The refugees that fled Vietnam from the years 1975 to 1982 and the transnational diaspora created thereof, reflect the subjective experiences of displacement, victimhood, cultural hybridity and cultural struggles that James Clifford relates to the creations of diasporas in his article, "Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century". Clifford argues that refugees living in a foreign culture feel like outcasts in their host society and continually long to return to their homeland. He also states that "diasporic cultures...mediate, in a lived tension, the experiences of separation and entanglement, of living here and remembering and desiring another place.⁽¹⁾" While this is partially true of the Vietnamese refugee experience in the United States and Australia, it is this essay's intent to prove that the true Vietnamese diaspora was created after refugees were able to return to Vietnam. Those that returned to the present day Vietnam were so let down by the changes that had taken place in the poverty stricken country, that they, in turn, created the diaspora of the Vietnamese refugee experience with other refugees who held onto the same outdated images of Vietnam. Almost upon arrival as refugees in their host countries, the Vietnamese formed communities that recreated their traditional heritage and identity from Vietnam. These communities are now all that is left of the traditional Vietnamese culture and is carried on by the displaced refugees that cling to the image, as it is all that they want to believe.

The wars that led up to the flight of the Vietnamese refugees in 1975 to 1982 are represented by two time frames; the colonial war against the French in 1945 to 1954 and the Civil War between North and South Vietnam from 1956 to 1975. The colonial war for independence from the French started almost immediately after the end of World War Two in 1945. After the World War, the French did not have the power to keep Vietnam under their control and their colonial government was soon overthrown. The Viet Minh, a mix of nationalists and revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh, moved unopposed into Hanoi (the main city of the French government in Vietnam) and proclaimed it the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, as well as declaring Vietnam's independence from France. However, the French soon gained their power back and retook control of Hanoi and the colonial war of resistance from the Viet Minh erupted thereafter⁽²⁾.

In 1954, the Viet Minh defeated the French and negotiations for control were appropriated through the Geneva Accords. This international conference (which included the Great Powers of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China) was shaped more by Cold War considerations and less by the issues of colonialism, which were pertinent to the negotiations at hand. The outcome of the Accords provided for an armistice, a demilitarized zone at the 17^th Parallel, a temporary demarcation line for regrouping of the combatants and exchanging of prisoners and civilian populations, as well as free and general elections in July, 1956. However, not all of the Great Powers signed the agreement, which then resulted in the elections never being held, and the temporary armistice line became a permanent political boundary⁽³⁾.

As Vietnam was partitioned permanently into North and South Vietnam in 1956, the French left the North and the communist resistance army of the Viet Minh took control. As South Vietnam remained noncommunist, many Northern Vietnamese fled to there, as the majority were Catholics and fled out of fear and hate for the communists. Soon after, the communists wanted to reunite North and South Vietnam under communist rule and the Civil War between the North and the South resulted. This war was fought between the southern communists and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the countryside of South Vietnam. The war ended with the victory of the southern communists in April, 1975, with the fall of Saigon, and the major flight of the Vietnamese refugees from 1975 to1982 began⁽⁴⁾.

The first wave of refugees took place in 1975 to 1977. Preceding and immediately following the establishment of communist control over Saigon, about 20,000 Vietnamese, who were mostly Catholic and elite citizens and could afford to escape the country, fled to avoid communist persecution and the deteriorating social structure of the South. They fled by boat to countries of first asylum (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore) and were later resettled in Western countries, as all of the first asylum countries insisted that the refugees be resettled abroad. The United States in particular took many refugees, but France, Canada, and Australia also helped in resettlement. Because these refugees were mostly from the elite community of Vietnam, they were well educated and highly skilled and, therefore, did not have a particularly difficult time being accepted by the countries of resettlement⁽⁵⁾.

The second wave of refugees occurred in mid-1978 to mid-1979. There was a dramatic increase in those fleeing due to the Vietnamese government's decision in March 1978 to close down all private retail businesses in Vietnam. It should be understood that Vietnam is an agricultural country and relatively rural. The majority of private businesses being referred to are like street vendors, where farmers could sell their produce and such for a small profit. With the loss of their businesses, many Vietnamese could no longer afford to live and could generally not stand the future life that they were facing in Vietnam. Not only were the communists taking away businesses, they were also taking away lands, torturing the masses, forcing work without pay, imposing high taxes and a state of lawlessness which all resulted in a dramatic decline of living standards⁽⁶⁾.

