Squatting in Racialized Berlin 1975-2015: Vietnamese Transnational Subjectivity in a Climatic Double Division
Abstract
Diasporic communities and transnational discourses have become important research topics of late, though they have existed for centuries and their studies have remained uneven. I have argued elsewhere that the Vietnamese diasporas have emerged much earlier than the year 1975, but this historic year marks the greatest exodus out of Vietnam and the subsequent formations of Vietnamese diasporic communities around the world. In this paper, I look at the Vietnamese populations in the German capitol Berlin(s). During my four fieldwork trips to Berlin (and other parts of Germany, in March 2005, June 2005, August 2005, and March 2008), I encountered Vietnamese from both East and West Germany, and heeded their expressions on the challenges of the historical 1954 North-South partition of Vietnam and the present East-West division in Berlin. I paid particular attention to how Vietnamese Berliners’ perception that the North-South division, which is felt across the Vietnamese diasporas worldwide, is at its climax in Berlin.
Weaving together excerpts from field notes and oral history interviews, I show that the Vietnamese immigration experiences in Germany – which continues till today – are much more complex and diverse than the perceived East-North/West-South double division. I argue that Vietnam’s colonial history, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and Germany’s history of division have all contributed to the continued North-South opposition found among the Vietnamese Berliners. As such, I argue that Vietnamese are squatting in racialized Berlin(s), forging a borderland-motherland diasporic subjectivity within a climatic double division. Squatting – both physically and metaphorically – is a form of resistance that enables the Vietnamese Berliners to carve out a space for themselves in an exclusionary Berlin, evoking how human bodies are simultaneously sites of trans-national racialization as well as sites of transformation.
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OUTLINE:
- Fieldwork and Contextualization
- Historicization of Racialized Vietnamese Berlins
- Excerpted Immigration Oral History Narratives
- Squatting as Resistance and Agency
- Borderland-motherland Diasporic Subjectivity
- Vietnamese Berliners in Climatic Division
Keywords
References
Oral History Interviews in Vietnamese in Chronological Order
These are oral history interviews I conducted across the years since 2004 in Sweden, Poland, and Germany. I conducted the interviews in Vietnamese, transcribed, and translated them into English.
Note: Names in quotation marks (Kay, Uncle Stateless, Mr. TrÆ°á»ng SÆ¡n, Sister Autonomy) are pseudonyms for narrators who wish for their stories to be anonymous and without tape recording. The names are based on self-identification characteristics of the narrators. Kay is a name I came up with for a lady who split her time between Germany and Sweden. Uncle Stateless is an undocumented immigrant living in Bandaghen, Stockholm, who calls himself a stateless and had come to Sweden from Eastern Germany. Mr. TrÆ°á»ng SÆ¡n speaks about the Vietnam War and posits that the TrÆ°á»ng SÆ¡n route (during the Vietnam War) is not justifiable in the face of human loss. Sister Autonomy invokes the difficulty of straddling a Vietnamese-oriented family environment and a German individualistic society. Those names are only mnemonic cues to help me keep track of the narratives and field notes.
From the Vietnamese Stockholm Project:
“Kay†& Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. September 30, 2004. Stockholm, Sweden.
Phan Hiển Mạnh & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. November 6, 2004. Malmo, Sweden.
“Uncle Stateless†& Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. December 2004. Stockholm, Sweden.
From the Vietnamese Berlin Project, 2005:
“Mr. TrÆ°á»ng SÆ¡n†& TrangÄ‘Ã i Glassey-Trầnguyá»…n. Oral History Interview. March 6, 2005. Berlin, Germany.
Lê Thắng Lợi & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 2005. Berlin, Germany.
Owner of Thủy Tiên Wholesale & Cultural Center (non-recorded, with video footage of the Center). Berlin, Germany. March 6, 2005.
Ms. Äà o (cloth stand at Ost Bahnhof Station) & TrangÄ‘Ã i Glassey-Trầnguyá»…n. Oral History Interview (at open air market, non-recorded). March 6, 2005. Berlin, Germany.
Mr. Dũng & Spouse (China Pan food stand owner) & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview (at open air market, non-recorded). March 6, 2005. Berlin, Germany.
H.P. & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview (at residence, non-recorded). March 6, 2005. Berlin, Germany.
Thúy Nonnemann & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 7, 2005. Berlin, Germany.
Phạm Äặng Hiển & TrangÄ‘Ã i Glassey-Trầnguyá»…n. Oral History Interview. March 7, 2005. Berlin, Germany.
Trần Thị Hồng Sương & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 7, 2005. Berlin, Germany.
Nguyá»…n Äình Tam & TrangÄ‘Ã i Glassey-Trầnguyá»…n. Oral History Interview. March 7, 2005. Berlin, Germany.
Dr. Phạm Việt Vinh & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 8, 2005. Berlin, Germany.
From the Vietnamese Warsaw Project, 2005:
Võ Thà nh Khánh & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. September 1, 2005. Warsaw, Poland.
Nguyễn Văn Khanh & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview (non-recorded). August 26, 2008. Warsaw, Poland.
