Background
Zhou, Min was born on July 14, 1956 in Zhongshan, Guangdong, China. Arrived in the United States, 1984. Son of Lei-Ming and Yao-ping (Yao) Zhou.
( Vietnamese Americans form a unique segment of the new U...)
Vietnamese Americans form a unique segment of the new U.S. immigrant population. Uprooted from their homeland and often thrust into poor urban neighborhoods, these newcomers have nevertheless managed to establish strong communities in a short space of time. Most remarkably, their children often perform at high academic levels despite difficult circumstances. Growing Up American tells the story of Vietnamese children and sheds light on how they are negotiating the difficult passage into American society. Min Zhou and Carl Bankston draw on research and insights from many sources, including the U.S. census, survey data, and their own observations and in-depth interviews. Focusing on the Versailles Village enclave in New Orleans, one of many newly established Vietnamese communities in the United States, the authors examine the complex skein of family, community, and school influences that shape these children's lives. With no ties to existing ethnic communities, Vietnamese refugees had little control over where they were settled and no economic or social networks to plug into. Growing Up American describes the process of building communities that were not simply transplants but distinctive outgrowths of the environment in which the Vietnamese found themselves. Family and social organizations re-formed in new ways, blending economic necessity with cultural tradition. These reconstructed communities create a particular form of social capital that helps disadvantaged families overcome the problems associated with poverty and ghettoization. Outside these enclaves, Vietnamese children faced a daunting school experience due to language difficulties, racial inequality, deteriorating educational services, and exposure to an often adversarial youth subculture. How have the children of Vietnamese refugees managed to overcome these challenges? Growing Up American offers important evidence that community solidarity, cultural values, and a refugee sensibility have provided them with the resources needed to get ahead in American society. Zhou and Bankston also document the price exacted by the process of adaptation, as the struggle to define a personal identity and to decide what it means to be American sometimes leads children into conflict with their tight-knit communities. Growing Up American is the first comprehensive study of the unique experiences of Vietnamese immigrant children. It sets the agenda for future research on second generation immigrants and their entry into American society.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871549956/?tag=2022091-20
(Min Zhou examines how an ethnic enclave works to direct i...)
Min Zhou examines how an ethnic enclave works to direct its members into American society, while at the same time shielding them from it. Focusing specifically on New York's Chinatown, a community established more than a century ago, Zhou offers a thorough and modern treatment of the enclave as a socioeconomic system, distinct form, but intrinsically linked with, the larger society. Zhou's central theme is that Chinatown does not keep immigrant Chinese from assimilating into mainstream society, but instead provides an alternative means of incorporation into society that does not conflict with cultural distinctiveness. Concentrating on the past two decades, Zhou maintains that community networks and social capital are important resources for reaching socioeconomic goals and social positions in the United States; in Chinatown, ethnic employers use family ties and ethnic resources to advance socially. Relying on her family's networks in New York's Chinatown and her fluency in both Cantonese and Mandarin, the author, who was born in the People's Republic of China, makes extensive use of personal interviews to present a rich picture of the daily work life in the community. She demonstrates that for many immigrants, low-paid menial jobs provide by the enclave are expected as a part of the time-honored path to upward social mobility of the family. Min Zhou is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156639337X/?tag=2022091-20
Zhou, Min was born on July 14, 1956 in Zhongshan, Guangdong, China. Arrived in the United States, 1984. Son of Lei-Ming and Yao-ping (Yao) Zhou.
Bachelor in English, Zhongshan University, China, 1982. Master of Arts in Sociology, State University of New York, Albany, 1985. Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology, State University of New York, Albany, 1989.
Professor Zhou has worked with Carl L. Bankston to expand the definition of social capital to not only include the resources held by individuals or groups, but also the processes of social interaction leading to constructive outcomes. This work and redefinition has helped spur the modern understanding of social capital and its interplay between power groups. Professor Zhou"s other sociological insights have been primarily within the fields of immigrant life and ethnic assimilation, particularly focused on the Asian American community.
She has authored or co-authored two noted books spotlighting various sociological aspects of immigrant life - Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave (Temple University Press, 1992) and Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States (Russell Sage Foundation Press, 1998).
Professor Zhou was also the coeditor of Contemporary Asian America (New York University Press, 2000) and Asian American Youth: Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity (Rutledge, 2004).
(Min Zhou examines how an ethnic enclave works to direct i...)
( Vietnamese Americans form a unique segment of the new U...)
Member American Sociological Association, Association Asian American Studies, Southern Sociological Society, Population Association American.
Married Sam Nan Guo, October 1, 1982. 1 child, Philip Jia.