UCLA

This thesis examines the ways in which Southeast Asian refugee narratives have been produced and replicated through institutions for the purpose of supporting legitimizing and justifying U.S. imperialism and war violence. It interrogates the limitations of institutionalized modes of memorialization and seeks to offer new forms of remembering and circumventing narratives of remembering. Furthermore, it seeks to connect different forms of state violence together to yield a greater analysis and understanding of the ways in which violence affects the lives of Southeast Asian refugees through an analysis of cultural productions and narrative practices. This project serves to highlight what is forgotten when refugees and domestic violence survivors remember and the connectedness and intricacy of various forms of U.S. imperialism and state violence.