31 Responses to “Assessing the Anti-Communist Identity”

1. Lee Medders on September 21st, 2009 11:44 am

   • What is the difference between cultural assimilation and political incorporation?

   Cultural assimilation implies total acceptance and adoption of a culture
   other than one’s own. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the culture and abides by
   almost all of its rules. Whereas, by political incorporation, we mean the development of the
   capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a
   host country. This more inclusive definition recognizes a broad range of tactics to open up
   political channels for immigrants and does not deal explicitly with the political claims activists might make. (PG 6).

   Cultural assimilation refers to the way people change and adapt to new cultures after being displaced. An example of this would be how the Vietnamese change the way they dress once they have arrived at a new place. Political incorporation is more the forced changes put on the people. The restrictions put on them by government when they arrive somewhere new. It is not a wanted change but instead a forced change.

   • Explain the frequency and location of Vietnamese American protests.

   From 1975- 2001 there were over 200 Vietnamese protest that were large enough to make mainstream headlines. There are four categories of protest pursued by the Vietnamese community; demonstrations, symbolic or educational activities, transgressive activities, and institutionally oriented actions. Demonstrations are the preferred way of protesting by the Vietnamese with over half of the recorded protest being carried out using this method. Until late 1980’s the majority of the protest were random and the intent was for the Vietnamese to establish themselves in the community. After the late 1980’s the Vietnamese had established themselves and now they had more organized demonstrations. More than half of the protest happened in Orange County California. Another large percentage of the protest were in Washington DC. The majority of the demonstrations were about Vietnam politics and Vietnamese and American relations.

   • Will the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics? Explain

   I believe they will. The reason I believe they will is because of the rise of the Vietnamese in the political community. A majority of the Vietnamese would like to return to Vietnam once democracy has been restored. However, they do not feel that they have enough power to initiate change. The younger generation and many of the more educated older generations are getting involved in politics. I think that this will have a lasting impression on the second wave. The more progress they see being made by their community is going to make them want to get involved.

2. Andrew Q. Leba on September 22nd, 2009 8:02 pm

   • What is the difference between cultural assimilation and political incorporation?

   According to Dahl, Political incorporation is a function of mobilization in conventional party politics. There are three stages. In the first stage, immigrants lack the knowledge such as how to vote to be politically active or useful. In the second stage, ethnics mobilize en bloc in party politics with a distinct ethnic identity to influence the political process. In the third stage, interests in the ethnic community diverge and the individuals become politically incorporated. Other scholars believe that political incorporation is just naturalization and voting. Cultural assimilation implies total acceptance and adoption of a culture
   other than one’s own. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the culture and abides by
   almost all of its rules. Whereas, by political incorporation, we mean the development of the
   capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a
   host country.

   • Explain the frequency and location of Vietnamese American protests.

   Of the different kinds of protests Vietnamese take part in, demonstrations account for the most with 106 events. The second most are symbolic/educational protests with 44 incidents involving press conferences, public hearing testimonies, conferences, criticism of public officials, concerts, or exhibits. The third most frequent protests with 28 events involve transgressive activities such as non-violent transgression of law, violent action, verbal threat, and hunger strikes. The fourth most is institutional activities with 24 events including passage of legislation or resolution, filing lawsuit, motion, lobbying, or petitions. Vietnamese protest episodically, relatively infrequently until the late 1980s, then increasing to a peak in 1994 during the debate about normalizing relations with Vietnam, then falling after normalization occurred. Many protests were concentrated in southern California. More than half of Vietnamese protests took place in Orange County. Protests also occur in Northern California and Washington DC, although much less than the first location.

   • Will the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics? Explain

   The second generation will most likely become proactive in politics. With political and financial resources that their elders lacked, many will leave the politics that largely concern older Vietnamese Americans today and veer towards domestic policies that affect them directly such as immigration policy and education policy. Perhaps, the Vietnamese Americans will never be fully incorporated politically along party lines but will act more cohesively as an ethnic group or join the effort of other ethnic groups.

3. Diem Nguyen on September 22nd, 2009 10:58 pm

   Protest and Political Incorporation
   1. “Cultural assimilation implies total acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own. Whereas, by political incorporation, we mean the development of the capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a host country.” People who are culturally assimilated are people who have accepted the host country as their new home and care about things that affect the country. On the other hand, people who are politically incorporated with the new country care very much about policies that affect their homeland but care very little about policies that affect the country that they currently inhabit.
   2. The location of the Vietnamese American protests can be explain by looking at where the Vietnamese American population was located. Most of the protests occurred in Orange County because that is where most of the Vietnamese American population was located. The frequency of these protests coincides with the amount of time Vietnamese American stayed in America. There were very little protests when Vietnamese American first came to America because they were more concerned with establishing communities. These communities were also scattered across the US so these communities by themselves had very little political power. As time moved on, Vietnamese American started to migrate toward each other and built bigger communities. After successfully establishing big communities, Vietnamese Americans started to focus their attention to other things like normalizing and when denied, they protested. This also proved that the frequency and location of Vietnamese American protest are related with each other because the bigger the Vietnamese American population is in a given area; the larger the number of protests being held in that area.
   3. Yes, as time goes on, the Vietnamese communities will get more financial and political resources. As the Vietnamese communities get more and more politically incorporated, they will start to engage in “broader range of political issues.” Also, the issues in Vietnam will start to change so they Vietnamese communities will start to focus on those issues which will make the “ghosts of war” seem less relevant.

4. Andrew Q. Leba on September 23rd, 2009 9:00 am

   Extra Credit

   • What is the difference between the overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West?

   The main difference for both groups is their motivation for leaving Vietnam. For Western Vietnamese communities, they are political refugees from Communism following the fall of Saigon. The Vietnamese in Eastern communities such as Malaysia and Singapore are primarily guest workers or students who overstayed their contractual obligations and became residents, almost never allowed to become citizens of the new countries; or they may be brides sold to foreigners who bought them and took them out of Vietnam.

   • Explain why the overseas Vietnamese are not dupe. That they are not about to fall into the trap of the The Red Riding Hood story when the wolf, imitating the grandmother, pipes lavish praise into the ears of Little Red Riding Hood as to how wonderful she is or looks.

   . This is reflected in the amount of dollars they send home every year as compared to the flimsy amount of investment money they bring into the country. If the GDP of Vietnam, i.e. of its 84 million people, at the present time is estimated to come to 58 billion dollars per year, the GDP of 3 million overseas Vietnamese is believed by various experts to be between 30 and 40 billion a year. This explains why they could afford to send home between 3 and 4 billion U.S. dollars a year to help their friends and families or for charity purposes but as far as investment money is concerned, the overseas Vietnamese contribution is minimal, barely reaching one billion in almost 20 years since the Foreign Investment Law was first passed in 1987. Many people accuse them of aiding the Communist government, but much of the money actually goes to families and indirectly and minimally benefit the Vietnamese government. The difference is that the money that is sent is not a direct investment to the Vietnamese government.

   • Why does the success of overseas Vietnamese represent a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam?

   Vietnamese diaspora economically outperform their native counterparts in almost every endeavor imaginable. There is no inherent difference between these two groups of people. They are both Vietnamese and were once compatriots. The main reason for the economic discrepancy between these two groups is due to the government economic system they are in. This clearly shows the ineffectiveness and deficiency of the Communist system in Vietnam, challenging it directly. As such it is the most eloquent reminder of the superior performance of Vietnamese when they are free from the shackles of a communist government and find themselves in a freer environment of competition and individual enterprise.

