Resettlement and Border Crossing: A Comparative Study on the Life and Ethnicity of Vietnamese in Australia and Japan

Abstract: This paper deals with the life world and ethnic identity of Vietnamese residents who entered and settled in Australia and Japan as refugees after the end of the Vietnam War. It focuses on how social and cultural conditions in the host countries and global influences affect the lives of overseas Vietnamese and consequently transform their ethnic identities. Through this comparative research study conducted in Australia and Japan, I have focussed on Vietnamese religion, social networks, perceptions of the homeland and the host country, notions of Vietnamese identity between generations, and images of Vietnamese in the media of the host country. I explore the features of each host society in accepting refugees and also the commonalities and differences in how the overseas Vietnamese construct their life world and ethnic identity. I also discuss the “location of Vietnamese identities” in Australia and Japan. I will also rethink the meaning of “settlement” and “crossing borders” related to the politics of Vietnamese identities that confirm the importance of investigating the effects of displacement on the life of the Vietnamese diaspora in contemporary world context.     

‘Vietnam is my country land,China is my hometown’: Chinese communities in transition in the south of Vietnam

Studies of Southeast Asian Chinese are voluminous; yet, those about the Chinese in Vietnam are comparatively few. This article provides an updated account of the Chinese Vietnamese with focuses on the Chinese associations in the South of Vietnam and the shifting Chinese identity. Many have discussed the Chinese Vietnamese who fled Vietnam in the 1970s and 1980s, however, little is known about the plights of the Chinese inside Vietnam during those decades. This article elaborates on their situations in the post-unification decade in Ho Chi Minh City and the subsequent changes after the doi moi reforms in the 1990s. It will show how a liberalized economy and accommodative ethnic policies have resulted in a more proactive relationship between the Chinese minority and the Vietnamese society, which consequentially led to changes in the relationship between the Chinese in Vietnam and China.     

Hidden ‘in-betweenness’: an exploration of Taiwanese transnational identity in contemporary Japan

This article offers an analysis of the dynamic interplay of endogenous and exogenous forces that create the complexity of immigrant identity. It examines cultural identity and the related discourse of one particular immigrant group, the ‘post-war immigrant Taiwanese, in contemporary Japan. This group came to Japan after the end of Second World War. They have experienced complex transitions in both legal status and self-identification. Constituted from the legacies of Japanese colonialism and Chinese nationalism, the post-war émigré Taiwanese constantly negotiate and redefine their ‘neither here, nor there’ identities and thus constitute a distinct case within the population of overseas ethnic Chinese. Japan, widely considered to be a society of racial and cultural homogeneity, faces an increasing influx of migrants, in particular those from East Asia in recent years. Immigration thus leads to a broad range of concerns in contemporary Japanese society. While previous literatures of the Chinese and Korean Diaspora are widely researched, there is a vacuum on Taiwanese Diaspora in the associated scholarship. This study investigates the Taiwanese migrants' cultural adaptation and socialization under the Japanese discourse through literature reviews and field study. This paper argues that the post-war émigré Taiwanese have constructed a transnational identity hidden in-between two cultures of Japanese and Chinese. In other words, this paper attempts to offer a perspective of Taiwanese under Japanese colonialism and Chinese nationalism that transcends the ‘identity struggle’ commonly experienced by immigrants around the world. This group of Taiwanese migrants in postwar Japan struggle with surveillance, assimilation, resistance and identity confusion. To balance between a survival strategy overseas and a primordial attachment to the motherland, their identification with group boundaries may shift in accordance with a variety of situations.     

What makes a Gael? Identity,language and ancestry in the Scottish Gàidhealtachd

Scholars know far less about ‘national identity’ than ‘nations’ and ‘nationalism’. The authors argue that the concept is sociologically important and briefly discuss its relationship with language. They examine empirically how people living in the Gàidhealtachd, the area of Scotland associated with Gaelic language and culture, whether they are Gaelic speakers or not, whether incomers or not, go about their territorial identity business. The article shows how respondents’ Gaelic identity relates to their British and Scottish identity; how people living in the Gàidhealtachd assess putative claims to a Gaelic identity based variously on language, residence and ancestry; and how they see the balance between ‘cultural’ and ‘political’ elements in Gaelic. The authors argue that to study ‘what makes a Gael?’ highlights the key role territorial identity plays in connecting social structure to social action, and also that identity provides a set of meanings and understandings through which people experience social structure and feel empowered to act.     

