Oral history interview with Ran Kong, November 25, 2000
Subtitle: interview K-0269, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Lau, Barbara (Barbara A.), interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Cambodian Americans; Cultural assimilation; Ethnic identity; Americanization
Other titles: Interview K-0269, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Ran Kong, November 25, 2000; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Ran Kong immigrated to Greensboro, North Carolina, from Cambodia when she was four, knowing little about her home country but less about her new one. She transitioned well, finding a balance between being an American resident and a Cambodian national. She learned English and performed well in school, but thrived at the Greensboro Buddhist Center, where she played with other Cambodians. She spent time with "Americanized" Cambodians, but her family maintained its ties to Cambodian culture. Even as she became the liaison between the non-English speaking Cambodian community and their American surroundings, escorting family members and others to doctor visits, or helping them figure out their health insurance, she maintained a strong connection to her native home. This sense of connection may have only strengthened as Kong grew older, and it flourished when she was challenged, as at the relatively homogeneous Salem College, where she found a passionate commitment to her heritage. By the time this interview took place, Kong had become an American citizen, and at age twenty, had voted for the first time. But she became a citizen for convenience, not conviction. Kong reflects on her life and her identity in this interview, as well as considering the wider Cambodian community and the endurance of Cambodian traditions in a new context.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Dec. 16, 2008).

Interview participants: Ran Kong, interviewee; Barbara Lau, interviewer.

Duration: 01:50:59.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 180 kilobytes, 203 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0269, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by L. McLain. Original transcript: 56 p.

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.