5. Huy Nguyen on September 23rd, 2009 12:36 pm

   Online reading
   1. Cultural assimilation implies total acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the culture and abides by almost all of its rules. Whereas, by political incorporation, we mean the development of the capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a host country.

   2. Vietnamese protest episodically, relatively infrequently until the late 1980s, then increasing to a peak in 1994 during the debate about normalizing relations with Vietnam, then falling after normalization occurred. In the early years, the Vietnamese were dispersed due to U.S. government trying to assimilate the new groups of immigrant into the new culture. Also the early years of residence for immigrants were taken up with establishing themselves, rather than making political claims. The locations of Vietnamese American protests were mainly concentrated in South California, at Little Saigon in the heart of Orange County. There were other locations but not as much in South California, such as Washington D.C., Texas, and North California.

   3. The second generation of Vietnamese in America may move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics. Coupled with increased financial and political
   resources, the next generation may leave some parts of the politics of the homeland behind and
   become a significant political bloc in advocating policies benefiting immigrants, engaging a
   broader range of political issues, and contesting and winning larger numbers of political offices.

   Extra Credit

   1. The Vietnamese community in the West has more resources to find jobs in the major cities. In the West, the community is more depend on the government to help them merge into the new culture. While in the East, the community is independent from the government, and they couldn’t merge into the mainstream culture. However, they have to work their ways up by selling all sorts of handicrafts, textile and shoe products.

   2. The overseas Vietnamese are not dupe and they are not naïve to fall into the Communist’s trap which bringing the money that they have made overseas to bring back to Vietnam. The Communist wants the overseas Vietnamese to return home and rebuild the country, but also merge into the Communist’s mind.

   3. The success of overseas Vietnamese represents a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because they obtain higher education which makes it a threat to Vietnam since their education is not great. The Vietnamese overseas have better economic and financial success than home in Vietnam, and the overseas live better life.

6. Thuan Vu on September 23rd, 2009 5:08 pm

   Online Reading

   1. Cultural assimilation is accepting and adopting another culture other than the culture from your Homeland while political incorporation is the development of political action in response to certain opportunities that is presented in the Host country itself.

   2. An increase in Protests within the Vietnamese
   American community occured in the mid 1980s where a rise in major inter-state migration escalated the situation. Due to the notably similar tropical weather as well as strong cultural bonds, Southern California attracted manyVietnamese refugees. California namely Little Saigon in the heart of Orange County, lead the nation with Vietnamese protests followed closely by northern California, Texas, and to even to Washington D.C.

   3. The second generation of Vietnamese in America will indeed move beyond the ghosts of war to become more proactive in politics. Vietnamese students of the second generation are given the tools needed to engage in politics, compete in political races, and some will definitely obtain seats in the political offices of America. Some political aspects of the homeland must be left behind but more importantly many aspects will be advocated into policies benefiting the Vietnamese American immigrants of America.

   Extra Credit

   1. One of the major differences between the communities of the East and those of the West is that for most individuals in the East they are not immigrants or refugees from communism but rather are originally guest workers or students. These people stayed longer then what was originally agreed upon and ended up becoming residents. For the West, the community there is predominantly refugees escaping a communist Vietnam.

   2. The overseas Vietnamese cannot be described as dupe because the fact of the matter is, the Hanoi rulers had to revise their initial statement and instead praised these people as “the extension of Vietnam’s innards thousands of miles away”. They can take in the irony and comfort since the initial reaction of the Communist victors describe them as “traitors” and “scums”. No they will not fall for the trap of the wolf in The Red Riding Hood story, piping lavishing praises into their ears.

   3.The success of Vietnamese individuals abroad challenges the educational and economic structure of the communists system. As one can see over 300,000 world-class graduates of colleges and universities have directed a challenge to the universities of Vietnam. Success not only in the U.S. but Great Britain, France, Australia. All can take pride in their success no thanks to the totalitarian regime in Hanoi that forced its people out of Vietnam.

7. Tina Nguyen on September 23rd, 2009 6:54 pm

   Protest and Political Incorporation

   1)Cultural assimilation implies total acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the culture and abides by almost all of its rules. Political incorporation is more on recognizes a broad range of tactics to open up political channels for immigrants and does not deal explicitly with the political claims activists might make.

   2)According to newspaper account, Vietnamese protest episodically, relatively infrequently until the late 1980s, then increasing in 1994 during the debate about normalizing relations with Vietnam, then falling after normalization occurred. Little Saigon is in the heart of Orange County which has become the “capital” of Vietnamese American protest. More than half of the protest reported took place in Orange County, mostly in Westminster or Garden Grove.

   3)There is a possibility that the second generation of Vietnamese in America may move beyond the ghosts of war to become more proactive in politics. With better and more improved resources, the next generation will become a more significant political blow in advocating polices benefiting immigrants and other broad political issues

   Extra Credit-Immigration and Integration

   1)Overseas communities in the East are not considered refugees. Rather, they are seen as those who crossed into the new world because of a purpose in mind whether it be for study abroad, marriage, or workforce. The communities in the West are mainly considered refugees because they left their country due to political reasons.

   2)When the overseas Vietnamese left their country, they were mocked as traitors and were disrespected by their own country. Many years later, after seeing how successful these overseas Vietnamese have become, the country as a whole starts recognizing those who were considered “traitors” back then as heroes. The overseas Vietnamese knows the idea behind the sweet talk and refuse to directly establish partnership with the government in Vietnam. The Vietnamese immigrants still support their family members and friends but do not invest much in the Vietnamese economy.

   3)The communist system was supposed to be an elite system that was promised to not fail. However, those who left Vietnam pursued a better lifestyle than those remained. This became a huge challenge to the communist system because the image of overseas Vietnamese being more successful than those in the country shows that perhaps the communist system is corrupt and pathetic.

8. Trung Nguyen on September 23rd, 2009 9:28 pm

   Part 1

   1. According to the authors, cultural assimilation is the “total acceptance and adoption of a culture other an one’s own. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the culture and abides by almost all of its rules.” and political incorporation is “the development of the capacity to mobilize the effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a host country.”
   2. The authors gave us information of a lot of Vietnamese American protests happening in Southern California. This is because of the high population of Vietnamese Americans there. The frequency of the protests directly correlates to the establishment of Vietnamese communities in America.
   3. I think the second generation of Vietnamese in America will become more proactive than the ghosts of war because they are paving the way for the second generation of Vietnamese in America. The foundation is being set for them and as the second generation rises through education, they can incorporate themselves into the political system and tackle broader issues than the ghosts of war.

   Part 2
   1. The overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West are different because those in the West are refugees escaping communism. Those in the East are usually guest workers, students, or brides sold to foreigners. These different communities different hardships and experiences have also separated them culturally.
   2. The overseas Vietnamese are not dupe because they were seen as traitors and were not suppose to succeed. The communists were trying to promote their system as a successful system, but over time the overseas Vietnamese have proved to be much more successful than the communist system.
   3. The success of Vietnamese overseas is a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because the communist system is what forced many Vietnamese out of the country and those Vietnamese are very successful today. The Vietnamese overseas are becoming more educated and are very successful in business. This is bad for the Communists because they are not doing as well.

