Document Type
Research Report
Publication Date
11-2024
Abstract
In cities and towns across the United States, Asian Americans experienced the early 2020s health crisis as a dual pandemic of COVID-19 and anti-Asian racism. In Lowell, a large proportion of Cambodian American residents live in multi-generational households and are employed in working-class occupations with a high risk of exposure to the coronavirus. For this and other reasons, the pandemic had especially serious health and financial consequences for many members of the Cambodian American community. These pandemic challenges in Lowell mounted when a nationwide surge of anti-Asian racism swept through the city and surrounding areas.
Little information has been reported to date by researchers about the specific nature of challenges Cambodian Americans faced in Lowell. This study built an academic-community research partnership to address these questions. The research was designed and conducted by a collaboration between the Institute for Asian American Studies at UMass Boston and the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell. Through a bilingual community survey, focus groups and interviews, the research team inquired about the health, social, and financial impacts of the dual pandemic, as well as access to health information and to public aid or community-initiated mutual assistance. The field work was conducted from October 2023 to June 2024.
Community Engaged/Serving
Part of the UMass Boston Community-Engaged Teaching, Research, and Service Series. //scholarworks.umb.edu/engage
Recommended Citation
Wong, Carolyn; Chiemruom, Sothea; Khuon, Chrisna; Mai, Curtis; Eng, Sokha; Sasaki, Go; Song, Sochantrea; Sar, Sophia; Heng, Sreang; Thang, Chantha; and Kovacevic, Nikola, "Getting Through a Dual Pandemic: Hardship and Social Resiliency in a Cambodian American Community" (2024). Institute for Asian American Studies Publications. 52.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/iaas_pubs/52
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Social Welfare Commons