By and large the p a rtic ip a n ts in this stu d y belonged to the South V ietnam ese u rb an m iddle class; all b u t T ran and Bich lived in, or near, th e larger provincial
tow ns of the M ekong. They derived from fam ilies well-off in term s of economic
and sym bolic w ealth B ourdieu 1977-178;. T he m ajority owned some land a n d /o r
business in V ietnam and were able to avail them selves of ed u catio n, th e la tte r
being one avenue to prestigious office and financial rew ard. They also had access
to . a n d ranked each o th er by, m aterial goods considered "rare and w orthy of being
so u g h t after" [ibid]. Some reportedly had never had it so good. In sum ,
p a rtic ip a n ts comprised p a rt of th a t section of V ietnam ese society which was the
m ajo r beneficiary of th e A m erican presence and dollar [Scigliano 1964-1261. They
left V ietn am because they foresaw no fu tu re for them selves or th eir children under th e com m unists, and therefore could only a n tic ip a te an insecure old age and s ta tu s
a fte r d eath aw aiting th em . The com m unists "tu rn ed our world upside dow n" they
say, and underm ined fam ilial relatio ns by encouraging spying and public accusation of p a re n ts by children [Phung Thi Hanh 1979-81; H aw thorne 1982-164 an d 201]. F lig h t is in terp reted and given prom inence today as "a sacrifice" u n d ertak en by the p resen t generation to safeguard the future of th e next; an act of courage founded on the belief th a t m ate ria l w ealth and social position can be rebu ilt.
These families have b ro u g h t w ith them , and m ain tain in A u stra lia , a d istinctiv e
kin ideology which en tails prim ary loyalty to the nha and family nam e taken to be
a collective product. They also continue the cycle of advances and restitu tio n
betw een th e generations which secures th e ongoing provision of willing workers for th e fam ily enterprise. T his ch a p te r has pointed to some features of th e cycle. V ietnam ese children owe th eir p aren ts obedience, education al success, heirs and care
a fte r d e a th . In tu rn p a re n ts are expected to provide th eir offspring w ith m oral
tra in in g , m aterial su p p o rt and w here possible assist them in establishing careers or
businesses. The respective duties and obligations of p a re n ts and children w ithin
th e tra d itio n a l fram ew ork of th e nha a rtic u la te V ietnam ese ethnic id en tity in
A u stra lia . They are core elem ents of th e V ietnam ese ethnic id en tity con structed
by V ietnam ese in C a n b e rra and detailed in th e following ch ap ters. T h us as the
p rovider of labour and p e rp e tra to r of shared V ietnam ese knowledge and beliefs the
n h a links p a rticu la ristic fam ily in terest and the developm ent of th e ethnic co m m unity.
38
Chapter 2. The Politicization Of Ethnicity
In th is ch ap ter I argue th a t V ietnam ese ethnic id entity is a social co n stru ct, a p ro d u c t of hum an activ ity available to its various producers and to other m em bers of A u stra lia n society as an elem ent in a deceptively "self-evident" world fBerger
an d Luckm an 1966-33]. I explain how V ietnam ese ethnic id en tity reflects, in p a rt,
th e dialectic which existed betw een the sending and receiving countries a t p a rticu la r
h isto ric a l m o m e n ts.1 For present purposes 1 wish to consider how and when the
V ietnam ese entered A u stra lia , and m ore p a rticu la rly th e im p act these events had on developing A u stralian typifications of V ietnam ese as "ethnics" and "refugees". B oth have im plications for th e acceptance and futu re place of V ietnam ese in C a n b e rra and, m ore generally, in A u stra lia n society.
I shall argue th a t th e d o m in an t A u stra lia n c u ltu re ’s im age of a cu lturally,
physically and dem ographically uniform collection of individuals sharing
hom ogeneous tra its bears lim ited relation to V ietnam ese self perceptions. This is
hardly surprising. "K now ledge” is, as Berger and Luckm an 1966-43] quite rightly
p o in t o u t, "socially d istrib u te d , possessed differently by different individuals and
ty p es of individuals". However w hat is im p o rta n t is th a t this knowledge is
co n te sted in m u ltic u ltu ra l A u stralia, and fu rth e r th e A nglo-C eltic m ajority has the m eans to im pose its p a rtic u la r version of reality.
My purpose in th e la tte r p a rt of th is c h a p te r is to begin draw ing out and exp licatin g th e m eaning of ethnic id entity for th e V ietnam ese them selves through
discussion of tw o key m arkers of V ietnam ese id e n tity ; nam ely flag and fam ily. I
em ploy flag and fam ily as sh o rth a n d term s to refer to the social in stitu tio n s and c u ltu ral form ations which surround and im p a rt m eaning to these sym bols in the lives of C a n b e rra V ietnam ese. Flag sta n d s for p a trio tism , love of hom eland and
a n ti-co m m u n ist position. Research p a rtic ip a n ts used these elem ents to identify each
o th er and m ark them selves off from A u stra lia n s and o th er m ig ran t groups coming
from Indochina. T his largely political collective id en tity is the prim ary focus of
^ i v i a n i 1984] d o c u m e n t s in d e ta il the p o liti c a l j o u s t i n g s b e t w e e n 1975 -8 2 as c o n s e c u t i v e A u str a lia n g o v e r n m e n t s m o v e d to a c c e p t so m e , and later g re a ter n u m b e r s , o f V i e t n a m e s e . In te r e ste d readers are d ir e c te d to this so urc e.
th is ch apter. Fam ily, and its m ediating role linking the collective political and p a rtic u la ristic economic aspects of V ietnam ese ethnic id en tity , are dealt w ith in m ore detail in C hapters 3 and 4.