9. Nghia Huynh on September 23rd, 2009 10:40 pm

   Assignment:
   1. Political incorporation is when an individual achieve political inclusion but still maintain their original ethic identity. Cultural assimilation is when a person or group accepts the new culture and fuse it with their old culture.

   2. The frequency of protest by Vietnamese Americans were relatively low before the 1980s because the most of the Vietnamese people at the time just came from Vietnam and were more interested about rebuilding their community. The frequency of protest started to rise in the late 1980s till 1994 because of the debate about normalizing relations with Vietnam. It then fell after normalization occurred. Most of these protests took place in Southern California because most of the Vietnamese American lived in Little Saigon which is located in Orange County. There were also protests in Northern California and Washington D.C. but the number of protest pale in comparison because there were not nearly as many Vietnamese American living there.

   3. I believe they will because the next generation will eventually leave some parts of the politics of the homeland behind. After letting go of the politics of the homeland, they will start to focus on a broader range of politics and will start to win more political offices. This will cause them to be more concern with current issues instead of the past.

   Extra Credit:
   1. Vietnamese communities in the West consist of refugees from Communism. On the other hand, Vietnamese Communities in the East consist of guest workers or students who overstayed their contractual obligations and became residents, almost never allowed to become citizens of the new countries; or they may be brides sold to foreigners who bought them and took them out of Vietnam.

   2. The overseas Vietnamese are not dupe because they know of the evils that Communism committed. Many of them have experienced these evils first hand and therefore are not fooled by the fake appearance of acceptance by Hanoi rulers. The overseas Vietnamese also recognize the fact that the only reason Hanoi rulers call them “the extension of Vietnam’s innards thousands of miles away” is because these Hanoi rulers want their money and support since they are now successful in their new country.

   3. It shows that Vietnamese people can be more successful outside of a Communist system than in one. Hanoi wants to show that staying in a Communist system is more beneficial but the Vietnamese economic and financial success around the world proves that Hanoi is wrong.

10. Nam Tran on September 23rd, 2009 11:19 pm

    1/ Cultural assimilation is defined as “implies total acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own”. Put it simple, one become totally adapted to the new cultural and get along with all the rules. Political incorporation is defined as “the development of the capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a host country”. One person once get used to the new environment and fluently understand the political system in the host country, he/she can influent the study of political and get more opportunity to dig deeper within the system.
    2/ Most of the Vietnamese American protests happen in California, Garden Grove or Westminster or Little Saigon. Other places can be Washington D.C. According to research, more than half of the protest (=135) took place in California. It can be explained why so many protests happens in California. General speaking, California state have the biggest population of Vietnamese American. In large, California also contains a huge amount of Vietnamese American who came to the US after the fall of old Saigon.
    3/ The second generation of Vietnamese American is now moving on with their life and leave the past behind. They also become more proactive in politics. Fully equipped with knowledge and political resources, they step by step get into the political system. Be more specific, they are trying to get the system favor immigrants imports, open or broader the issues of immigrants etc. They now more and more winning in large and get more offices.
    Extra Credit:
    1/ The West oversea Vietnamese community mostly contains people who run away from the Communist after the fall of Saigon. From the East, the Vietnamese community was mostly built by those who came there under work contracts or as oversea students, some came as the sold brides.
    2/ According to the study, oversea Vietnamese have sent billion and billion dollars back to Vietnam. It generates by multi purposes such as investing, helping families, charity working etc. But whatever the reason might be, the Vietnamese who are living outside the country of Vietnam are not sending money back just because some sweet words from the rulers of Vietnam at the time being. They send money because that they want to help and somehow pushing the Vietnam economy.
    3/ By comparing the successfulness of the overseas Vietnamese students to the education system back to Vietnam, I believe there would be a huge gap. It raises a challenge to Vietnam ruler as what have they done to the education system.

11. Vinh Vo on September 23rd, 2009 11:48 pm

    1/ Cultural assimilation implies total acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the culture and abides by almost all of its rules. While political incorporation is the development of the capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a host country.
    2/ Vietnamese protest infrequently until the late of 1980, then it increasing to a peak in 1994 during the debate about normalization relation with Viet Nam then falling after the normalization. I think in the beginning time, the Vietnamese community live in different part of a nation and they are facing a lot of hardships in the new life, so they don’t have time and ability to do a protest. During the 1990’s this is where the Vietnamese Community had settled with their life and grew strong. They want their voice to be heard and they want to fight for what they believe in. Vietnamese community protest mostly in Southern California, especially in Westminster and Garden Grove the home of Little Saigon. This is a best location because the Vietnamese community in this area is a larger and strongest Vietnamese community in the nations. The more people the bigger voice and affect it is.
    3/The second generation of Vietnamese in America may move beyond the ghosts of war to
    become even more proactive in politics. Coupled with increased financial and political resources, the next generation may leave some parts of the politics of the homeland behind and
    become a significant political bloc in advocating policies benefiting immigrants, engaging a
    broader range of political issues, and contesting and winning larger numbers of political offices.
    Extra Credit
    1/ Oversea community in the East is majority non-refugees, they are originally guest workers or students who overstayed their contractual obligations and became residents, almost never allowed to become citizens of the new countries; or they may be brides sold to foreigners who bought them and took them out of Vietnam. While the oversea community in the West are mostly a refugees that ran away from communist and got accept in USA, France, Australia, etc… These people started their new life and later become a citizen of that country.
    2/ The oversea Vietnamese are not dupe because the majority of them are refugee and they have experienced the communist. The sweet talks of the extension of Vietnam’s innards thousands of miles away is just a tool to get them back to work for the communist and benefit the rulers there because the ruler know the potential and the knowledge of these group can help them to become stronger and richer.
    3/ The successes of oversea Vietnamese is a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because it represent the oversea people and it proves to the communist that the oversea community can do better outside Vietnam and can have a larger impact in the world than those who’s under communist.

12. Trung Thieu on September 24th, 2009 12:21 am

    Online reading
    1. Cultural assimilation is total acceptance and adoption of a culture other an one’s own. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the culture and abides by almost all of its rules. Political incorporation is the development of the capacity to mobilize the effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a host country.

    2. Vietnamese protest episodically, relatively infrequently until the late 1980s, then increasing in 1994 during the debate about normalizing relations with Vietnam, then falling after normalization occurred. Most of the protests happened in Little Saigon in California( the heart of Orange County) because most of the Vietnamese American population is in California. At first, when Vietnamese just came to America, they were more concerned about how to make a living, but after they can fit in the new life in the U.S then they begin to protest.

    3. Yes, the second generation Vietnamese in the U.S will be more proactive in politics with all the resources they have from the first generation. They will move beyond the ghost of war and care more about politics in the U.S, where they are living their life rather than the politics in Vietnam as the older generation.

    Extra credit

    1 The oversea communities in the East and the communities from the West are different. The communities from the East left Vietnam to look for jobs, education or marriage, the communities in the West are Vietnamese that run away after the fall of Saigon, run away from the communist government.

    2. I don’t think bring the money that Vietnamese American have in America back to Vietnam to invest is stupid because i know more than 10 wealthy Vietnamese American did that and they became richer. Vietnam is like a new land with a lost of opportunities opening and a smart person is the one that know how to catch the opportunity.

    3. I do not think the success of Vietnamese overseas is a problem with the government in Vietnam because a lot of Vietnamese in the homeland are richer than the Vietnamese overseas, they are the people that know how to use the opening opportunities in Vietnam to became rich. The government in Vietnam just want Vietnamese all over the world forget about the past and move on, plus all the leaders from the past in the government of Vietnam are death or retired already, a lot of the high rank officers in the government right now have degrees from well know universities in the West such as Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge….So don’t look at Vietnam in a bad way, move on!

