DPhil Student
Green Templeton College
Thesis Title: Storytelling as Healing: Personal Narrative to Repair Fractures in Southeast Asian refugees' self, family, and community
Research Summary
In the 1970s, Southeast Asian refugees took their chances in the turbulent tides of an unforgiving sea to escape widespread conflict. Images of desperate children hanging from American helicopters evacuating Saigon and overcrowded ships with SOS signs made of cloth pervaded the global media- linking a profound and visceral suffering to the identity of an entire people. Decades later, these communities have rerooted in unfamiliar soil and have bloomed in resilience. However, despite the passage of time, several members of these communities still suffer from unprocessed trauma causing fracture in community, family, and self. As the older generation of refugees age, we are left with the dilemma of how we heal this fracture- for our elders before they become ancestors, and for our young ones who deserve to break free from intergenerational wounds.
My research follows the journey of Southeast Asian refugees in Colorado, USA (where my own family and community resettled in the 1980s) and the innovative, intergenerational ways in which storywork is central to the path towards repair. I will explore how storytelling of personal narrative can help form identity and values, bridge generational divides, and build community resilience and mental wellness. Through film, exhibitions, visual art, and more- how can these help build back a community fractured by war?
Research Interests
Medical anthropology; decolonial framework and methodologies; Southeast Asian diaspora studies; Asian American studies; museum studies
Bio
An activist, anthropologist, and artist, Joie Ha has over 15 years of experience in grassroots organizing locally and globally. Her work has spanned Malaysia as a Community Development Officer and in Cambodia as a researcher regarding how hip-hop can create fictive kin for youth.
Recently, Joie helped develop and curate ‘Big Dreams in Denver’s Little Saigon’ and other exhibitions which have cumulatively received 30,000+ attendees, is in post-production of a documentary, Maila Hålom, exploring CHamoru self-determination, and is seeking a literary agent for her graphic novel, black coffee, depicting her mother’s refugee journey. In her community, she is a founder of Colorado Asian Pacific United and is on path to opening the first Asian Pacific Islander American museum in the Rocky Mountain Region. She is currently pursuing a DPhil in Anthropology at Oxford to enrich her community work through academic scholarship.
Email: joie.ha@anthro.ox.ac.uk