Unofficial Hanoians: Migration,Native Place and Urban Citizenship in Vietnam

Independent migration to Hanoi has surged dramatically over two decades of deepening market reforms, blurring the distinctions between urban and rural lives once maintained so carefully by the Communist Party of Vietnam. However many urban migrants face ongoing legal and social obstacles in Hanoi, tied to an outmoded system of household registration (ho khau), and widespread anxieties about the ‘floating population’ threatening to overwhelm the city. This article shows how one group of ‘unofficial Hanoians’—migrant motorbike taxi drivers from Nam Dinh Province—navigate a system of differentiated urban citizenship by forging communities and mutual assistance networks around shared ‘native places’ (que huong) to find employment, housing and social support in the city. It also reveals how Hanoi's marginal urban spaces—home to entrenched migrant communities of ambiguous legality—emerge as key arenas in the negotiation of Vietnamese citizenship, forcing national leaders, city officials, landlords and residents to grapple with questions of free movement and the rights of rural citizens to transgress urban space.     

Rewriting Singapore and rewriting Chineseness: Lee Guan Kin’s diasporic stance

This study proposes to view Lee Guan Kin (the former director of the Center for Chinese Language, Culture, and Division of Chinese at Nanyang Technological University) in the historical context in which the identity of Southeast Asian Chinese has transformed from overseas Chinese to ethnic Chinese, from Straits Chinese to Chinese Singaporeans. Based on the interview with Lee and the study of Lee’s numerous publications, this article exemplifies Lee’s enduring efforts on researching diasporic Southeast Asian Chinese and their ties with Chinese language and culture is a meaningful choice rather than an essentialist returning to ‘roots.’ In this article, Lee’s continuous engagement with China, Chinese language, and culture is illustrated by analyzing Lee’s assertion of ‘doing justice’ for Lim Boon Keng and Tan Lark Sye. Accordingly, this study is divided into four parts. First, the concept of Chineseness is reviewed and explored in the context of Southeast Asia. Second, the historical background of English-educated and Chinese-educated Chinese groups and their varying degrees of Chineseness are introduced. Then this study analyzes how Lee does justice for Lim Boon Keng, a baba who served as chancellor of Xiamen University for 16 years, and Tan Lark Sye, who was the founder of former Nanyang University. Lee believes that both prominent figures were unfairly and relentlessly treated by Chinese and Singaporean historiography, respectively, and therefore, Lee wants to do justice to them as a way to relocate their position in the context of Chinese diaspora and to redefine Chinese accordingly. Finally, this study argues that locality defines Lee’s Chineseness, her relation with China, China studies, Chinese identity, or Chinese culture. While locality defines Lee’s Chineseness, a diasporic stance characterizes her articulation, which challenged the homogeneous threat of identity imposed by the nation-state and the kind of Chineseness traditionally shaped by the authority of a sino-centric core.     

Negotiating belonging in Australia through storytelling and encounter

From 2010 to 2012 a diverse group of young people participated in an oral history theatre project, Chronicles, which aimed to support them to claim a personally meaningful Australian identity. Oral history theatre was used to facilitate a process whereby the young people were able to reconnect with their personal family histories, encounter Aboriginal young people and stories, and together interview Aboriginal Elders. Through this process, they could develop new understandings of their own social identities, and meanings of and possibilities for belonging. ‘Centring diverse lives, decentring whiteness’ and ‘a different starting point: Aboriginal ways of knowing’, were the two key outcomes that we report on. Bringing people from diverse cultural and social backgrounds together to share stories of history, culture and identity, offers a unique vantage point from which to rupture dominant narratives about belonging/non-belonging and show up whiteness, and together forge a new Australian identity reflective of everyday multiculturalism.     

