Referentes teóricos y conceptuales:

A3.1: Interview Questions

Following is a list of the questions asked in the interviews: Personal

• Personal details, such as name, length of time in Austraha, family here, occupation.

• Have you been back to Vietnam? Citizenship

• Why do Vietnamese become Australian citizens? • What does citizenship mean to Vietnamese? • Can people see a more active view of citizenship? Barriers to Participation

• What do you feel about any tension between being an Australian citizen and yet still feeling the pull of the homeland? How important is the family?

• What do young people feel about these matters?

• How do you feel about the different attitudes of the young?

• How well were you accepted by other Australians when you frrst came here? • How has your Ufe in Australia changed over time?

• Is the opportunity there to participate in Australian community life?

• What are the barriers to the participation of Vietnamese in Australian society? • What has been your experience of racism in Austraha?

• How do you see the rise of Pauline Hanson and the One Nation Party?

• What can Vietnamese-Australians and organisations such as the VCA do to counteract racist attitudes and One Nation?

• What do young people think about racism and Pauline Hanson?

• How difficult was it to learn English, and how important is it to the ability to participate here?

Community Associations

• Are you involved with any Vietnamese community associations? If so, in what way? If not, why not?

• Is there a tradition of community associations in Vietnam?

• What involvement does the VCA have in pohtics, Australian and Vietnamese? • How effectively does the VCA represent the community?

• What is your opinion on the success of Vietnamese community associations in helping people participate more fully in Austrahan society?

• What does your organisation do in the community, how do people know about it, how accessible is it (asked to leaders of community associations)?

Politics

• Is the Australia-Vietnam relationship a good thing, and helpful regarding issues such as human rights in Vietnam?

• What are your thoughts regarding the Austrahan human rights delegation that went to Vietnam just a few years ago?

• Are you interested in Australian politics? If so, why; if not, why not?

• How did you become interested in politics (to people such as Sang Nguyen, Mai Ho)?

• How difficult was it to become involved in Australian politics? • Are Vietnamese traditionally interested in politics?

• Do you see yourself as a role model within the Vietnamese community (to public figures)?

• Do you see people such as Sang and Mai as role models?

• How do you encourage other people to participate (asked to public representatives)?

Friendship Agreement

• What is your opinion on the 'jfriendship' agreement between the City of Maribyrnong and District 1 of HCMC?

• What do you think about the approach of Mai Ho? (Some would only answer this question 'off the record').

• What do you think about the criticism of Mai Ho? (Some interviewees were surprised that I knew about this, and that I had read about it in the Vietnamese-language media)

• Would the reaction to Mai have been different if the person responsible had been male and Australian-bom?

• Would the reaction against Mai discourage other people from becoming involved in public Hfe?

A3.2: Letter of Introduction

The following letter was provided to each interviewee a few days prior to the interview:

Mark Roberts

9 Noble Avenue Strathmore 3041 9379 7164 0418 179 107 My name is Mark Roberts, 47 years old, married with four children, from 15 to 21 years old. I am a Pharmacist, and owned a Pharmacy in Braybrook for 17 years, until the end of 1995. In 1992, my wife and I went to Vietnam as tourists, with a group of teachers. This trip began to change my life as I saw another society operating and began to think about life in Australia. I realised how inadequate my own knowledge of the world was, so decided to learn Vietnamese language. In 1994,1 was able to return to Vietnam, and this trip led to me enrolling at Victoria University to study Asian Studies, including Vietnamese language. In 1996, I went to Vietnam as part of the VUT Study Tour, with Vietnamese classes every morning for 3 weeks. My Vietnamese is slowly improving, but I have a long way to go. Having completed the Asian Studies degree last year, I am now studying Honours, which involves engaging in research and writing a thesis about that research. I am very interested in the Vietnamese community, both here and in Vietnam, and would like to work with the community in some way in the future. I see it as extremely important that Vietnamese should be able to be full members of Australian society, contributing to our culture and sharing their culture with Austrahans, in a mutually beneficial way.

The general themes that I would like to discuss in our interview are: citizenship

- multiculturahsm

- participation in Australian society - experience of life in Australia

- changes in your life during your time in Australia is there a Vietnamese community?

- Vietnamese community associations - what is their role - who are members - effective?

- attitudes to Vietnamese with a prominent public profile - business, community, politics

- problems encountered by Vietnamese - racism, language, unemployment, gambling

- Austraha-Vietnam relations

I would like to assure you that everything we discuss will remain completely confidential and private, so that there will be no embarrassment suffered. I also seek your permission to tape the mterview.