Donuts and Identity: Cambodian Culture
Cambodian donut shops give their owners and workers a unique means through which to negotiate their identities as both Cambodians and refugees living in the United States. They do so by providing spaces in which entrepreneurs and their employees can partake of Cambodian culture, promote Cambodian values (particularly the concept of survival), and navigate American culture. Spread throughout Los Angeles, each store serves as a small oasis of Cambodian cul- ture, a virtual franchise of such enclaves as Little Phnom Penh in Long Beach (which grew from seven families in 1975 to eight thousand residents by 1981 and is still the largest Cambodian community in the United States)67 and Valerio Gardens in Van Nuys.68 Recent immigrants can work alongside family, friends, or, at the very least, others with the shared language, ethnicity, and experiences of escaping Cambodia and enduring what Aihwa Ong refers to as “the exigen- cies of coping and getting through life”69 in the United States. Many shops con- tain small Buddhist shrines70 (Duc’s shop prominently placed a Buddha next to the cash register, for example), while others display posters of Khmer slogans or art above cases of crullers and maple bars. Lonh described his aunts’ donut shops as both gathering places for his extended family and places where he can find someone to translate the lyrics of classic Khmer rock songs.71