Image Source: Anna Pak; drawing of the word “Politics” and a magnifying glass revealing different parts (e.g., people’s views/values) within the letters
Recently, my uncle and his family immigrated from South Korea to our home in the U.S. for various reasons, but also because he liked America. Go figure. In the middle of a conversation on Westernized culture in Korea, I noted how America seems to have colonized the country with how my uncle described it. He stopped and said, “Oh, I’ve never thought of it that way.” This interaction is one example of how the dominant narrative of a nation and politics becomes complicated beyond national borders. Similarly, Valverde’s case study of council member Nguyen and the “Little Saigon” controversy exemplifies this tension within the diaspora and their political identity. She also notes the relationships between economics; intergenerational and interracial divides and collaboration; and gendered power structures with the formation of political identity within the Vietnamese American community. Interestingly, she notes the "emotional ties" or lack thereof between some in the diasporic community and the nationalist/anticommunist ideology with the name "Little Saigon" (Valverde 124). Speaking of community, how can we expand on McQueen’s definition of “community” (Valverde 115)? In Smith’s text, he notes the lived simultaneity aspect through transnational grassroots politics or what I took as a depiction of political activism transcending national boundaries.
Works Cited:
Michael Peter Smith. “Transnational Migration and the Globalization of Grassroots Politics.”
Valverde, K.-L. C. (2013). Transnationalizing Viet Nam: Community, Culture, and Politics in the Diaspora. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
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