Memory Is Another Country - by Nathalie Huynh Chau Nguyen

Book Synopsis

2010 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title

The act of remembering is a means of bringing the past alive and an imaginative way of dealing with loss. It has been the subject of much recent scholarship and is of particular relevance at a time of widespread transnational migration. This book is a valuable and original contribution to the field of diaspora studies. Based on in-depth oral narratives of forty Vietnamese women, it deals with themes both universal and specific to this diaspora: divergent memories in families, the significance of homeland, the return to Vietnam, cross-cultural relationships, intergenerational tensions, and the issues of silence and unspoken trauma among Vietnamese refugees. It is the first study to apply memory and trauma theories to a substantial base of oral narratives by Vietnamese women in the West. Nguyen argues that understanding of these narratives provides not only an insight into the way Vietnamese women have dealt with loss, but also illuminates the experience of the wider Vietnamese diaspora and other refugees.

Review Quotes

Nathalie Huynh Chau Nguyen's book fills an important gap in current scholarship on South Vietnamese women's experiences during war and in diaspora. . . . The personal stories of the women interviewed are vividly narrated and rich in detail. . . . The stories recounted here are an important part of modern Vietnamese history. History often privileges victors. After the South's defeat in 1975, pro-South Vietnamese women's stories have been rarely heard, and they deserve to be. Nguyen's book fills the void and in so doing enriches the existing scholarship on memory, trauma, and diaspora.
American Historical Review

Nguyen makes a brilliant contribution to the third wave of scholarship...Her focus on women is valuable...pathbreaking book...Essential. All levels/libraries.
Choice

The 'living history' that this book represents is a beautifully realized portrait of ordinary women who were forced into extraordinary lives.
Reference & Research Book News

About the Author

Nathalie Huynh Chau Nguyen holds an ARC Australian Research Fellowship at the Australian Centre, School of Historical Studies, University of Melbourne. She was shortlisted for the 2007 NSW Premier's Literary Award for Voyage of Hope: Vietnamese Australian Women's Narratives (2005).