Explore Key Topics - Cultural Practices - Arts & Literature

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Literature
Literary production has been prolific in the new Southeast Asian communities. For example, the Vietnamese have produced many non-fiction and fiction books in their ethnic language, most of which have been published by ethnic presses. A younger generation of emerging Southeast Asian writers is gaining acclaim for their English language journals, novels, biographical narratives, poetry, short stories, and essays.

Oral traditions, or the verbal transmission of knowledge or storytelling, are common within pre-literate communities. The Hmong did not have a written language until the 1950s, when French missionaries developed it. Individuals are now attempting to document their cultural traditions in written form in both the heritage language and in English. Important projects such as recording the oral histories of the first generation and producing written records of their knowledge of folklore, are crucial in preserving the culture.

Ethnic Media
A proliferation of ethnic language newspapers and news magazines, including dailies, are a vital record of the development of Southeast Asian American communities. They publish news about events in the homeland, issues affecting the ethnic communities, ethnic popular culture, and translated news from the mainstream U.S. press. In addition to radio shows and televisions shows on cable channels, many media outlets have Internet sites to outreach to the overseas Southeast Asian diasporic communities. As the U.S.-born younger generation matures, Southeast Asian Americans are creating English-language magazines, other publications, and multimedia productions that cater to their own generational issues and perspectives.

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