The second wave of refugees amounted to over 90,000, the majority of which were those who had fled by boat and were from relatively rural areas. Most arrived in Malaysia and Thailand and were set up in camps until western countries were able to resettle them. However, due to the vast number of Vietnamese refugees fleeing to the countries of first asylum, resettlement countries could not process and resettle refugees fast enough, nor did many of the western countries want to, as these refugees were less educated and skilled in comparison to those of the first wave. This resulted in countries of first asylum displaying tactics to try to dissuade boat people from landing on their boarders. Many first refuge countries, particularly Malaysia, started pushing boats back into the sea and threatened to shoot the passengers before they hit the country's shore⁽⁷⁾.

By the end of 1978, 68,000 people still needed resettlement and in the first half of 1979, 160,000 additional refugees landed in the countries of first refuge. By this time, no western country would commit themselves to taking a substantial intake of the refugees due to the large amounts that they had already taken in from the first wave. However, the countries of first asylum put so much pressure on resettlement countries that the Geneva conference in July, 1979, was based on what to do with the Vietnamese refugees. The end agreement resulted in the resettlement countries taking 260,000 refugees from countries of first asylum, most of which were taken to the United States, and an agreement with Vietnam to treat its citizens with more dignity. By the second half of 1979, the number of Vietnamese refugees arriving in countries of first refuge dropped dramatically and the western countries kept their word in helping to resettle the refugees⁽⁸⁾.

The third wave of refugees took place from mid-1979 to 1982. A vast number of these refugees had relatives whom had fled during the first and second waves, were resettled and wanted to reunite with their families. The third wave escaped Vietnam to join relatives in their respective countries of resettlement. By this time, 265,000 refugees had been resettled from countries of first asylum to resettlement countries. 162,000 refugees went to the United States; 45,000 to Canada; 7,000 to France; and 25,000 to Australia. By the end of 1982, only 48,000 refugees remained to be settled and most of them were intent on staying in the countries of first asylum until they were able to return back to Vietnam⁽⁹⁾.

Boat Arrivals in Countries of First Asylum 1975-1982⁽¹⁰⁾

The United States assumed the major international responsibility for the Vietnamese refugees, as they were seen as victims of communist oppression. Though it has never been officially documented, the United States, due to its involvement in the Vietnam war, most likely felt a moral obligation to help resettle the Vietnamese refugees. From 1975 to 1982, approximately 600,000 Vietnamese refugees were resettled in the United States, and in the years that have followed, more than one million Vietnamese refugees have been resettled, either from countries of first asylum, or through processing programs in Vietnam⁽¹¹⁾.

Before entering the United States, the Vietnamese had not expected to be assimilated into the American society. In concurrence with Clifford's article where he states that "...diasporas usually presuppose longer distances and a separation more like exile," the Vietnamese believed that they were staying in the host countries until the Communist government of Vietnam fell, and would therefore not have to assimilate. Yet, not only did the United States government ask them to adjust to living with Americans, but also to adjust to living in a modern industrial society. As the Vietnamese waited for the opportunity to return home after the fall of the communist government, a fall which they were only able to dream about, they were faced with the difficulty of regrouping their lives in a culture that was utterly foreign to them. Through self-made communities, the less educated and unskilled Vietnamese created an environment that would assist them in maintaining their culture and identity in the United States until they were able to return home to Vietnam.

The policies which unknowingly helped to create this environment were started as the Vietnamese were processed into the United States through the government. The second and third wave refugees were quickly interviewed, examined, given identification cards, registered with American agencies, introduced to American culture, and usually given a place to live and work in the United States. The United States goal with the refugees was to have them absorbed into American society as quickly and quietly as possible, but this only increased the confusion and frustration of the refugees who then pulled back from assimilation and turned instead toward the Vietnamese communities for support⁽¹²⁾.

The refugees accepted into America, from the time period of 1975 to 1982, tended to be young, part of a family group, and Catholic. Approximately 46 percent were under the age of 18, and 36 percent were between the ages of 18 to 34. In the age group of 18 to 24, there were 4,000 more men then women, as was the same in the age groups of 25-34, however, as more family members arrived in later years (after 1982), the gender ratio was evened out. Most of the refugees lived with an extended family, including grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, and only 16, 819 out of 124,493 came without families. However, it must be taken into account that refugees coming from rural families generally had a much larger household then did urban families when living in Vietnam.

The education of the refugees varied from the first, second and third waves. It has generally been found that refugees from the first wave were the Vietnamese urban elite. They tended to be well educated, as most went to high school, and many went to college, and therefore, they had the skills needed in order to work in a modern society. In contrast, the refugees arriving from the second and third waves had a vastly different background. Most were from the more rural areas of Vietnam and had never attended school. Though they had a great amount of agricultural skills, they were not applicable in the majority of the American workforce that was offered to the refugees. In order to combat this, the American government created the Overseas Refugee Training Program, a program that helped not only to educate the Vietnamese in the basic skills of American culture (how to date, prepare food, speak to Americans, work and play), but also language classes and other basic educational courses that were to improve the refugee's skills in the asylum camps before their entry into the United States⁽¹³⁾.

