Since the end of the Vietnam - American war in 197S, there have been no comprehensive efforts to study what it has meant for people living in Vietnam and the resulting Diaspora around the world to recast their identities in the wake of that war, and no serious analysis of the cultural and civic implicauons of (re)constructing histories and identities in relation to their homeland, new diasporic communities, and host societies. Few studies have examined how these various (re) constructions are enacted in claily life, how they speak to or comment upon each other. Where they intersect or diverge, how the, are taught or not taught, and how they are challenged or allowed to pass unexamined in daily interactions between young and old, women and men, as mediated by tradition, power, and authority.
We are uniquely poised to host visiting scholars who are interested in examining these kinds of questions, and to draw on their work as we continue to deepen our own commitments to these areas. To that end, we propose a residency program titled, (Re)Constructing Identity and Place in the Viemaniese Diaspora.
Residency Themes based on an extensive planning process, including reviews of the literature, dialogue with campus and community members, observations and surveys from community events, and much internal discussion and reflection, we propose a structure for visiting fellows based on the following three themes:
Year 1:
Examining Constructions of Vietnamese History - During this first year of residencies, visiting scholars are invited to explore issues in the construction and interpretation of Vietnamese history. How do regional perspectives( northern, southern. and central points of view), religious differences (e.g. Buddhism versus Catholicism), contradictory value systems (e.g. Confucianism vs. modernization) and conflicting ideologies (capitalism vs. socialism vs. nationalism) influence diasporic constructions of fact, myth, and meaning in Vietnamese history? What role(s) do these historical understandings play in the (re) constructions of Vietnamese identities in the diaspora? How is the contestation over Vietnamese histories reflected in unresolved political and social conflicts that continue to surface in Vietnamese communities, work, and family life, both in the dispora and in Viet Nam today? How do “historical facts” and “collective myths” feature in the construction of histories? How does formal education about Vietnamese history in elementary and high schools, college courses, and texts influence the framing of Vietnamese identities in the diaspora? Alternatively, how do oral histories from family members, community members and leaders (as evidenced in Vietnamese community newspapers and forums), who had direct expenences with colonial wars in Viet Nam, experiences in reeducation camps and resettlement in “New Economic Zones” and escape journeys after 1975 help shape Vietnamese diasporic identities? With the internet (mang luoi) and information technology, how do the increasingly transnational dynamics between diaspora, homeland, and cyberspace influence the constructions and interpretations of Vietnamese histories and identities’ Are there strategies for curriculum design, pedagogy, and community organizing that can incorporate conflicting histories ?
Year 2:
Emerging Diasporic Voices: Exploring Vietnamese Literature, Language, and Culture in the Diaspora.
Contributions by fellows in the first year will lay a ground work for understanding the development of Vietnamese diasporic voices and identities as expressed through literature, language, and culture. Recognizing that poetry and literature have historically played a critical role in shaping Vietnamese identities and movements of resistance, we ask Rockefeller fellows during the second year of residency to explore the work of established and emerging Vietnamese writers and artists (broadly defined) and their audiences in the diaspora through the following interconnected questions: What are the particular issues that writers and artists face in the diaspora and how do they address these issues and themes in their work? How do the contexts of language, culture, history, economics, and politics shape the production and interpretation of literature and art in the diaspora and how does literary or artistic work, in turn, shape those contexts? Who are the audiences for this literature and art and how are they evolving? What roles do writers, artists, and their work play in (re) constructing home, family, and community identities in the diaspora? What is the significance and impact of women’s voices. in particular? What are the resources for Vietnamese literature and culture in the diaspora. and how are Vietnamese language and culture changing? How do diasporic writers and artists relate to their counterparts in Viet Nam?
Year 3:
(Re)Construccions of Viecadmese Identity and Place in the Dispora: A Long Term Perspective.
