Returns of War: South Vietnam and the Price of Refugee Memory

262 Pages·2018·2.598 MB·English

by  Long T Bui

Returns of War
Nation of Nations: Immigrant
History as American History
General Editor: Matthew Jacobson
Founding Editors: Matthew Jacobson and Werner Sollors
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Cindy I- Fen Cheng Teens Caught in the Crossroads of
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From the Land of Shadows: War, Revo-
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lution, and the Making of the Cambo-
dian Diaspora Returns of War: South Vietnam and
Khatharya Um the Price of Refugee Memory
Long T. Bui
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Leah Perry
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Returns of War
South Vietnam and the Price of Refugee Memory
Long T. Bui
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
www.nyupress.org
© 2018 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the
author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bui, Long T., author.
Title: Returns of war : South Vietnam and the price of refugee memory / Long T. Bui.
Description: New York : New York University Press, [2018] | Series: Nation of nations :
immigrant history as American history | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018012206| ISBN 9781479817061 (cl : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781479871957 (pb : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Vietnamese Americans. | Vietnamese—United States—Historiography. |
Refugees—Vietnam (Republic) | Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Refugees.
Classification: LCC E184.V53 B84 2018 | DDC 973/.0495922—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018012206
New York University Press books are printed on acid- free paper, and their binding materials
are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppli-
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Manufactured in the United States of America
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Also available as an ebook
Contents
Note on Language ix
Introduction 1
1. Archival Others: The Vietnamese as Absent Presence in
the Historical Record 25
2. Refugee Assets: The Political Reeducation of Personal
Trauma and Family Bonds 57
3. Dismembered Lives: The Fractured Body Politics of the
“Little Saigon” Community 87
4. Militarized Freedoms: Vietnamese American Soldiers
Fighting “Future Vietnams” 122
5. Empire’s Residuals: The Return Migration of Former
Exiles to Globalizing Vietnam 169
Epilogue 201
Acknowledgments 205
Notes 209
References 219
Index 239
About the Author 251
vii

Note on Language
Modern Vietnamese is a monosyllabic tonal language that uses diacriti-
cal marks in written form. However, many Vietnamese living overseas
have adopted different linguistic and writing patterns. The compound
word “Vietnam” has somewhat displaced the once common spelling,
“Viet Nam,” in English, though the latter has regained popularity. Work-
ing between multiple languages lends visibility to the ways language can
change depending on context or historical periods, thus creating inevi-
table problems and a variety of confusions of which readers must be
aware. In Vietnamese, a person’s last name or family surname comes
first, and this causes confusion when names appear with the surname
last in Western sources but first in Vietnamese sources. I have chosen to
faithfully present names as I am introduced to them by primary and sec-
ondary sources. I often refer to the “American War” when talking from
a Vietnamese perspective, but then refer to the “Vietnam War” when
speaking from the U.S. context. I employ the phrase “South Vietnam”
to refer to the former Republic of Vietnam (RVN) (1955– 1975), but this
term may be confused with the general territory of Vietnam’s south-
ern region. Most of the time, I am referring to the RVN, except when
I explicitly refer to the south as purely a geographic space. The creative
language I employ throughout the book offers a mix of anecdotes, puns,
colloquialisms, and academic jargon that speaks to the creative disor-
derly nature of writing about the structure of memory and identity. This
decision to include both formal and informal elements encourages read-
ers to make their own sense of things as they are presented in the text.
ix