The Red Cross and YMCA offered services to assist the Vietnamese once they had arrived in the United States. Both provided daycare, English language instruction, and cultural programs. Governmental orientations also provided formal teaching of English to adults, schooling of children ages 6-18, meetings to describe women's rights in America, and other programs to get the Vietnamese used to the idea that they were going to stay awhile and needed to function in an American, and not Vietnamese, context. The programs existed in order to mold the refugees expectations of their future lives in the United States and to help the Vietnamese adjust to their new way of life.

Before the Vietnamese arrived in the United States or Australia, there were four ways in which they could leave a country of first asylum. The first way was by seeking and receiving third country resettlement through the embassy the third country. The second way was by seeking repatriation to Vietnam. A third option was to show the family's ability to be immediately self-supporting, with proof of a cash reserve of at least four thousand dollars per family member. Finally, the fourth and usually only option for many Vietnamese families was to find a sponsor. This sponsor was required to be either a resident alien from Vietnam or any other country, a citizen of the resettlement country, or a group of citizens willing to undertake fiscal and moral responsibility until the refugee became self-supporting⁽¹⁴⁾.

The choice of third country resettlement was encouraged by the United States, but was hardly an option for many Vietnamese refugees. Third countries would only accept highly qualified individuals and most of these refugees had already received sponsorship from a family or group. Other western countries were limiting in their allowances for refugee resettlement. France only allowed entry to those who already had relatives in the country, spoke French well and had a job awaiting them. Canada accepted those with relatives who were already citizens of Canada, as well as refugees who were skilled professionals. The second option of repatriation also left many Vietnamese hopeless, because the Vietnamese government refused to commit itself to accepting repatriates (except in extreme cases), as the government was suspicious and unforgiving of those who had fled. Along with the small number of repatriates, there were also very few refugees who could show their ability to be immediately self-supporting, as the majority of refugees were farmers, and not members of the wealthy elite community⁽¹⁵⁾.

Hence, most refugees were resettled through sponsorship. They were sponsored primarily through voluntary agencies, such as the US Catholic Conference (USCC), the Church World Service (CWS), and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). The sponsors had to make a commitment to feed, clothe, and shelter a refuge family until the family became self-supporting. Sponsors were required to assist the head of the refugee household in finding a job, enrolling the children in schools, and in helping the Vietnamese to understand American customs. In some cases the sponsors were also responsible for providing health care, but most refugees were covered under Medicare until they were employed. The average cost of sponsoring a Vietnamese refugee family was $5,601, and this cost only included the bare necessities of survival⁽¹⁶⁾. The Vietnamese had little control over who would sponsor them and where they would be placed in the United States.

For the most part, the second and third wave Vietnamese found jobs at the lowest end of the American occupational spectrum. It was often temporary work without any advancement opportunities and very hard labor. Due to the low paying and often frustrating work, in conjunction with the high level of confusion and exasperation in their foreign culture, the Vietnamese formed communities where refugees were supported by family members and friends. As many Vietnamese moved out of the isolation that the government had placed them in through the sponsorships (in order to disperse the refugees, and prevent the clustering of Vietnamese), the Vietnamese moved into the southern United States, where large communities of Vietnamese were then formed, and the efforts of the government completely backfired. The highest areas of Vietnamese community development are in Texas (56%) and California (41%)⁽¹⁷⁾. Within these new communities, the refugees not only found the Vietnamese culturally appropriate means of financial and emotional support, but they also refused to become invisible in the large political spectrum of the United States.

Because employment and wages were sparse for the refugees, as the American economy was going through a recession after the arrival of the first wave, many Vietnamese went on welfare after they had exhausted the resources available from their sponsors and volunteer agencies. Once the Vietnamese communities of support were formed, the refugees believed that going on welfare was the only way for all of their frustrated voices to be heard in the political spectrum of America⁽¹⁸⁾. When the United States government processed the Vietnamese into America, they stripped the Vietnamese of much of their culture and identity. Welfare was a way for the Vietnamese to assert themselves and be heard. The organization of Vietnamese communities not only was a way to be heard politically, but also provided an important means of recreating their cultural heritage that had been left behind in their homeland. They felt that they needed each other to help one another assimilate into the American culture, as well as to help preserve their own identity, and to promote the basis for the formation of a future Vietnamese-American culture that would be heard economically and politically.

At present, there are many Vietnamese communities in the urban areas of the United States. The culture and identity of the Vietnamese remains supported through these communities. The first generation of refugees who fled from Vietnam and were placed in America hold strong to their belief that Vietnam is their home, yet their children, the second generation, may not understand what their "home" is all about. This is one of the reasons why it is so important for the refugees to recreate their culture in the diverse locations of their host country, and to keep this community together for now and in the future.

In Australia, Vietnamese refugees experienced a similar cultural and political experience, though Australia's policies were at first much more restrictive in accepting refugees. The first wave of Vietnamese refugees were generally not accepted in Australia, due to the deep-seated policies of Asian immigration and the recent demise of the White Australia policy. The policies regarding the admittance of refugees were as restrictive as possible and Australia only took refugees when forced to do so due to the mounting pressure imposed upon them from the United Nations⁽¹⁹⁾.

In 1976, under the pressure from the United Nations, as well as other resettlement countries, Australia agreed to take more refugees. The government agreed to take up to 800 refugees from camps in Thailand, but these refugees were required to have a family in Australia, or some other connection such as the military, in order to gain admittance. Due to the restrictive policies, the Vietnamese refugees decided to make their way to Australia without an invitation, or assistance from a country of first refuge. They began arriving on Australia's shores, particularly on the northern coast of Darwin, and forced the Australian government to develop, by default, a means of dealing with refugees. By the end of 1977, 3,700 Vietnamese had made their way to Australia, 1,000 of which came by boat. Due to the arrival of refugees on their borders, Australia became a country of first refuge, as well as a resettlement country⁽²⁰⁾.

Resettlement of Vietnamese Boat People by Country and Year, 1977-1981⁽²¹⁾

The Vietnamese boat people were granted temporary entry permits and later, due to the unprecedented nature of the refugees landing on their borders, the government accepted the Vietnamese as permanent residents. Those that Australia resettled from first asylum camps were usually young men and married couples without children, much to the chagrin of large rural families. These younger refugees were seen as employable and easier to educate than those with ties to a large family and older adults. As in the United States case, the number of Vietnamese men admitted far out-weighed the number of Vietnamese women, but the numbers were also gradually stabilized as time wore on and more families were able to reunite⁽²²⁾.

The refugees were initially placed in youth hostels until the Australian government could find a more permanent residence for them. The Vietnamese were eventually placed into two states, New South Wales and Victoria. The Vietnamese refugees were sponsored in a similar manner as that in the United States, however, instead of waiting in a camp outside of their host country, most of the Vietnamese were already inside, making connections and forming communities in the initial hostels that they were placed in. In order to prevent clustering of the Vietnamese in the areas where the hostels were located, volunteer services offered to "adopt" refugees to help disperse those that were clustering in certain urban areas, such as Sydney. However, at present, ninety-five percent of the Vietnamese live in the highly urban areas of Melbourne and Sydney, and like the situation in the United States, the efforts of dispersing the refugees also completely backfired⁽²³⁾.

The work that the Vietnamese were able to find was also similar to the cases in the United States, where a few refugees had skills, but the majority did not. The work that was available to most of the refugees included hard labor and low pay. Welfare from the government, social services and sponsors was limited and many refugees were having a difficult time making a new life for themselves in Australia. Similar to America, they began to form communities that recreated their traditional culture, as well as serving as networks of support. With what little money they had, the Vietnamese opened shops that catered to the growing Vietnamese communities and managed to succeed. At present in many of the major urban areas, there are "China" towns (though in all reality, they are Vietnamese) which serve as examples of the success that the Vietnamese have attained in their foreign surroundings through the support of their communities.

The seemingly lack of a full assimilation into the Australian and the United States culture could be due to the language barriers and low educational levels of those who were part of the first generation of refugees arriving in Australia and the United States. However, there are many second generation Vietnamese who have done very well for themselves in assimilating to the Australian and American cultures. Those that find it easiest to assimilate are from the middle class and have taken the offer of education that the host governments have provided them, and ran with it. Those who find assimilation the most difficult have not taken advantage of the educational opportunities and remain in the Vietnamese communities that are tied directly to tradition and Vietnamese identity⁽²⁴⁾. This is not to say that those who have assimilated have lost their Vietnamese identity, only that they have been able to remain part of the Vietnamese culture without excluding themselves from the mainstream culture.

In both the United States and Australia, the Vietnamese refugees still see Vietnam as their home, yet most have come to the conclusion that the government that they have been waiting to fall will cling viciously to the last threads of power that it holds. Those that do return for visits or for good, must accept the fact that the Vietnam that they knew is no longer in existence, with the exception of an extremely corrupt government. The present day poverty stricken Vietnam is looking for foreign investments to grow economically strong, but the government is so thoroughly corrupt that most investors will not bother with Vietnam. There has also been a drastic rise in carriers of the HIV/AIDS virus, resulting from the surge in prostitution and drug use⁽²⁵⁾.

The Vietnamese who return to Vietnam also find that they are placed into a narrow range of stereotypes. For most of the native Vietnamese, the refugees are a confusing mix of familiar and foreign; on one hand they appear Vietnamese, on the other they are generally richer, better educated and more cosmopolitan. They are envied and scorned for their imagined wealth, held in respect and contempt for their sophistication and familiarity with the West and sometimes regarded as traitors for leaving. The Vietnamese government recently decided that the refugees could return to Vietnam on the agreement that they would avoid any political roles. They were to become quasi-citizens without any memories of, or opinions about, the past. They must subscribe to the state's rule if they want to be accepted again in their homeland and that is something that many cannot do⁽²⁶⁾. In order to hold onto the images that were in their mind, many refugees who go back to visit Vietnam deny what has changed in their home country. They return to the Vietnamese communities in their host countries where they have recreated the only Vietnam that they knew, or now want to know.

The Internet helps to keep alive the images and dreams of the imagined Vietnam. It has provided a base for connections and links to be established between many overseas Vietnamese, creating the diaspora of Vietnamese in foreign societies connecting with each other, when they previously had never bothered⁽²⁷⁾. Native Vietnamese usually do not use, or have access, to the Internet. Therefore, the users are from the created Vietnamese communities; those who live with the same desires of returning to a homeland that only exists in their mind.

The second generation is showing itself to be different from that of the first. The younger generation does not remember the war in which their parents fled, and is more curious than hostile to the world outside of the Vietnamese communities. This new generation has listened to the stories of their parents and lived vicariously through the images of Vietnam promoted in the communities, yet, some feel that they have never known what it means to be "Vietnamese". Older students that are in college have the desire to find out more about their place as Vietnamese as well as Asian Americans and Australians. This has drawn many to return to Vietnam as students to work, or just to visit family members that remain in Vietnam. However, many others in the younger generation are not able to afford to go back to Vietnam. They remain in their host countries and many have ended up in violent inner-city gangs or trapped in fast food Mcjobs⁽²⁸⁾.

This generation has started to bring a new perspective to the Vietnamese refugee identity; the current generation sees themselves as Americans or Australians, not exiles in the country. The younger generation has had more of a choice between assimilating into the host culture, or remaining aloof from the mainstream society by holing up in the Vietnamese communities. The second generation tends to take their identity as Vietnamese less seriously than their parents, and have developed a hybrid identity of Vietnamese Americans or Vietnamese Australians⁽²⁹⁾. It is also important to note that the acceptance of the Vietnamese by society in the host countries has also risen, which has provided the Vietnamese with more opportunities and less hassles than what they had to deal with upon their first arrival.

In conclusion, the experiences of displacement, of constructing homes away from home and living in cultures that were completely foreign to the Vietnamese created a longing for the refugee's homeland. They created communities where their desire for a return to Vietnam was natured and they found support to deal with the odd cultures that surrounded them. However, after years of communist reign, the refugee's homeland lost much of the identity that they had associated with it. Traumatized by lost dreams and dashed hopes of returning to their land, the first generation of Vietnamese refugees cling to each other through a diaspora that supports their denial of a homeland lost, and gives way to a new generation that will, and is, redefining what it means to be Vietnamese in Vietnam as well as in America and Australia.

1.

2. Http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org

3. Victims and Survivors: Displaced Persons and Other War Victims in Vietnam; Wiesner, Louis A.; New York, Greenwood Press, 1988

4. Ibid.

5. See #2

6. The Long Journey: Vietnamese Migration and Settlement in Australia; Viviani, Nancy; Melbourne University Press; International Scholarly Book Services, 1984

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. From Vietnam to America: A Chronicle of the Vietnamese Immigration to the United States; Kelly, Gail Paradise; Boulder, CO; Westview Press, 1977

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. See #2

18. See #12

19. The First Wave: The Settlement of Australia's First Vietnamese Refugees; Lewins, Frank; George Allen and Unwin; Sydney, Australia, 1985

20. Ibid.

21. See #6

22. See #19.

23. See #6

24. Ibid.

25. Shadows and Wind: A View of Modern Vietnam; Templer, Robert; Penguin Books, 1999

26. Ibid.

27. Interview with Tri Nguyen

28. See #25

29. Ibid.