13. Dennis To on September 24th, 2009 12:39 am

    Online Reading:

    1. Cultural Assimilation implies full acceptance and adoption of another culture besides your own. Political Incorporation the development o the capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a host country.
    2. The increase in protests with the Vietnamese Americans was in the 80’s. Those took place in Orange County (Westminster or Garden Grove, the home of Little Saigon). Northern California and also Washington, DC.
    3. I say that the second generation will move beyond the “ghosts of war” because of the education they will possess and that they will have more significance in politics.

    Extra Credit:

    1. The West Vietnamese are generally refugees who left after Vietnam was overtaken by the Communist. The East Vietnamese are students, guest workers, or even brides that are sold to foreigners.
    2. Dupe is to be easily fooled and deceived. A lot of the refugees that escaped the communist knew that they couldn’t trust the communist that is now in power. They were called “The extension of Vietnam’s innards thousands of miles away”. The government wanted to get some money by getting it from the people who left the country to send it back and support their families and benefit off them.
    3. The success outside of Vietnam presents a challenge to the Communist because the people who left are doing amazingly well compared to the people in the homeland. There are many cases of success and if people in Vietnam realize this, some could want to leave to have a better education system than Vietnam. It also makes it seem that the life outside of Vietnam is a lot better and that they would want to leave.

14. Joann Vu on September 24th, 2009 1:10 am

    Online Assignment:
    1. Cultural Assimilation is the total acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own. The people are completely embracing the culture and abide by all the rules and standards. Culturally assimilated people are accepts the new culture as their own. Political incorporation has individuals who are in another country and still have many concerns about their homeland.
    2. The frequency and location of the Vietnamese American protests were notably in southern California, mainly in Orange County and the appeared episodically, infrequently until the late 1980s. Not until 1994 when the peak of the number of protests increased during the debate about Vietnam relations. Vietnamese American protests were established from support from the community for political action for their homeland and host country.
    3. The second generation of Vietnamese in America may move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics because with the right political and financial resources, they will be able to be more involved. The next generation will leave some parts of their homeland behind but advocating and reaching a broader range of political issues with the Vietnamese American community.

    Extra Credit:
    1. The overseas communities in the East and the West are immigrants from Vietnam who have different reasons for leaving. The overseas community in the East was workers or students who left for more opportunities outside of Vietnam. The overseas community in the West was refugees that had to leave Vietnam for political reasons.
    2. The overseas Vietnamese are not dupe like the story of Red Riding Hood because the communist seem to be not successful as the people overseas. The communist underestimated the overseas Vietnamese by their own abilities to survive. This is reflected on the amount of money sent back home to Vietnam every year to families and friends, compared to the little investment money they bring into the country.
    3. The success of overseas Vietnamese represents a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because they were able to have a higher economic and financial status. Since the communist forced them out of the country, they were able to get more opportunities in education overseas. Their misconception of forcing out the “traitors” seem to fail to overcome since most overseas Vietnamese became successful in their new country.

15. Diem Nguyen on September 24th, 2009 5:57 am

    Extra Credit- Immigration And Integration
    1. The overseas community in the East consist of guest workers or students who overstayed their contraactual obligations and became residents or they may be brides sold to foreigners who brought them out of vietnam. Unlike the overseas community in West, they are not refugees from Communism.
    2. The overseas Vietnamese are not dupe, they know better than to buy the twisted words of Hanoi rulers stating that ” vietnamese overseas are not losers and traitors but they are the extension of Vietnam’s innards thousands miles away”. The majority of the overseas Vietnamese are refugees from Communism; refugee is by defintion someone running away from something and in this case they’re running away from communist=lies. Study shows that the overseas Vietnamese has sent back to Vietnam between 3 to 4 billion a year to help their friends and families or for charity purposes. “They do not just outperform economically the Vietnamese back home, they outperform the latter, one can say, they are free from the shackles of a communist government and find themselces in a freer environment of competition and individual enterprise.” This is however the challenge that the government in Hanoi find it hard to face and counter.
    3. The success of the overseas Vietnamese represents a huge challenge to the communist system because they have proved to Hanoi and communist in general that even though they were forced out of Vietnam, they have the abilities to overcome hardships and be successful in their new country.

16. Tam Ngo on September 24th, 2009 6:44 am

    • What is the difference between cultural assimilation and political incorporation?
    o Cultural assimilation is exactly what it sounds like. It is when one assimilates into a culture that isn’t theirs. For example, the Vietnamese today or even back then have adapted to the way of American life; meaning that most dress like other Americans do, they all shop at the same place as other Americans. You don’t really see Vietnamese people wearing their traditional long dresses every day. The Vietnamese today also accepts American food and language. Cultural assimilation is voluntary of course and has to do with accepting another culture that is not of one’s own.
    o Political incorporation is natural rights that citizens have. This in terms includes rights such as voting and being able to use it to their advantage.
    • Explain the frequency and location of Vietnamese American protests.
    o The frequency and location of Vietnamese American protests occurred in California. This makes sense because the biggest population of Vietnamese resided in California.

    • Will the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics? Explain.
    o The second generation will definitely move beyond the ghosts of war to become more proactive in politics. The second generation’s education and knowledge opens them up to more broad politics that appeal to the masses and not just the small population of the Vietnamese. Some may even go in to office that we’ve seen today to benefit those Vietnamese in America or those being sponsored to come here.

    • What is the difference between the overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West?
    o Like we learned earlier in class, the Vietnamese in the east communities were mainly government sponsored students who were sent there to receive an education. Most of these students overstayed their allowed term and eventually resided in these Eastern communities. These communities are known to be a harsher environment than that of the west.
    o On the other hand, western communities have an overwhelming majority of Vietnamese that escaped from communist Vietnam due to the war. This group was helped out by the American government to help them succeed unlike the eastern communities.
    • Explain why the overseas Vietnamese are not dupe. That they are not about to fall into the trap of the The Red Riding Hood story when the wolf, imitating the grandmother, pipes lavish praise into the ears of Little Red Riding Hood as to how wonderful she is or looks.
    o The Vietnamese are not dupe because all of the Vietnamese in America escaped communism for a reason. There was a lot of killing and wrong doing that correlates with the hatred that they have for this system of government. The Vietnamese who escaped to America were labeled as traitors and they were expected not to do so well. Now that the communist leaders in Vietnam see their success in America, they are reaching out their hands for help in terms of financials.
    • Why does the success of overseas Vietnamese represent a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam?
    o This represents a huge challenge to Vietnam because the communist Vietnamese believed that they had a flawless system and so thought that they had the best. The overseas Vietnamese show that outside of Vietnam, there are better places and that they are striving and successful compared to people that are still living there. This makes many people that are still living there today want to move to the United States.

17. Tuan Cau Vu on September 24th, 2009 6:50 am

    Online Assignment

    1. Cultural assimilation is the complete acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own through displacement. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the new culture and follow almost if not all of its rules. Whereas, political incorporation is a forced change on a group of people due to governmental and political obligation of that particular Host country.

