Transpacific Paradigms of Vietnamese Diasporic Knowledge

The Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Annual Conference, April 2021.

Roundtable Title: Transpacific Paradigms of Vietnamese Diasporic Knowledge

Abstract: This roundtable discussion will explore transpacific memorialization events, archival preservation efforts, non-profit heritage organizations, entrepreneurial endeavors and academic scholarship to reflect on the multivalent efforts that are influencing the production of knowledge about and by Vietnamese Americans. The year 2020 marks 45 years since the end of the Vietnamese civil war and the arrival of the first large group of Vietnamese refugees in the United States. Vietnamese Americans remember, preserve, connect and embody collective and individual experiences in the context their relationship with their former homeland, broader diasporic Vietnamese communities, and future generations of Vietnamese Americans. This discussion will center Vietnamese Americans as agents of their own narrated histories and explores the negotiation and construction of different spaces of identity, connection, and meaning. As we reflect on the history of this community over nearly half a century, we will explore how the Vietnamese diasporic community represents, sometimes reifies, and often challenges definitions and narratives about the refugee experience and nationhood in exile.

Chair

Name: Trinh Luu, University of Oregon 

Presenter 1

Paper Title: “Female Vietnamese Entrepreneurs in the United States”

Name: Jennifer A. Huynh, University of Notre Dame

Abstract:

What makes Vietnamese American entrepreneurship unique is the high rate of female business owners (nearly 50%). Based on data from the U.S. census, the National Survey of Business Owners, fieldwork in three Vietnamese American communities, and interviews with more than sixty entrepreneurs, Jennifer Huynh provides an intersectional analysis of female Vietnamese entrepreneurs and how the complex web of ethnicity, class, and generation shapes Vietnamese business owners’ experiences in the US.

Presenter 2

Paper Title: “Remembering War and Migration: Memoryscapes of the Vietnamese Diaspora”

Name: Quan Tran, Yale University

Abstract: Quan Tran will provide an overview of how and why Vietnamese Americans and their counterparts in the diaspora remember two definitive events in contemporary Vietnamese history: war and migration. It historicizes and catalogues the different “memoryscapes” that have emerged from these events and animate the diaspora, including memorials, archives, commemoration events, and cultural productions and reveals the diversity and complexity of refugee memory work as well as their implications.

Presenter 3

Paper Title: “The Preservation and Production of Diasporic Knowledge: Oral History and Archival Contributions”

Name: Thuy Vo Dang, University of California, Irvine

Abstract: Thuy Vo Dang will focus on the different kinds of Vietnamese American grassroots and community-funded archival and oral history projects that have been established to vie for a documented place in history. Many of these projects are not fixed and immutable contributions to static archives, but rather are often one aspect of larger community-based exhibits, events, and outreach activities. These preservation efforts are significant to the diasporic Vietnamese community in that they provide a platform for alternate narratives about the Vietnam War and its aftermath.

Presenter 4

Paper Title: “Heritage Organizations and Community-based Knowledge Production”

Name: Linda Ho Peche, The Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation

Abstract: 

Linda Ho Peche will reflect on the ways in which heritage organizations such as The Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation are establishing community visibility and academic relevance by supporting archival preservation efforts, popular and academic publications, and digital humanities projects. These grassroots organizations have made primary source information more accessible and have developed transpacific relationships with academic institutions. This has the potential to become a model for collaborative work with transnational reach, bridging a gap between community-based and academic-based knowledge production.

Presenter 5

Paper Title: “Toward a Framework for Vietnamese American Studies”

Name: Tuong Vu, University of Oregon

Abstract:

By tracing Vietnamese Americans’ close links to the homeland and to other diasporic communities around the world, Tuong Vu will discuss how a new anthology under review will explore new directions for research on the complexities and ambiguities of identity, on changing international politics and global economy, and on the complicated politics of the Vietnamese American community as it continues to evolve. The collections of chapters will capture the real and perceived power of Vietnamese Americans as intermediaries between their host country and their homeland, and between Vietnamese in Vietnam and various transnational forces. This anthology will build on existing scholarship while seeking to situate Vietnamese American history in the context of modern Vietnamese history. It begins with the Republic of Vietnam (1955-1975) as the origin of a particular set of anti-communist ideologies, civic and social networks, intellectual proclivities, and artistic sensibilities that came to influence life in America. The goal is to take advantage of recent developments in the study of modern Vietnamese history that have somehow escaped the attention of scholars in Vietnamese American studies.