The third year of residency will continue building on years one and two, while inviting fellows to explore (re)conscructions of Vietnamese identity and place in the diaspora through the following questions: What defines “home” for Viemarnese in the diaspora? How have definitions of home and identity been affected by various policy changes in Vietnam such as doi inoi (renovation) in 1986, the U.S. Embargo Lift in 1994. and the current transition to a more market oriented economy with its resulting access to increased information, travel, and investment from Vietnamese diasporic communities. With the increasing numbers of Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) visiting their homeland through travel and the internet, how are images of “Viet Nam” changing, and how do Vietnamese perceive the diasporic “visitors”? What are the impacts of the dWpora on the homeland and what are the impacts of opening the homeland to the diaspora? What are the ways in which Vietnamese communities reflect and reproduce systems of identities,
relationships. and values? How are these systems changing? How do problems, practices, and visions of Vietnamese community development compare and conuast in various settings across the diaspora as well as with other diasporic populations, including ethnic Chinese from Vietnam? How are Vietnamese diasporic communities developing new notions of civic life and democratic practice as they struggle to claim voice, space, and rights in their host societies’ How are these lessons in civic life and democratic practice - and related changes in gender and generational roles and identities - relevant to the homeland? What are the long-term challenges and prospects for the Vietnamese diaspora, and what should constitute a long-term agenda for relevant research and development?
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Xảo thuật chuyển dịch thần t́nh của WJC: từ (Re)Contructing Identity and Place in the Vietnamese Diaspora thành (Tái) Xây Dựng Diện Mạo và Quê Hương của người Việt ở nước ngoài.
Vấn đề CHUYỂN DỊCH và CHÍNH DANH - identity, (re)construction, diaspora, v.v. Phần lớn những ngộ nhận và tranh căi về vấn đề
"CHÍNH DANH" - refugees hơn là diaspora, identity hay là không
phải identity, có xây dựng hoặc tái xây dựng hay không
[(re)construction], v.v. đều bắt nguồn từ cái nh́n
dựa thuần túy trên ngữ nghĩa tự điển.
DIASPORA là một lănh vực chuyên nghiên cứu về
những khối dân lưu tán, mới phát triển lớn
trong khoảng 10 năm trở lại đây (1). Diaspora,
Identity, Place, v.v.là những thuật ngữ cơ bản
rất phổ thông trong ngành, rút từ những nghiên
cứu văn hóa hoc, văn học, xă hội học, v.v. .
Trong không khí chính trị hóa hiện nay, dễ suy diễn
là những từ đó tự nó tiềm ẩn một
mầu sắc hoặc hậu ư chính trị Thực ra, nó
chỉ "tiềm ẩn" những thuật ngữ
của một lănh vực nhân văn c̣n phôi thai trong
Việt Học.(2) Về vấn đề CHUYỂN
DỊCH, dịch nghĩa tự điển đă khó,
dịch những thuật ngữ chuyên môn lại càng khó hơn:
Việt Nam chưa có môn học DIASPORA nên những từ
khi dịch ra rất dễ chỉ chuyên chở những
ngữ nghĩa tự điển mà không bao hàm những ư
nghĩa chuyên môn. Chữ Identity chẳng hạn, có thể
dịch là Căn Cước, Bản Sắc, hay Diện
Mạo Xây dựng/tái xây dựng căn cước nghe không
ổn - như tới xứ người việc đầu
tiên là lo làm thẻ Căn Cước, để được
"hợp pháp hóa" chăng ? Xây dựng/tái xây
dựng Bản Sắc lại càng không được:
đă là Bản Sắc, nhất là Bản Sắc của
4000 ngàn năm), sao lại c̣n phải xây dựng rồi
lại tái xây dựng ?(3) Cuối cùng chỉ có từ
Diện Mạo là tạm ổn - cái bên ngoài là biểu
hiện của cái bên trong, một nỗ lực bền
bỉ kéo dài nhiều thế hệ. C̣n chữ PLACE,
nếu dịch là CHỐN, NƠI CHỐN, ĐỊA ĐIỂM,
th́ tiếng Việt trở thành khó hiểu, nếu không nói
là ngô nghệ Xây dựng Địa điểm nghe như
làm nền nhà! C̣n Xây dựng Nơi Chốn trở thành t́m
chỗ ở với từ Hán Việt và thuần Việt
văng vào nhau lẻng kẻng. Từ QUÊ HƯƠNG, nghĩa
đen là NATIVE LAND, COUNTRY, nhưng nghĩa bóng trong tiếng
Việt lại đúng là nghĩa chữ PLACE trong vườn
hoa văn học - một thế giới thân thuộc "rooted",
giữa một cơi xa thiếu không khí "người ta",
"uprooted". (Tái) Xây dựng Diên Mạo và Quê Hương
Của Người Việt ở Nước Ngoài nghe
tạm ổn, cũng chỉ là một cố gắng.
Với chuyện văn học, khó có một bản
dịch nào có thể coi là duy nhất hay toàn hảo
(trích Internet của WJC)
