Past, present and future: The indochinese refugee experience twenty years later

Abstract

This review of research on refugees from Southeast Asia begins with an examination of the conceptual and definitional problems pertaining to the question 'who is a refugee?', as worked out in the Southeast Asian context. It considers the political, sociological and psychological aspects of the total refugee experience: in transit from Indochina, in camps, in countries of resettlement, and in repatriation, voluntary and forced. With regard to a future research agenda on the Indochinese experience(s), the essay focuses on the unfolding identity options on offer to the Indochinese whilst they are articulating their proper place within the triangular framework of the host societies (present), the emerging Indochinese diasporas (future), and their homelands back in Southeast Asia (past). © 1995 Oxford University Press.