Identity development and cultural production in the Chinese diaspora to the United States, 1850–2004: new perspectives

Diaspora studies have grown in importance in the modern world as world travel and relocation have become more feasible; as the numbers of persecuted peoples and those seeking exile or new beginnings in new lands has increased; as globalization has created new classes of diaspora movement based on economic motivations; and as technology and modern communication has linked people worldwide and made virtual diasporas and identities readily possible. In the present time, the concept of the diaspora has become the most relevant and usefully adaptable way to view global cultural interaction and human situational practices. This paper examines change and development in Chinese diaspora populations in the US, which have encountered the entire range of diaspora experience, old and new, from 1850 to the present day. The aim is threefold: (1) comparatively to sketch new ideas in diaspora studies, add to them where possible, and employ them in an analysis of individual and community identity construction in the Chinese diaspora, while comparing and contrasting these experiences with those of the Jewish and black diasporas; (2) to present a four-stage model of diasporic literary production and attendant personal and community identity construction, through which varied examples of Chinese American writing will be examined; and (3) within this model, to give extended attention to Chinese American writer Maxine Hong Kingston's China Men (1980), a pivotal text defining and describing Chinese American diaspora identity and experience in the US. The paper concludes with a look forward, and thoughts about possible new conditions modifying ‘new diasporas’.     

South African Indian migration in the twenty-first century: towards a theory of ‘triple identity’

This paper is inspired by three issues, namely ongoing research on South Africans of Indian origin, the anecdotal evidence that accumulates through ongoing discussions on a casual level with such people and the increasing interest among researchers about how globalization and transnational movements are impacting upon identity formation among minorities who are seeking employment or a new life in the developed economies of the ‘big five’ English-speaking countries, i.e. the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. It is in countries such as these that a third identity emerges and develops to instill a sense of triple identity. The information here suggests that, when people of Indian origin migrate to one of these countries, they continue to cling to South Africa because it is their country of birth, as well as to India, more for sentimental rather than practical reasons. The topic of this paper reflects a contemporary phenomenon not just among the Indians in South Africa, but also among other diasporas such as Chinese in Latin America, whose new and final emigration destination always seems to be the US. In addition, people of Chinese origin in the countries of Indochina, such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, experienced similar patterns of becoming diasporas in Europe, North America and Oceania in the 1970s. However, migration implores them to renegotiate their identities in order to adapt and settle in accordance with their newly adopted host territories. This gives rise to an identity that straddles three countries, which induces the need to examine new ways of identity building in a global transnational economy.     

The Role of Premigration Status in the Acculturation of Chinese–Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans

Drawing from fifty in‐depth interviews, this research examines the role of existing parental language knowledge on the ethnic identity negotiation of two ethnically distinct children of immigrant groups—Vietnamese and Chinese–Vietnamese—whose families have emigrated from Vietnam to the Southern California region of the United States. While previous research focused primarily on the influence of premigration status on first‐generation immigrants, this article considers how a central aspect of premigration status (intranational ethnicity) applies specifically to the children of first generation immigrants. By taking the premigration approach of comparing the experiences of different ancestral‐origin groups from a single nation (the intranational ethnicity perspective), this analysis suggests that a family's premigration ethnic status shapes the 1.5 and second‐generation's ethnic self‐identification choices through the mediation of parental language knowledge. Specifically, for the children of immigrants with twice‐minority status (Chinese–Vietnamese Americans), parental language knowledge serves as an easy ethnic identity default during these children's early self‐identification process.     

City of Quartz

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the production of Indian ethnicity in the United States through a close reading of the Cultural Festival of India, an event that took place over four weeks in 1991 in Edison, New Jersey. The festival, organized by the Gujarati Hindu sect, Bochasanwasi Swaminarayan Sanstha, presented an extravagant and general vision of ‘India’ for Indian as well as non-Indian Americans through arts performances, shopping displays, food stands and cultural exhibits. The Cultural Festival of India can be seen as an occasion for a new type of ‘imagined community’, or as an instance of diasporic nationalism, that is, produced by immigrant Indians intent on projecting a positive image of themselves, and is steeped in romantic notions of the home country.