From the Vietnamese Berlin Project, 2008:
Phan Äăng Hiển & TrangÄ‘Ã i Glassey-Trầnguyá»…n. Oral History Interview. March 11, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Bùi Ngá»c Yến & TrangÄ‘Ã i Glassey-Trầnguyá»…n. Oral History Interview. March 11, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
“Surrogate Grandma†& Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 14, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
“Sister Autonomy†& Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 14, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Mai Hà Phượng & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 15, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
DÆ°Æ¡ng Văn Äá & TrangÄ‘Ã i Glassey-Trầnguyá»…n. Oral History Interview. March 15, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Rev. Anton Äá»— Ngá»c Hà & TrangÄ‘Ã i Glassey-Trầnguyá»…n. Oral History Interview. March 17, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Phạm Thị Hà Thu & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 18, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Hà Minh Châu (Mr. & Mrs.) & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 18, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Ms. Bình Phạm & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 19, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Ms. “Guest Worker†(at flower shop, Ost Bahnhof) & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 19, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Nguyễn Sơn Thạch & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 19, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Dr. Nguyễn Văn Hương & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 20, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Äá»— Thế Hoà ng & TrangÄ‘Ã i Glassey-Trầnguyá»…n. Oral History Interview. March 21, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Hồ Văn Phước & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 21, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Nguyễn Văn Hưng & Trangđà i Glassey-Trầnguyễn. Oral History Interview. March 21, 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Author’s Publications on Vietnamese Berlin
Guest lecture. “Cyber Exclusion in the Global Information Age: Stateless Vietnamese in Tonle Sap, Berlin, and Warsaw.†Women’s Studies 795/ International Studies 795/895: Gender and International Migration. Spring 2012. (Invited by Ms. Erika Frydenlund and Dr. Jennifer N. Fish, Associate Professor and Chair of Women's Studies, Old Dominion University, Virginia, USA).
“Cyber Exclusion in the Global Information Age: Stateless Vietnamese in Tonle Sap, Berlin, and Warsaw.†Internationals Studies Association, Annual Convention.
-2010. “Viet Birds, World Sky,†a commissioned bilingual weekly column, Việt Herald Daily. Orange County, CA, USA.
Bilingual Keynote. “Thuyá»n Nhân Việt Nam Toà n Cầu trong Thiên Niên Ká»· Thứ Ba: Tìm Lịch Sá», Giữ TÆ°Æ¡ng Lai. Vietnamese Boat People in the Third Millennium: Seeking History, Growing Legacy.†Year-long Project and Multidisciplinary Program: “Ra KhÆ¡i: Tưởng Niệm Thuyá»n Nhân Vượt Biển. Set Sail: Commemorating the Vietnamese Boat People.†Gạch Nối Magazine and Association, UC San Diego.
“Vietnamese Berlins 1975-2010: Historical Inequalities, Contemporary Diversities.â€All-Grad Research Symposium, UC San Diego.
“Vietnamese Berlins 1975-2008: Historical Divergence, Contemporary Integration.†Crossing Borders Conference, “Serve the People? Ethnic Studies Between Theory and Practice.†University of Southern California.
“Immigration in the Vietnamese Diasporas: 1975-2008,†Bilingual Keynote. Black April Commemoration, Colina Park, San Diego. VAYA Vietnamese American Youth Alliance.
Radio Multikulti. “Vietnamese Berlin Project.†Interviewed by Mr. Phan Äăng Hiển for the Vietnamese section. (2 consecutive sessions).
“In Their Own Spaces: Children En Route.†Enthnographic Documentary, ftsmj Productions. Premier screening at Anthropology Conference, UC Davis.
Issue’s Feature. “Which Route? Vietnamese Communities around the Globe.†Nhà Magazine, a San Jose-based monthly publication focusing on Life Style, Culture, and Identity.
“The Stateless and the Nameless: Sovereignty in the Liberal World.†5th Annual Conference of Ethnic Studies in California. “Ghosts, Monsters, and the Dead.†UC San Diego.
"The Subtexts of Conjurals and Construals: Children En Route.†A Documentary, Premiere. Symposium “Midnight University.†University Club, UC Davis.
, Summer. The Funnel, a newsmagazine of the German American Fulbright Commission. Number 2, Volume 41. Pg 15 (Trangdai Tranguyen, Fulbrighter in Sweden, discusses the continuing psychological division of Berlin with André Schmitz during the reception at city hall.)
Interview by Ms. Nguyá»…n Huỳnh Mai for the New Horizon Radio. “TrangÄ‘Ã i Trầnguyá»…n: Her Fulbright Project in Sweden and Perspectives about Vietnamese in Europe.â€
“Contemporary Childhood in the Vietnamese Diasporas.†37th World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology. Stockholm, Sweden.
Radio Multikulti. “A Fulbrighter’s Initial Observations about Vietnamese in Berlin.†Interviewed by Mr. Phan Äăng Hiển for the Vietnamese section. (2 consecutive sessions).
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