrates systematic themes found across Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, and Hmong elders, while highlighting unique cultural and individual variations found across these human populations. Elder Voices will be an essential book for all university libraries, for academicians in gerontology, family, refugee and immigrant, Asian American and cross-cultural studies. Detzner's book may be used as a supplementary textbook for upper division undergraduates and graduate students across a variety of courses. -- Barbara Yee, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences