Noritaka Yagasaki

Southeast Asian Refugees and the Local Host Society of Garden City in the American High Plains

Southeast Asian refugees were attracted to Garden City, Kansas beginning in the early 1980s when the low-wage labor demand increased after establishment of corporate meatpacking plants. Local feed grain production expanded substantially due to the application of center-pivot irrigation systems, commercial cattle feeding industry flourished, and large-scale beef packing plants began to process cattle into boxed-beef. This paper attempts to analyze Southeast Asian refugees and their community in the context of expanding local economy and changing local host society. Special attention is paid to the process of resettlement, low-cost housing in mobile home parks, occupational structure, and ethnic landscape. Unlike most Asian immigrants in the United States who, in the face of hostile social environment, applied adaptive strategies to finding housing and employment and protecting the interests of ethnic communities, Southeast Asians in Garden City successfully found economic niche as well as spatial niche with minimal conflict. It was partly due to the powerful economic pull provided by IBP. It was also due to the assistance given by the federal and state government to refugee resettlement. Additionally, local host society also provided Southeast Asian refugees with varied assistance as they were considered inevitable for sustaining the growth of local economy.