    2. Protests within the Vietnamese American community saw an increase rise with the migration that took place during the 1980s, and by the mid-1980s immigrants had established several relatively large and coherent ethnic communities, most notably in Southern California. Due to similar aspects and cultural resemblance of native Vietnam it helped to attract a large wave of Vietnamese and incoming refugees to concentrate in California than any other place in the U.S. The increase notion and rise of political protest in Southern California came from a community that wanted to be heard for their political action. Although Southern California, especially Orange County lead the largest share of the national protest in the United States, Northern California, Washington D.C also came in second and third but were far in comparison. More than half of the reported protest took place in Orange County. It’s mostly centralize in either Westminster or Garden Grove, the home of Little Saigon and it’s where the most prominent, identifiable place where protest activity occurs.

    3. The second generation of Vietnamese in America will eventually move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics. Due to the vast amount of financial and political resources offered in America, it will encourage the younger generation to be more active and involved in political affairs. Through the quality of education and seeing the need for change, the second generation may start to advocate policies that may help and benefit future immigrant, start to engage in a wider range of political issues and could possibly start competing for political office to bring awareness and give a voice to the Vietnamese American community.

    Extra Credit

    1. The difference between the overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West is that for the most part individual in the East are not refugees from Communism but originally guest workers or students who overstayed their contractual obligations and became residents. They’re almost never allowed to become citizens of the new countries. Many may be brides sold to foreigners who bought them and took them out of Vietnam. As for the overseas community in the West they’re refugees, running away from Communism in Vietnam.

    2. The overseas Vietnamese are no longer dupe because after the war in which communism took over Vietnam many fled the country for a better life to be called “traitors”, “losers” and “scum of the earth” by the communist victors. Now through the years and seeing the first hand success of the Vietnamese refugees, the Hanoi ruler had to revise their opinion into calling the refugees “the extension of Vietnam’s thousands of miles away”. The main reason for the Hanoi revision was the fact that overseas Vietnamese are now living prosperous lives, sending money back home to families and so the government wants to seek acknowledgement from the overseas Vietnamese for a system that they can no longer accept.

    3. The success of the overseas Vietnamese represent a hug challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because the higher educational level available to attain by Vietnamese abroad in these prestigious colleges is a harsh reality compare to the education the universities in Vietnam are offering to their students. Overseas Vietnam are faring much better lives financially and economically than to their counterparts in Vietnam because of the stability in education and jobs these other countries offer which is a backlash to the totalitarian regime in Hanoi that forced many out of Vietnam.

18. Hoai Nguyen on September 24th, 2009 8:52 am

    1. Cultural assimilation is the acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own. The individual are entirely absorbed by the culture and abided by its rules. Political incorporation is the development of the capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a host country.

    2. Protests within the Vietnamese American community did not occur frequently until the late 1980s, increased in 1994, and fall after normalization occurred. The major inter-state migration took place during the 1980s, so by the mid-1980s immigrants had established several relatively large and coherent ethnic communities, most notably in Southern California. Due to weather similar to tropical Vietnam, Southern California attracted more Vietnamese refugees. Little Saigon has become the “capital of Vietnamese in exile.” Other destinations of Vietnamese immigrants include Washington DC, Northern California, and Texas.

    3. The second generation of Vietnamese in America will certainly move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics. These young Vietnamese American were given opportunities and political resources to engage in politics, finding ways to benefit the Vietnamese American immigrants.

    Extra Credit:
    1. The overseas communities in the East is primarily students who study abroad or workers who stayed longer than they were suppose to and either get marry, and/or eventually become residents. The overseas communities in the West are refugees who left Vietnam for political reason.

    2. The overseas Vietnamese are not dupe because they escaped Vietnam to find a better life in America. Through the experiences they have faced and witnessed all these years, the Vietnamese have tried hard, worked hard, and become successful. For that, the communist government was seeking financial help from the overseas Vietnamese. But the overseas Vietnamese will not fall into this trap because they know well enough how the communist system works.

    3. The success of overseas Vietnamese represent a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because the overseas Vietnamese become successful as they graduates out of colleges with high degrees and were given more opportunities compares to those that are in Vietnam. Not saying, the overseas Vietnamese are much “smarter” but definitely due to the government systems that the younger generation didn’t have the opportunity to use their knowledge and talents in Vietnam. And surely, the government sees that and that challenges them in so many ways.

19. Janson Vu on September 24th, 2009 8:53 am

    -Week 4 Assignment-Ong, N., & Meyer, D. (2004).

    * What is the difference between cultural assimilation and political incorporation?

    The difference between them is that cultural assimilation includes accepting and adopting another culture instead of their original culture and political incorporation includes developing the expansion of a sufficient political movement in a host country to create political opportunities.Cultural assimilation requires an outside culture while political incorporation remains within the culture of the host country.

    * Explain the frequency and location of Vietnamese American protests.

    In the Vietnamese American Protests, according to the chart, it was unefficient until later through the 1980s it increased higher and was most efficient in 1994 but began to decrease after. Vietnamese immigrants were spreaded all over the U.S. and by the U.S and government’s policy, the diverse locations were meant to help speed assimilation. But not long after, large Vietnamese ethnic groups and communities were formed. Mostly in southern California and in Orange County, many large ethnic communities were established in the mid-1980s by immigrants who were from the major inter-state migration during the 1980s. With strong cultural communities, they wanted to act on normalizing relations with Vietnam. But after being denied, protests began and many network bonds were mostly concentrated in California rather than any other locations in the U.S. Also the establishment of these communities were from the increase of Vietnamese American protests.

    * Will the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics? Explain.

    I believe so. According to the passage, it says that the second generation of Vietnamese in America may move beyond the ghosts of war to “become even more proactive in politics.” And with financial and political resources increasing, it will help benefit immigrants by becoming a big political block in advocating policies, including a wider area of political issues, and establishing several political offices.

    -Extra Credit-Nguyen, Ngoc Bich (2006).

    # What is the difference between the overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West?

    The difference between them was mainly that the East were considered more of guest workers or students rather than refugees from communism like many from the West. This group included Vietnamese who “overstayed their contractual obligations” to become residents or brides who were sold to foreigners outside of Vietnam.

    # Explain why the overseas Vietnamese are not dupe. That they are not about to fall into the trap of the The Red Riding Hood story when the wolf, imitating the grandmother, pipes lavish praise into the ears of Little Red Riding Hood as to how wonderful she is or looks.

    The overseas Vietnamese are mindful and know better not to fall in a trap. They have been concerned in investment money issues. In the Foreign investment law that was first passed in 1987, the expcected estimation investment was believed by experts from 30 billion and 40 billion a year per GDP of 3 million overseas Vietnamese. This was how 3 to 4 billion U.S. currency dollars were able to be sent to help friends, family, and charities. But over the past 20 years since the Foreign Investment was first passed, merely reaching one billion was invested which was why it made a minimal contribution to the overseas Vietnamese.
    Though this law could help the vietnamese economy, it was was unefficient and unsuccessful in meeting its expectations.

    # Why does the success of overseas Vietnamese represent a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam?

    The overseas Vietnam represents a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because according to the passage, U.S. production was not allowed in Vietnam but a peaceful evolution will occur eventually. “peaceful evolution” (“dien bien hoa binh”) is which they do not cease to accuse the United States government of attempting to produce in Vietnam.” And this will occur because “the success of Vietnamese students in the West is a challenge to other students and their classmates, whether they like it or not. The higher education level attained by Vietnamese abroad, more than 300,000 world-class graduates of colleges and universities, is a direct challenge thrown to the universities of Vietnam.” And also Hanoi “wanted to persuade the people of the wisdom of Communism (or what is now “the market economy with socialist orientation”) ” but instead the Vietnamese choose to succeed outside of Vietnam in Foreign countries including the U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, etc.

