Anh Nguyen
Anh Nguyen was a Vietnamese child refugee raised in Carrollton, Texas. She graduated with a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity and Bachelors of Arts in English Literature from Bryn Mawr College. In 2002, she had a postgraduate fellowship from Harvard to conduct research interviews about the acculturation of Vietnamese in Australia. She then worked with Harvard School of Public Health on AIDS research and treatment in Nigeria, and became a bilingual legal aid advocate for Vietnamese immigrants in Boston. She currently works as a paralegal for Native Title Services Victoria and is pursuing her PhD on the oral history of Vietnamese Australian child refugees in Australia.
Towards a New Historical and Psychological Perspective of Acculturation and Success: Oral History of Vietnamese Australian Child Refugees as Adults
The research captures the history of Vietnamese Australian child migration, acculturation, and factors that that contributed to their success and challenges as adults. Based on the narratives of child refugees, unaccompanied minors, adoptees, and reverse migrants living and working in Vietnam, it examines what are the historical, cultural, psychological, family and self-generated narratives that have motivated and sustained them as adults? How has this contributed to their public, private, economic and social success in Australia? It also investigates the international policies and political ideologies from 1975 to 2000, how they impacted those experiences, and how they differ from our current perspective on refugees and asylum seekers.
Forty Years On: Vietnamese Here
To celebrate over 40 years of Vietnamese refugee presence in Melbourne, Anh Nguyen curated an exhibition of contemporary Melbourne based Vietnamese artists and writers, some of which are interviewed for her PhD about the success and challenges of Vietnamese Child Refugees in Australia. It was also an opportunity to reflect on the discourse of historical memory and place of Vietnamese in Australian contemporary culture today. The program featured opening remarks from Joy Damousi, Professor of History and Principal Investigator, ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellowship on History of Child Refugees, the University of Melbourne.