Themes and Frameworks
Family History
Memory
- Public Memory and Our Passing World | Mellon FoundationWhat can robust and just public memory work do to empower us to preserve and remember what is being lost to a changing environment and to galvanize us to move forward with courage and a spirit of innovation for the world we are creating? Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander and artist and designer Maya Lin held a discussion that drew on the insights of American commemorative history and the Mellon Monuments Project, as they explored the power of the arts and public memory in a time of climate change.
- Tran, Quan Tue. Anchoring Boat People's History and Memory: Refugee Identity, Community, and Cultural Formations in the Vietnamese Diaspora. 2016. Yale University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/openview/dfb0725904857db7c48e7324c
- The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (Films on Demand)The Vietnam War, an immersive ten-part, eighteen hour documentary film series directed by acclaimed filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, tells the epic story of one of the most divisive, consequential and misunderstood events in American history, as it has never before been told on film.
Vietnamese Diaspora
- Ocean Vuong 'Breaks Apart' The Immigrant Experience In His Debut Novel | HBO“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” by the award-winning Vietnamese-American poet and novelist Ocean Vuong, is already one of the best-reviewed novels of 2019. In this debut, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama of sorts, Vuong beautifully tackles trauma, immigration, queerness and memory. He sits down with VICE to talk about the process of writing his first novel, the power of language, the social microcosm of the nail salon and why his mom won’t look at him when she goes to his readings.
- Asian Pacific American Coalition of CTAPAC is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 that provides services and education for and about the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in Connecticut. APAC is a non-partisan group of concerned citizens who are leaders in their respective Asian American and Pacific American communities volunteering their time and resources to work on behalf of Connecticut Asian Pacific Americans.
- The Progressive Vietnamese American OrganizationPIVOT's Mission is to engage and empower Vietnamese Americans for a just and diverse America.
Gender and Sexuality
- Queer and Trans Culture and History in ConnecticutConnecticut is known today as one of the most welcoming states for LGBT+ people, and has celebrated legal successes in response to decades of dedicated activism, which began focused political activism in the 1970’s.
Language and Storytelling
Voices from Far Away Lands: From Divergent to Convergent by Call Number: READ ONLINEPublication Date: 2019This collection of essays highlights the power of the story, especially as told by those living an international life. What compels them to share their experiences? What have they experienced? What have they learned? In this time of tensions across the globe, rapid technological change and extensive migration, there is compelling value in learning through storied experiences. This volume explores the concepts of identity, change, equality, ethics, citizenship, family, feminism, community, faiths and values, advocacy and charity, systems, and languages. These movements are contextualized through a storied approach, adopting social exchange theory, identity theory, and globalization and internationalization movements as frameworks.
City Arts & Lectures presents Ocean Vuong in conversation with Mike Mills at the Sydney Goldstein Theater.
Poet and novelist Ocean Vuong talks with PZI's Jon Joseph about his writing, his childhood in Vietnam and the US, and his first encounter with Buddhism and its influence on his work. From his writing: “As an artist, there has to be an allegiance to wonder and awe and mystery, and a willingness to quest beyond truth.”
A collaboration between the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and MoMA, this conversation will explore themes of memory, autobiography, authenticity, heritage, and the relationship to photography in the work of artist An-My Lê and writers Monique Truong and Ocean Vuong. For a transcript of the event, see: https://brooklynrail.org/2024/07/art/An-My-Le-with-Monique-Truong-and-Ocean-Vuong/
Nail Salon Culture
The Managed Hand by Call Number: READ ONLINEPublication Date: 2010Two women, virtual strangers, sit hand-in-hand across a narrow table, both intent on the same thing-achieving the perfect manicure. Encounters like this occur thousands of times across the United States in nail salons increasingly owned and operated by Asian immigrants. This study looks closely for the first time at these intimate encounters, focusing on New York City, where such nail salons have become ubiquitous. Drawing from rich and compelling interviews, Miliann Kang takes us inside the nail industry, asking such questions as: Why have nail salons become so popular? Why do so many Asian women, and Korean women in particular, provide these services? Kang discovers multiple motivations for the manicure-from the pampering of white middle class women to the artistic self-expression of working class African American women to the mass consumption of body-related services. Contrary to notions of beauty service establishments as spaces for building community among women, The Managed Hand finds that while tentative and fragile solidarities can emerge across the manicure table, they generally give way to even more powerful divisions of race, class, and immigration.
CCS 1001 Resources
The Vietnamese-American poet and professor of creative writing encourage young writers to go off the road that has already been discovered and explored by others. “For so many queer folks, after a while, you realize that this road was never made with me in mind, and I have to stop the car, get out of it and climb over the guard rail.”
- Vietnamese Arts & Letters Association (VAALA)VAALA was founded in 1991 by a group of Vietnamese American journalists, artists, and friends to fill a void and provide a space for artists to express themselves as a newly resettled immigrant community. The original mission of VAALA was to support Southeast artists, with an emphasis on Vietnamese literature and visual arts. VAALA is a community-based non-profit organization historically run entirely by volunteers. Over the years, VAALA has collaborated with diverse community partners to organize numerous cultural events to connect and enrich communities. These events have included art exhibitions, book signings, music recitals, plays, and annual events such as the Viet Film Fest, Viet Book Fest, and Yellow Submarine Rising, Currents within Asian American Art.
- Vietnamese American Society for Creative Arts and MusicVASCAM (Vietnamese American Society for Creative Arts and Music) is a not-for-profit organization. The specific purpose of this Society is to cultivate, nurture and promote creative arts and music by Vietnamese Americans and Vietnamese overseas, with an extension to those who are interested in cross-cultural matters between Vietnam and the US. It provides a platform and venue for these artists to express their voices. VASCAM’s main angle is on humanistic expression. The Society aims to create awareness of creative arts and music both within and outside the Vietnamese American communities. It is completely non-political and non-religious based.