The importance of documenting “oral histories” in print has to be emphasized among all Pacific Asian American groups. Dr. Roberto Vallangca has done a superb job and should be rewarded greatly as an encouragement to others to document the personal histories of the “old timers” who immigrated to Hawaii and mainland United States before the war

Sato, Masayuki

English

VCU Scholars Compass

Book Reviews 41 secured far better terms for their lands than would have been otherwise possible. This style of leadership survived only briefly after Caldwell's death in 1841. Thereafter, bicultural individuals vied with each other and with traditional people for power and self-advantage. Technical experts--traders, mission­aries, and reservation agents--directed Potawatomi-American rela­tions. Clifton amply reviews the scurrilous nature of such leadership which governed with the support of marginal Potawatomi who had the economic and political know-how traditional people lacked. Twentieth century Potawatomi struggles derive, Clifton argues, from the attenuation of tribal political processes and from imposed legal norms. The Prairie People ends on.an ominous note: "Dependence," Clifton says, " . . . was a root fact of their existence, an imperative with which they remained most uncomfortable" (p. 444). Contemporary Potawatomi, Clifton shows, face the challenge of breaking both the culturally and the politically dictated imperatives of their history. Kenneth M. Morrison Department of History University of California, Los Angeles ROBERTO V .  VALLANGCA. PINOY: THE FIRST WAVE. San Francisco: Strawberry Hill Press, 1977, 148 pp., $6.95 paper. The importance of documenting "oral histories" in print has to be emphasized among all Pacific Asian American groups. Dr. Roberto Vallangca has done a superb job and should be rewarded greatly as an encouragement to others to document the personal histories of the "old timers" who immigrated to Hawaii and mainland United States before the war. Although the author's introduction to Pilipino history is brief, there are.a number of historical accounts in print that chronicle the rich history·of the Pilipinos. Dr. Vallangca's even shorter coverage of such topics as humor, marriage, religion and magic, and prejudice makes the book read very fast, but it lacks some depth. However, important and sometimes unique issues are discussed in such a way that the book is strong and memorable despite its briefness. For example, the author offers descrip­tions of the types of Pilipino humor that made it possible for immigrants to survive the struggles and hardships encountered in the United States. The impact of the marriage laws, forbidding Pilipino and white intermarriage, is also discussed briefly in this section, but is more detailed in later chapters containing the oral histories of the Pinoys. These laws and the denial of 42 Explorations in Ethnic Studies rights must have had a tremendous social and psychological impact on the mental health of the Pil ipinos. Although prejudice and discrimination are important themes throughout the entire book, it may have been unnecessary to title one part "prejudice" and devote only two pages to it. The author does, however, present a clear explanation of how Pil ipinos pro­tect themselves from the dangerous elements in the American soci­ety. American society charges that Pil ipinos run around in "gangs" and are dangerous to American society. On the contrary, Pil ipinos travel together for self-protection and to provide help for one another in time of trouble. The Pinoy's talk is very sensitive. It reveals how different some Pil ipinos are and yet how many share commonalities with each other, as well as with other Pacific Asian American groups. Hawaii, rich in its Pacific Asian heritage, continues to lead the way to the "roots of our past" and to learning to be proud. Masayuki Sato San Jose, California PATRICIA A .  VARDIN and ILENE N. BRODY (Editors). CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES. New York: Teachers College Press,  1979, 182 pp., $6.95. In 1979, the International Year of the Child, this volume presents a telling indictment of our record in the area of chil­dren's rights. Authors from international and interdisciplinary perspectives indicate the tremendous gulf between the ideal and the rea 1. As a society, we have yet to guarantee even the most basic rights to our children. Confusion reigns as to when children need advocates and who those advocates are to be. Subissues deal with the rights of children within the family unit, the needs and rights of children without families, the rights of minors in institutions, and the general level of commitment to basic rights of children within society as a whole. The authors challenge, with start] ing statistics, our common societal assumption that the state can and should intervene to remove children from the family unit under a variety of condi­tions. This is routinely done in spite of developmental evidence supporting children's need to have a stable, continuing relation­ship with at least one caring adult. Massive documentation is presented concerning the failure of our foster care system to meet that fundamental need. Alternative proposals present possible support systems that could assist families, rather than contribute to their breakdown. 

[Review of] Roberto V. Vallangca. Pinoy: The First Wave

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1062&amp;context=ees

[Review of] Roberto V. Vallangca. Pinoy: The First Wave

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