The American Dream in Vietnamese

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THE AMERICAN DREAM IN VIETNAMESE This page intentionally left blank THE AMERICAN DREAM IN VIETNAMESE Nhi T. Lieu University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis London The publication of this book has been aided by a College of Liberal Arts subvention grant awardedby the University of Texas at Austin. An earlier version of chapter 3 was published as “Remembering ‘The Nation’ through Pageantry: Femininity and the Politics of Vietnamese Womanhood in the Hoa Hau Ao Dai Contest,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 21, no. 1 (2000): 127–51; reprinted with permission of the University of Nebraska Press; copyright 2000 by Frontiers Editorial Collective. An earlier version of chapter 4 appeared as “Performing Culture in Diaspora: Assimilation and Hybridity in Paris by Night Videos and Vietnamese American Niche Media,” in Alien Encounters: Popular Culture in Asian America, eds. Mimi Thi Nguyen and Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, 194–220 (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press); copyright 2007 by Duke University Press; all rights reserved; reprintedwith permission. Copyright 2011by the Regents of the University of Minnesota All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise,without the priorwritten permission of the publisher. Publishedby the University of Minnesota Press 111Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lieu, NhiT. The American Dream in Vietnamese / NhiT. Lieu. p. cm. Includesbibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8166-6569-3 (hc : acid-freepaper) – ISBN 978-0-8166-6570-9 (pb: acid-free paper) 1. Vietnamese Americans–Ethnic identity. 2. Vietnamese Americans–Cultural assimilation. 3. Popular culture–United States. 4. Popular culture–Vietnam. I. Title. E184.V53L54 2011 305.895922’073–dc22 2010032641 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer. 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is dedicated to my family, the nucleus of my support system: my lifelong partner, Toan Leung; my parents, Mo Lieu and Nhung Truong; and my children, Sophie and Ethan. This page intentionally left blank ...