20. Thieu on September 24th, 2009 8:54 am

    • What is the difference between cultural assimilation and political incorporation?

    Cultural assimilation is individual totally adopts the host country lifestyle and culture. They normally would identify themselves with the mainstream socially and politically. On the other hand, political incorporation is when immigrant develops the mean and know-how to political system in the host country. The major different is that cultural assimilated would be diluted into the host country and they are more likely to be concern on domestic issues while political incorporation are more concern about transnational issues those are more directed to the their homeland. It would seem like cultural assimilation would lose their ethnic identity while political incorporation would hold more tightly to their ethnic identify.

    • Explain the frequency and location of Vietnamese American protests.

    The largest Vietnamese community exist outside of Vietnam is in Orange County, California. It is also where the most numerous demonstrations by the Vietnamese-American community. Vietnamese group demonstrated outrank other Asian American group by far. There were 209 curates count of demonstration from the period of 1975 to 2001. The actual number of demonstration were many more than 209 because only a small portion are reported by the newspaper. Tracking the demonstration indicated that Vietnamese immigrant that spread though out the United State would move and concentrated into a certain area, especially in Southern California, as time progress. The sudden rise in frequency of demonstrations in the 80’s may be explain by the established of concentrated of Vietnamese community such as Little Saigon in Orange County and also by inflow of a major wave of Vietnamese immigrant during that period. Almost 70% of 209 accounted demonstration occurred in Southern California. Orange Country alone claims 68% of that 70%. Both Northern California and DC had similar result of about 6%.

    • Will the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics? Explain.

    I’m not so sure whether the second generation will be more politically active than the previous generation or not. But I think they will definitely be different more many reasons. First of all, the second generation has little or none life experience about Vietnam War and thus they would not feel as strong as their previous generation on certain issues that are more home-directed. This would diverse them from involving in the issue that the first generation are concerning. The second generation will be more involving in domestic problems rather than transnational problems as they become assimilated into American life style. Moreover, as the second generation learn and know more about the American political system compare to their parents, they will exercise their political involvement differently.

    Extra Credit

    • What is the difference between the overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West?

    Vietnamese community overseas in the West is mostly in the United States, Canada, French, Australia, Germany, England, and Japan. These people are willing to trade their life to escape from communist in Vietnam. They are considering being political refugee. They know what and where they are running from, but they may not know where they will end up. On the contrary, community overseas in the East are in China, Russian Federation, Eastern European, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and some Middle Eastern countries. They are not refugee and will never allow becoming citizens in the host country. These people were originally guest workers or students who overstay and become resident.

    Explain why the overseas Vietnamese are not dupe. That they are not about to fall into the trap of the The Red Riding Hood story when the wolf, imitating the grandmother, pipes lavish praise into the ears of Little Red Riding Hood as to how wonderful she is or looks.

    The oversea Vietnamese understand and known what communist is all about. They are not about to fall into trap of the wolf who camouflage under grandmother clothes when Hanoi appear to change its attitude toward the boat people by calling them different names. Such names as “traitor’ and “loser” are now being call “returning Viet” (Viet Kieu). Even thought there are some laws and attitudes changes in the Vietnam that favor oversea Vietnamese such as extended visa stay, ability to own land under certain condition, and duty free import a vehicle for personal use, most oversea Vietnamese would not consider going back to live in Vietnam nor they will ever forget what is the real communist wolf like.

    • Why does the success of overseas Vietnamese represent a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam?

    The success of oversea Vietnamese can be use as a gauge to measure the economic progress under communist system. How people with same background develop in different environment, oversea Vietnamese in the free world and Vietnam under communist system. Three million oversea Vietnamese with a GDP between 30 and 40 billion dollar per year is compare to 84 million Vietnamese in Vietnam with a GDP of 58 billion dollar per year is clearly impose a challenge to the communist system in Vietnam. Moreover after 34 years of controlling the country, many people still want to leave Vietnam and migrate to the West.

21. Christine Nguyen on September 24th, 2009 9:07 am

    1. Cultural assimilation implies total acceptance and adoption of a culture
    other than one’s own. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the culture and abides by
    almost all of its rules. Political incorporation means the development of the capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a
    host country.

    2. The Vietnamese protest were episodically, relatively infrequently until the late 1980s, then increasing to a peak in 1994 during the debate about normalizing relations with Vietnam, then falling after normalization occurred. They were located mostly in Orange County, mostly in Westminster or Garden Grove, the home of Little Saigon. Northern California, another destination of Vietnamese immigrants, and Washington, DC.

    3. Yes, the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics because with increased financial and political
    resources, the next generation may leave some parts of the politics of the homeland behind and become a significant political bloc in advocating policies benefiting immigrants, engaging a broader range of political issues, and contesting and winning larger numbers of political offices.

    Extra Credit:
    1. There is a difference between the overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West is that the overseas community in the West are for the most part not refugees from Communism but originally guest workers or students who overstayed their contractual obligations and became residents, almost never allowed to become citizens of the new countries. They may be brides sold to foreigners who bought them and took them out of Vietnam.

    2. The overseas Vietnamese are not dupe because they send home money every year as compared to the flimsy amount of investment money they bring into the country. The GDP of 3 million overseas Vietnamese is believed by various experts to be between 30 and 40 billion a year. If one realizes that the whole world pledges around 2.5 to 3 billion U.S. dollars per year in terms of grants and loan money to Vietnam, then one can see the economic and financial strength of the Vietnamese Diaspora.

    3. The success of overseas Vietnamese represent a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because the higher education level attained by Vietnamese abroad, more than 300,000 world-class graduates of colleges and universities, is a direct challenge thrown to the universities of Vietnam. Also it is because the Vietnamese economic and financial success around the world is a constant reminder to Vietnamese back home that the question of “who is winning over whom” (“Ai thang ai?”), one of the crucial yardsticks that Hanoi has wanted to use in trying to persuade the people of the wisdom of Communism (or what is now “the market economy with socialist orientation”), is already a given.

22. Phuong Phan on September 24th, 2009 9:51 am

    Online Reading Assignment:

    Cultural assimilation implies total acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the culture and abides by almost all of its rules. Whereas, by political incorporation, we mean the development of the capacity to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in a host country. This more inclusive definition recognizes a broad range of tactics to open up political channels for immigrants and does not deal explicitly with the political claims activists might make.

    According to newspaper accounts, Vietnamese protest episodically, relatively infrequently until the late 1980s, then increasing to a peak in 1994 during the debate about normalizing relations with Vietnam, then falling after normalization occurred. The concentration of protests in Southern California supports the notion that increased protest came from the establishment of a community that could support political action. Little Saigon in the heart of Orange County has become the “capital of Vietnamese in exile,” and is thus, understandably, the place from which most identifiable Vietnamese American protest activity comes. More than half of the protests reported took place in Orange County, mostly in Westminster or Garden Grove, the home of Little Saigon. Northern California, another destination of Vietnamese immigrants, and Washington, DC, the locale for a large share of national protest in the United States, are second and third on our list, and pale in comparison.

    Yes, I believe that the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics, because they will have the opportunity to be better educated. They will take this to their advantage and try to get more involved in politics so that they can make their voices and opinions heard.

