Book Review: The American Dream in Vietnamese by Nhi T. Lieu
Journal of Southeast Asian American Education & Advancement, Vol.
Book Review: The American Dream in Vietnamese by Nhi T. Lieu
Malaphone Phommasa 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
0 University of California , Santa Barbara , USA
1 Dr. Fay Shin California State University, Long Beach Dr. Cathy J. Schlund-Vials University of Connecticut , Storrs , USA
2 Dr. Giang Pham University of Minnesota Dr. Bounlieng Phommasouvanh Minnesota Department of Education Dr. Kalyani Rai University of Wisconsin , Milwaukee , USA
3 Dr. Yer J. Thao Portland State University Dr. Myluong Tran San Diego State University Dr. Khatharya Um University of California , Berkeley , USA
4 Keo Chea-Young University of Pennsylvania , USA
5 Yeng Yang University of Texas , San Antonio , USA
6 Dr. Phitsamay Sychitkokhong Uy University of Massachusetts , Lowell Dr. Terrence G. Wiley Center for Applied Linguistics , USA
7 Dr. Kou Yang California State University , Stanislaus , USA
8 Dr. Stacey Lee University of Wisconsin, Madison Dr. Bic Ngo University of Minnesota , USA
9 Monirith Ly Texas State University-San Marcos Malaphone Phommasa University of California, Santa Barbara Rassamichanh Souryasack University of California, Santa Barbara Alisia Tran University of Minnesota , USA
10 Dr. Jonathan H. X. Lee San Francisco State University Dr. Sue Needham California State University , Dominguez Hills , USA
11 Peter Tan Keo Columbia University Ravy Lao University of California , Santa Barbara , USA
12 Dr. Linda Trinh Vo University of California, Irvine Dr. Zha Blong Xiong University of Minnesota , USA
13 Dr. Christine Su Ohio University Dr. Loan Tran University of California, Riverside Dr. Tinou Tran Alief Independent School District , USA
14 Yang Sao Xiong University of California , Los Angeles , USA
15 Dr. Mark Pfeifer Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi Dr. Loan T. Phan University of New Hampshire Dr. Karen Quintiliani California State University , Long Beach , USA
16 Thien-Huong Ninh University of Southern California Vanna Som Harvard University Somongkol Teng University of Minnesota Krissyvan Truong Claremount Graduate University , USA
Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/jsaaea Recommended Citation Phommasa, Malaphone (2011) "Book Review: The American Dream in Vietnamese by Nhi T. Lieu," Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement: Vol. 6 : Iss. 1 , Article 15. Available at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/jsaaea/vol6/iss1/15 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact for additional information.
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Advancement
Article 15
Journal of Southeast Asian American
www.JSAAEA.org
Book Review
Lieu, N. T. (2011). The American Dream in Vietnamese. Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota Press. 216 pp. $22.50 (Paperback). ISBN: 978-0-81666570-9.
Reviewed by
Malaphone Phommasa
University of California, Santa Barbara
The American Dream in Vietnamese thoughtfully crafts together an illustration of the
Vietnamese community, from their migration history to the creation of their new cultural
identities in Orange County, California. Combining historical, anthropological, and sociological
research traditions, Nhi T. Lieu provides an in-depth examination of the cultural productions of
leisure and entertainment. These aspects of the Vietnamese community have largely been
overlooked by scholars. The author demonstrates how beauty contests, live music variety shows,
and videos of these variety shows are contributing to the transformations of what it means to be
Vietnamese. Determined to move beyond the prevailing views and research of Vietnamese
Americans as “despondent war-torn refugees,” Lieu situates her work alongside the works of
other important scholars, including Yen Lê Espiritu and Linda Trinh Võ, who are leading
researchers on the cultural and social developments of the Vietnamese community
postmigration. As a preview for the rest of the book, the author reveals her personal connection to
Little Saigon and the variety shows as a Vietnamese American teenager who grew up in
Southern California during the development of the community in the 1980’s. Her intimate
connection with this ethnic enclave and membership in the larger Vietnamese diasporic
community sparked her desire to fully understand the world and culture around her.
The title of the introductory chapter, Private Desires on Public Display, nicely captures
Lieu’s well-crafted work on the reconstruction of Vietnamese American cultural and ethnic
identity in symbolic Little Saigon. Longstanding desires and nostalgia of the homeland have led
to the production of various leisure and entertainment avenues that publicly and strategically
suggest to mainstream society that Vietnamese Americans have risen to middle-class status and
embraced the role of consumers in a capitalist society. Tied to these productions are gender,
class, and ethnic dimensions that require careful ex (...truncated)