Politics, Kinship, and Ancestors: Some Diasporic Dimensions of the Vietnamese Experience in North America

This article examines some political, social, and symbolic dimensions of the Việt Kiều (overseas Vietnamese) experience in North America. On the basis of ethnographic data from Quebec (Canada) and Southern California, it seeks to understand how and at which moments in their history the experience of these Vietnamese Canadians and Americans could or could not have been considered diasporic. The article concludes that because of diverging demographic, social, and historical circumstances, the Quebec Việt Kiều ceased being a diaspora after the inception of Đồi Mối, while the post-1975 diasporic moment has seemingly continued on in Californian communities.