    Extra Credit:

    The main difference between the overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West is the reason for their presence here in the United States. For the residents in the East, they are for the most part not refugees from Communism but originally guest workers or students who overstayed their contractual obligations and became residents, almost never allowed to become citizens of the new countries. They also were brides sold to foreigners who bought them and took them out of Vietnam. In the West, they were mainly all refugees trying to escape Communism.

    The overseas Vietnamese are not duped because when they left Vietnam, they were traitors of their country. Now that they’re oversea and doing well, the Communist government wants to try to get them to come back to their homeland and become a resource. They’re not going to fall into the trap of all the sweet talk because they’re much more intelligent than that to believe such words.

    The success of overseas Vietnamese represents a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because now they’re realizing that their own system is not doing so great while the people they forced out are doing so successful in another country with a federal republic government. The people that the communist labeled as traitors are now more educated and more beneficial to the country they are living in, making the communist system look unsuccessful.

23. Tam Nguyen on September 24th, 2009 10:19 am

    Writing Assignment

    1. What is the difference between cultural assimilation and political incorporation?

    Cultural assimilation is when a culture willing to accept other cultural’s belief, values, and political other than their own. On the other hand, political incorporation is how one cultural trying to improve their political development without changing its beliefs or values.

    2. Explain the frequency and location of Vietnamese American protests.

    The relatively infrequently is in the late 1980 and it began to increasing in 1994. The locations where the Vietnamese American protesting takes place are in Washington DC and California: Orange County, Little Saigon, Northern California, and Westminster or Garden Grove.

    3. Will the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics? Explain.

    Yes, the second generation of Vietnamese who live in America are becomes more proactive in politics. The reason is because of the increasing of financial and political resources, the benefits of immigrant, engaging a broader range of political issues, and contesting and winning large numbers of political office.

    Extra Credit

    1. What is the difference between the overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West?

    The East overseas community is non-refugees from Communist, they are guest worker or students who overstay in other country and wait to became a resident or citizen of the new countries. For the West overseas community they are from communist, who’s try to run away from the communist country. They are Viet who refugee to a country such as Great Britain and England to get a new and better life.

    2. Explain why the overseas Vietnamese are not dupe. That they are not about to fall into the trap of the The Red Riding Hood story when the wolf, imitating the grandmother, pipes lavish praise into the ears of Little Red Riding Hood as to how wonderful she is or looks.

    Because the overseas Vietnamese usually send money home, between 3- 4 billion U.S. dollar every year to helps their families, friends, and charity. This shows the strength of the economic and financial of the Vietnamese Diaspora and helping to regime economic spent that circulated in Vietnam.

    3. Why does the success of overseas Vietnamese represent a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam?

    That student are has higher education to attain the Vietnamese abroad they can be direct challenge throw the universities of Vietnam. Their economic and financial can be success more around the world constant and can give the totalitarian regime in Hanoi because of its persecution and force those overseas out of Vietnam.

24. Spencer Allen on September 24th, 2009 11:03 am

    1)What is the difference between cultural assimilation and political incorporation? Political incorporation is defined as a function of mobilization. Political incorporation provides the ability to mobilize an effective response to political issues. Cultural assimilation is the acceptance of another countries values and norms by the immigrating population.

    2)Explain the frequency and location of Vietnamese American protests.
    The location of Vietnamese American protests mainly took place in Orange County California with 135 known protests. Other areas include Washington DC and areas in Northern California. The Vietnamese protests that ensued during the 80’s and 90’s were geared toward issues in Vietnam and human rights abuse.
    3)Will the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics?
    I feel the second generation will become a more legitimate power in politics. The second generation will hold more money and influence within the community. However, i feel that the second generation will also leave some of the political issues pertaining to Vietnam itself out of the issue and focus more on local issues.

    1) What is the difference between the overseas community in the East and the overseas community in the West?
    The overseas community in the west consists primarily of refugees. The Vietnamese came over on refugee status around 1975 when North Vietnam was invading South Vietnam. The western countries that harbored the majority of refugees were the United States, France, Canada, Great Brittan, Australia, and Japan. What differentiates the Eastern community is that they are not considered to be refugees. The Eastern countries that were occupied were Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, China, Taiwan, and South Korea. The Vietnamese in these countries consist primarily of Vietnamese in worker programs and students that did not want to leave.

    2) Explain why the overseas Vietnamese are not dupe. That they are not about to fall into the trap of the The Red Riding Hood story when the wolf, imitating the grandmother, pipes lavish praise into the ears of Little Red Riding Hood as to how wonderful she is or looks.
    The reason the Vietnamese will not fall into the Red Riding Hood story is because they realize what is going on. Once they left they were labeled as traitors and scorned for their decisions. However, once Vietnam realized how much money was being sent back to support their loved ones they began to refute their statements. As stated in the article very little is being donated to the country to support economic growth, but a vast amount is being given to support family. This is very important to Vietnam as a country and the money being sent home in a way stimulates the economy. But the Vietnamese people in the West do not support the Communist party.

    3)Why does the success of overseas Vietnamese represent a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam?
    The success poses a challenge because it shows how successful the refugees have become and with success comes power and persuasion. The education of the successful Vietnamese is also a very important tool none of the educated western Vietnamese will go back from a place they once fled.

25. Pauline Nguyen on September 24th, 2009 11:39 am

    • Political incorporation is a function of mobilization in conventional party politics. There are 3 stages in which immigrants are not engaged in politics, ethnics mobilize in party politics, and lessened discrimination and increased education allows that group to gain access into political institutions. Cultural assimilation is a process of socialization in which individuals adopt completely to the culture of another society. The individuals abide by almost all the rules. Whereas in political incorporation, it is the development to mobilize effective political action in response to perceived political opportunities in another country.

    • Vietnamese people are more likely to join a protest then members of other Asian ethnicities. They have protested infrequently until the late 1980s and in 1994 about normalizing relations with Vietnam. Most protests occur in Southern California. The heart of Orange County is where the most identifiable Vietnamese American protests occur. Northern California and Washing, DC are other parts where the Vietnamese protest.

    • The second generation of Vietnamese in America will move beyond and become more proactive because they have increased financial and political resources. They have the ability in engaging in a larger range of political issues and winning larger numbers of political offices.

    EXTRA CREDIT
    • The difference between the overseas community in the East and West is that the communities in the West are people who are refugees who are trying to escape Vietnam and communism. Those in the east are not refugees from communism but students or workers or foreign brides who stayed there and became residents.

    • They are not dupe because they are not going to fall into the trap. They send home a lot of money every year and bring in a great amount of investment money. They have great economic and financial strength. IT shows the superior performance of the Vietnamese when they are free from communist control.

    • Because the higher education level that is attained by Vietnamese overseas is a direct challenge thrown to the universities of Vietnam. The economic and financial success of the Vietnamese away from their home taunts the communist systems in Vietnam with a constant remember of who is winning over whom.

26. Trina Le on September 24th, 2009 12:40 pm

    1. Cultural assimilation is the adoption of cultural customs and social values, whereas political incorporation is the adoption of governmental, political, and legal values.

    2. The frequency of protest started to rise in the 1980s when debates about normalizing relation with Vietnam and towards establishing the Vietnamese communities. More than half the protests took place in Orange County where population of the Vietnamese people were the highest.

