The CATESOL Journal

This study engages with a participatory oral history project that explores 3 themes. First, Cambodian participants included in the study will narrate from their perspectives how the evolution of social engagement and identity among African American and Cambodian refugee communities residing in historically Black neighborhoods of Oakland, California, informed their English language development. Second, it is the author’s intent through data collected for the study to explore participants’ acquisition of English language as a mode of resistance and empowerment for Cambodian refugees in the US. Finally, in detailing the power of oral history to bridge generational, linguistic, and global divides, the participants in this study express the importance of learning English as an additional language for the promotion and preservation of Cambodian history and tradition. The themes of this study will be framed by the theories of microagression and critical race theory in relation to English language construction.