Popular media of the Vietnamese diaspora

The concept of "diaspora" can be usefully applied to understanding many of the major population movements this century and to the accompanying complex processes of the maintenance and negotiation of cultural identity. The Vie tnamese diaspora is arguably unique because of its historical roots in refu gee-exile circumstances. Originally refugees and only lately immigrants, th e Vietnamese peoples in the Western world are acutely aware of the conflict ing loyalties to their original cultures and the demands of adapting to the ir new host cultures. in analysing the cultural and media environment in th e Vietnamese diaspora, the article identifies three cultural positions with in these communities: the felt need to maintain pre-revolutionary Vietnames e heritage and traditions, to find a negotiated place within a more mainstr eamed culture, or to engage in the formation of distinct hybrid identities centring around dominant Western popular cultural forms. Although the Vietn amese audiovisual media industry is very small and of negligible export dyn amic, most overseas Vietnamese ultimately reject the output of the "homelan d" as fatally compromised through production under a Communist regime. The article concludes that the media consumed by overseas Vietnamese, rather th an resolving these conflicts, tend rather to "stage" them, give them voice and manage them in a productive tension.