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Every three months, DVAN features the work of a different Vietnamese artist,
one who is either working in the diaspora or who has returned to Viet Nam.
This quarter, our featured artist is Doan Hoang.
Read more about Doan Hoang.
DVAN Board Member Nguyen Qui Duc's 1993 memoir is now available in paperback. The Nguyens were privileged Vietnamese: the author's great grandfather was a regent during the reigns of three kings, his grandfather was a mandarin and his U.S.-educated father was a civilian deputy to the military governor, based in Da Nang. Loyal to South Vietnam, the author's father was seized in 1973 by the Viet Cong and imprisoned for 16 years. Although the then 10-year-old author continued to attend school amidst the terrors and disorders of the war, the family's life was so altered that his mother, a schoolteacher, took to selling noodles in the streets. Their large extended family remained supportive, however. At 18, the author joined his brother and sister in the U.S. where, eventually, he became the manager of a San Francisco radio station and a reporter for National Public Radio. He relates in disciplined, moving prose his family's travails during the war, his father's imprisonment and release, his mother's courage, the ambience of the country he still misses and the differences between life in the U.S. and Vietnam. In 1989, while visiting Vietnam to film a PBS documentary on Viet Cong vets, the author located the ashes of a sister who died during the war and brought them to the country that is now his family's home.
On November 21, 2009 DVAN screened Bolinao 52 at SFSU, with a Q & A session and a reception. The audience asked good and difficult questions such as: "The man who was on the American ship seems very self indulgent when he met the survivor; he seems unaware of his white privileges". Duc Nguyen clarified this scene by saying that he was the one who pushed this meeting and tried to create an "emotional space". But he also said that the inclusion of a white person in his movie helped its reception. Students whose parents came to the US from Vietnam by boat came to talk to Duc Nguyen at the reception to ask more about a part of their history they knew nothing about. One said: "My parents' priorities in life make more sense now. I will ask them to talk to me about their past. We [the children] need to know.
On February 5th, Isabelle Pelaud spoke at "30 Years of Belonging," a roundtable about diasporic literatures a the Iranian Literary Arts Festival. Here is her account of the event.
See more photos here
Audience members listen to panelists at "30 Years of Belonging"
The discussion went well. The Friends of the Library's bookstore at Fort Mason was packed (about 50 people). It lasted a good three hours. There were five poets speaking, four of the older generation and one of the younger one. On the way there, one of the poets (Partow Nooriala) was kind enough to give me her version of Iranian and Iranian American history. It was difficult not to see similarities with that of Vietnamese Americans. Many of the first wave of Iranians fled their country in 1979 as refugees and they now total about one million in the US.
The poets of the older generation talked mostly about the homeland, nostalgia, anger and losses. Most were driven by an intense desire to denounce human rights violations in Iran. The poet who was sitting on my right (Zib Karbassi) is of the younger generation. She spoke about loss of one's homeland but also of one's language. These poets write in languages other than English so most Americans cannot read their work, and many are banned in Iran. Their audience is small. But based on what I witnessed on that evening, they have a strong group of fans among the Iranian refugee community.
This community is apparently factional, with intellectual and professionals who came first on one side, and those who came later and blame the first group for helping bring to power the current regime. (The first group had joined with Muslim elements against the Shah, who they considered a puppet of the American regime, but ended up taking refuge in the US). In addition to class and political lines, that community seems to be divided by gender. Zib Karbassi was dressed in extravagant clothes, revealing a beautiful cleavage and wearing much makeup. She writes erotic poems (among others). She said she receives death threats and daily harassment in England, where she lives today.
After the event, I stayed and mingled with the poets and the audience. I was struck by the warmth, joviality and strong spirit of those around me. After talking about torture and violence they were joking and having fun. Everyone was very happy to a book of translated poems was being published. Some people were curious about Vietnamese American history and issues; some were curious about me. A few spoke French and wanted to talk about French movies. It was a strange mixture of anger and joy, all at once. Niloufar Talebi, organizer of the event and editor of the anthology Belonging was warm and passionate about Iranian culture of the Diaspora and appears to play a positive role in bringing people together. An inspiration.
Here is a poem by Yadollah Roya'i that touched me:
Name Stone
And name....
wh en it ri ses up
it th en crum
bl es do wn
And stone stirs upon
her stirring when it becomes
name's icon: the dead within you
is more alive then you.
(from the anthology Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World, edited and translated by Niloufar Talebi (2008))
The literature of Southeast Asian women within the diaspora is marginalized in mainstream cultures. When visible, our writings are often misunderstood as stereotypical representations of purity, pathos, folklore, or matrilineal caricature. As activists, writers, and scholars, we are committed to bringing together a truly unique collection of voices by Southeast Asian women who trace their ancestry to Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Burma/Myanmar, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei or East Timor, and whose stories have yet to be told or visualized. We would also like to hear from women of minority groups, like the ethnic Chinese and Indians throughout Southeast Asia, and the Mien, Hmong, and Cham, who are located in many regions of the world.
