Cultivating ໃຈ (jai) in the Concrete Jungle

In Lao refugee communities, social media has become both a space of transnational connection and a site where womxn are critically examining their diaspora experiences since the first resettlements to the U.S. beginning in 1975. Through the experimental third-space of LAOboratory, a group of Lao diaspora womxn in NYC shared frustration about erasure from official narratives, and a deeper conversation emerged about reclaiming stories through our own epistemological frameworks.

This project uses Translanguaging ໃຈ (Jai) Methodology, investigating the Lao concept of ໃຈ (jai–heart/mind/spirit/essence) while rejecting colonial perspectives treating languages as separate objects. Through collaborative workshops, we created art/ifacts using participants’ chosen artistic mediums—disrupting false binaries between art and artifacts while accessing meaning-making that verbal communication alone cannot capture.

The artistic component centers multimedia storytelling through creative modalities chosen by participants, grounding exploration in their expertise of language and ໃຈ (jai) rather than published texts. As Jamaica Kincaid writes, we treat words “as if they were all wholly themselves, each one a world by itself.” The social justice component challenges Western epistemological frameworks rendering people of the global south as deficient “Others,” instead amplifying sophisticated knowledge systems these womxn possess.

Working through LAOboratory—a hybrid virtual/in-person third-space I’ve engaged with through my positioning as part of the Lao refugee diaspora—participants will co-create through arts-based methods while I contribute translanguaging methodology expertise. Rather than traditional academic study, this becomes participatory co-learning where meaning emerges through collaboration.

The project addresses systemic erasure of Lao voices from Southeast Asian narratives while countering anti-immigrant sentiment. By leveraging multimodal expressions beyond English, we demonstrate how participants’ “extraordinary literacies” offer sophisticated analytical abilities challenging assumptions about multilingual communities.

Workshops involve semi-structured conversations about personal experiences, family histories, and ideologies, with collaborative thematic analysis conducted by participants. All artifacts will be digitally documented, with results consulted with participants for final approval.

The culminating public boun (festival) transforms traditional academic presentation into community-led celebration, sharing multimedia stories with broader NYC audiences. This creates a model for refugee communities to author their own narratives while building transnational connections.

Beyond the fellowship period, LAOboratory will continue using these methodologies, with documentation offering a transferable framework for other diaspora communities facing similar erasure. This work contributes to Critical Refugee Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, and Multilingual Education by centering community knowledge.