    3. Yes, the second generation will be more proactive in politics because they have the advantage and opportunity of having a higher education than the previous generation which gives them the competitiveness to do better. Also, for the reason taht there is an increase on financial and political resources.

    Extra Credit

    1. The overseas in the East are not refugees from Communism, they were guest workers and students who have overstayed their contractual obligations and became residents, but rejected of citizenship to the new country. The Western Vietnamese community are mostly refugees running from communism.

    2. After being called names such as “traiter” and “scums of the earth”, the overseas Vietnamese showed the communist that they have succeeded by sending billions of dollars every year for their families in Vietnam, the communist started to soften up to the overseas by giving them more privileges. However, the overseas Vietnamese are not foolish enough to want to move back to Vietnam because they have not forgotten the real face of communists.

    3. While overseas Vietnamese people’s children are thriving with better education and freedom to live their life the way they want and make a lot of money after graduating, the communist’s children are still living under Communist rule and equal opportunities does not exist in Vietname. For example, the schools in Vietnam is more in favor of hiring teachers that have yellow hair and blue eyes than Vietnamese teachers. Also, a lot of Vietnamese back in VN are seeking help from the overseas Vietnamese.

27. fatima on September 24th, 2009 12:41 pm

    1)the Cultural assimilation is the complete acceptance and adoption of a culture other than one’s own through displacement. The individual becomes entirely absorbed by the new culture and follow almost if not all of its rules. Whereas, political incorporation is a forced change on a group of people due to governmental and political obligation of that particular Host country.

    2) That they are not about to fall into the trap of the The Red Riding Hood story when the wolf, imitating the grandmother, pipes lavish praise into the ears of Little Red Riding Hood as to how wonderful she is or looks.
    The reason the Vietnamese will not fall into the Red Riding Hood story is because they realize what is going on. Once they left they were labeled as traitors and scorned for their decisions. However, once Vietnam realized how much money was being sent back to support their loved ones they began to refute their statements. As stated in the article very little is being donated to the country to support economic growth, but a vast amount is being given to support family. This is very important to Vietnam as a country and the money being sent home in a way stimulates the economy. But the Vietnamese people in the West do not support the Communist party.

    well . I believe that the second generation of Vietnamese in America move beyond the ghosts of war to become even more proactive in politics, because they will have the opportunity to be better educated. They will take this to their advantage and try to get more involved in politics so that they can make their voices and opinions heard.

    Extra Credit:

    The Vietnamese community in the West has more resources to find jobs in the major cities. In the West, the community is more depend on the government to help them merge into the new culture. While in the East, the community is independent from the government, and they couldn’t merge into the mainstream culture. However, they have to work their ways up by selling all sorts of handicrafts, textile and shoe products.

    That they are not about to fall into the trap of the The Red Riding Hood story when the wolf, imitating the grandmother, pipes lavish praise into the ears of Little Red Riding Hood as to how wonderful she is or looks.

    The success of overseas Vietnamese represents a huge challenge to the communist system in Vietnam because now they’re realizing that their own system is not doing so great while the people they forced out are doing so successful in another country with a federal republic government. The people that the communist labeled as traitors are now more educated and more beneficial to the country they are living in, making the communist system look unsuccessful.

28. Lee Medders on October 6th, 2009 12:10 pm

    Extra Credit

    1. The only mentions that I noticed in the article about the differences between the two are the work styles. The Vietnamese in the East overseas community focus on selling a variety of commodity goods through carts in a market atmosphere. The Vietnamese in the West bought houses in poor areas so they could focus on establishing wealth. They would then start businesses in their area where the startup cost were low and the Vietnamese population was high.

    2. They are not dupe because they indirectly help Vietnam’s economy, instead of their “new” home land’s GDP. When the Vietnamese send money back to Vietnam this means they will not be re-investing here where the money can generate wealth for our economy. Inadvertently the money is now being used in Vietnam to buy goods which increases Vietnam’s GDP.

    3. The Vietnamese outside of Vietnam succeeding this shows that communism is not in the best interest of the people. The Vietnamese living abroad are outperformed the Vietnamese which live in Vietnam in every aspect. They have made more money and accomplished more than the Vietnamese in Vietnam. This shows that the same group of people can do better when communism is not in the picture. Vietnamese abroad are able to receive better education with fewer disruptions. It is hard to keep the people in Vietnam agreeing with the idea of communism when they see the success of their relatives who left.

29. Nellie Do on October 7th, 2009 4:20 pm

    1. Cultural assimiliation means that one can accept another’s culture with open arms. This pccurs when one is fully devoted to the other’s cultures will all beliefs and rules. But political incorporation is when one tries to change others and mobilize political action as an opinion towards political oppurtunities in another country.

    2. South Carolina is the main place that the author described of protests. There is a lot of Vietnamese Americans in South Carolina. Alot of more protests occurred in the 1980s, therefore, the frequency started when the Vietnamese communities were developing and the arguments of relations of Vietnam.

    3. Yes i think that we will because of course the Vietnamese population is increasing and our voices need to be heard. i think that the only problem may be courage or lack of support and they might be hindered with disbelief. Furthermore, the vietnamese with need to in order to get themselves known and they need to voice their opinions about financial and ethnical problems.

    EXTRA CREDIT
    1. The difference between the East and West communities is that the East are not refugees like the West from the communists but are students and employees. They also stayed here permanently as residents while the West is still trying to get used to it.

    2. The overseas Vietnamese are not dupe because they wont fall into the communists trap again which only can bring them money or a trip back to vietnam. Communists will not get the Vietnamese Americans who escaped to come back and do all the work they desire.

    3. The Vietnamese are representing a huge challenge to communism because they are economically and socially influenced here. Besides they are now accustomed here and will not go back to give the communist the benefit of the doubt. Also, here Vietnamese make way more money than those still in Vietnam along with recieving a better education.

30. kelly on October 22nd, 2009 4:51 pm

    Professor,

    i briefed this article after a website search for “progressive but anti-communist”

    First, i’m not even political. Yet, obviousl, everything in american communities are. I have a viet boyfriend and am american. I have a lot of progressive views, mainly scoring 60% on openminded tests, to the general affect of, “freedom is having the choice to choose what you want as long as it doesn’t take away the choice of another.”

    but, i’m finding ppl are quick to judge even in democratic areas. when ppl try to feel you out politically, even though i hate politics, they seem to think i am over the top progressive and some even say communist. I am not these at all. so, i keep to myself but this still causes probs. i just want a peaceful workplace experience and in the right places. now, i’m planning to relocate to nyc from new england for some reprieve. i don’t like to be categorized or pigeonholed.

    any advice for me while i’m preparing to move to nyc from rutland, vermont? i moved here from worcester mass to recover from the recession and also had a negative experience there. that place still puzzles me.

    thank you for any assistance

    kelly

31. longsivietle on October 23rd, 2009 4:13 pm

    Hi Kelly,

    My only advice would be: don’t let anyone put a “communist hat” on you. Instead, ask that person to define and defend who is and who is not communist, etc. Reversely, anyone who is anti-communist should allow others to portray them as individuals who are stuck in the pre-1975 era of South Vietnam.

    I suppose that there are wide variance of those who are progressive but anti-communist, myself included. For me, the core of this perspective would be that engagement with Vietnam is essential but that engagement (eg, economic, political, educational, or cultural) must be one that is informed (or assessment from that engagement must be measured) by democratic values, good governance, human rights, corporate global citizenship, freedom of choice, etc.

    prof. long le

Leave a Reply