As Indians in First World countries form larger and more visible populations, they begin to develop elaborate strategies for constructing associative identities. In the United States, the Indian middle class has chosen the terminology and the historical precedents of ‘ethnicity’ to construct itself as a group within the political and cultural landscapes of a ‘multicultural’ nation. The rapidly expanding Indian capitalist economy simultaneously procures foreign investment through connections maintained with these overseas Indians as well as through a new image projected abroad of India as a source of progress. Nationalism, diaspora, culture and identity become confounded both as theoretical categories and as material forces. The Cultural Festival of India illustrates these developments through the reification of Indian ‘culture’, the portrayal of idealized Indian social values and the celebration of technological innovation. Through an examination of the festival, the article explains the continuities in colonial and postcolonial strategies of building national and transnational communities.     

‘The nice culture and the good behaviour’ state media and ethnic minorities in Lào Cai province,Vietnam

In the northern highlands of Vietnam, a very specific official vision of culture is at the core of the modernisation projects of Vietnam Television VTV5 (?ài Truy?n hình Vi?t Nam), a channel dedicated to educating ethnic minorities, and of the Lào Cai provincial branch of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST, B? V?n hóa, Th? thao và Du l?ch). These two state institutions jointly organise film screenings – for instance condemning the production and consumption of opium and heroin – in remote villages where they intend to modify cultural practices. These state social actors also produce films that represent what are deemed exemplary minority traditions for public consumption. Our observations of these media processes lead us to suggest that the subjects of these exogenous initiatives are adjusting strategically, activating patterns of quiet resistance to maintain their identities and subvert marginalisation.     

Living with a prostate cancer diagnosis: a qualitative 2-year follow-up

Aim.?Previous research has identified how newly diagnosed prostate cancer affects men's daily lives, including daily activities and existential issues. The aim of this qualitative study was to provide information if and how prostate cancer affects men's daily lives 2 years after the diagnosis.

Methods.?A second follow-up interview with men who were diagnosed with localized or advanced prostate cancer approximately 18–24 months earlier. Twenty-two men aged 50–85 years participated, data were analyzed by hermeneutical interpretation with Gadamer's approach.

Results.?The men feel healthy, but prostate cancer affects their daily lives. They experience every day fatigue associated with several changes in life due to age. Three equivalent fusions which influenced the men are: ‘Age is claiming its due’, ‘Living with uncertainty’, and ‘Strengthen self-esteem’. The unifying fusion is identified as ‘Balancing a changed life situation.’

Conclusions.?There is need for knowledge and guidance for men with prostate cancer on how to adapt to new life situation decreasing uncertainty and increasing welfare. Men found a sense of pride, despite physical changes, in appreciating independence and close relationships. Value of life was readjusted. The findings indicate harmony in living, enjoying being frank as well as rating the ‘little’ things.     

The racialised mobility of transnational working holidays

This study explores how transnational working holidaymakers imagine and negotiate their identity positions in ethno-racial structures of the host society. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 53 Korean working holidaymakers in Canada, the study addresses how the young people are racialised by being exposed to the ‘white gaze’ and re-ethnicised by engaging with the Korean diaspora. The study examines how the transnational mobility of working holidays both breaks from and continues the mobile subjects’ ethno-racial identity. The study’s findings contribute to the understanding of the racial dimensions of working holidaymaking, a largely overlooked topic in previous tourism studies.     

Preparing Social Workers to Identify and Integrate Culturally Affirming Bibliotherapy into Treatment

Despite gains in redefining America as a ‘salad bowl’ versus a ‘melting pot’, stereotypes about racial and ethnic minorities, including African Americans, remain embedded in the fabric of the United States. By acknowledging the significance of stereotypes, race, and culture on the lives of clients, culturally affirming bibliotherapy is a tool that can empower them, validate their experiences, and promote the development of a positive self‐identity or self‐concept. This paper focuses on its use with African American youth, however, because, race impacts all individuals of African descent, this tool can and should be incorporated into their treatment as well when deemed appropriate.     

Chinese,Japanese or ‘Oriental’?: Vietnamese-passing in ‘super-diverse’ London

The young British-born Vietnamese are a relatively invisible group in ‘super-diverse’ London who are often misidentified in their everyday encounters. Eluding more straightforward processes of ethnic or racial assignment, the young Vietnamese ‘pass’ in various different ways as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai or ‘Oriental’. Drawing upon primary interview data and participant observation, this article traces ‘passive’ and ‘deliberate’ forms of passing to highlight how intersecting processes of class, gender and place enable/engender different kinds of passing. It is argued that Vietnamese-passing challenges more ‘celebratory’ readings of (super-) diversity by concealing (and depoliticising) difference and erasing Vietnamese voices rather than allowing for their proliferation. It is suggested that practices of passing may become more common in super-diverse societies, as markers of visible difference become increasingly complex and less determinable, especially among newer, non-colonial migrant groups who are more ambiguously positioned within existing identity regimes.     

Out of the ordinary: research participants’ experiences of sharing the ‘insignificant’

How do research participants feel about having their ‘ordinary’ lives researched? This article focuses on how research participants manage the sharing of details emerging out of their ordinary lives in the context of research – an activity which, for most, is outside of the ordinary. Despite two significant research turns – towards reflexivity and towards the ‘everyday’ – these experiences remain curiously neglected. Drawing on a study of small acts of help and support, I seek to push methodological debate about researching the ordinary beyond the technical challenges of surfacing or capturing the apparently mundane or ‘insignificant’. I do so by arguing that background feelings rooted in the living of, and sharing about, the ordinary are analytically important in their own right; that the ‘ordinary’ itself, therefore, has to be managed by research participants and researchers; and that Goffman’s notion of performance is a useful tool for understanding how this is done.     

Techniques of Death: Buddhist Practice,Femininity and Self-Cultivation at the Last Stage of Life in Vietnam

This article explores how death is conceptualised by elderly lay Buddhist women in H? Chí Minh City (Vietnam). It explores the traits of a ‘good death’ which elderly laywomen wish to experience, and their dedicated practice of Buddhism to prepare themselves for a peaceful end stage of life. This article contends that, in fact, women’s perceptions of death speak to their desires to live a life with dignity and retain their full personhood and nurturing femininity which they have embodied throughout their adult lives even until their last moments. They pursue devotional practices to train their body and mind in order to prepare themselves for the critical moment of dying, believing that these self-cultivating practices will enable them to transcend physical suffering and mental confusion, and immediately move on to the next, better life.     

Up from Childhood: When African-American Enslaved Children Learned of Their Servile Status

There came a moment in enslaved children's lives when they perceived that they were ‘different’ from their white playmates: they became cognisant of being slaves. This moment was part of a three-part process, which must be studied collectively in order to understand its full impact on child-slave identity formation. The first stage comprised a period of ‘blissful ignorance’ and many children spent several years unaware that they were chattel. The second stage of development forced children to confront their servile status. This realisation could be an instantaneous recognition; however, the full repercussions took children much longer to understand. In the final stage, enslaved children questioned their identity; they had to ‘learn’ that they were racially different from others, and that by virtue of being different, they were inferior. This study further tests David Bailey's findings that the slave autobiographies portrayed a more ‘traumatic’ childhood experience than did the Works Progress Administration (WPA) interviews [David Bailey, ‘A Divided Prism: Two Sources of Black Testimony on Slavery’, Journal of Southern History 46, no. 3 (1980): 381–404]. But the sources do not necessarily tell two conflicting stories; rather the data collected by the WPA concur with the autobiographies. The age at which former slaves realised that they were enslaved greatly shaped their memories. Applying the three-stage theory to Bailey's findings suggests that many of the WPA interviewees were too young to have experienced stage two before Emancipation. Thus, their renditions of slavery correspond to the step one blissful memories from the autobiographers, suggesting that the two sources are perhaps not so antithetic when employed together.