Building Community in “Little Saigon”
Vietnamese American communities today are diverse, consisting of immigrants, refugees, as well as second and third generations born after the Vietnam-American War. Their times and contexts of arrival in the United States are important factors for understanding Vietnamese American experiences. Additional factors such as the regional, religious, gender, and class backgrounds of individuals, also shape their experiences and approaches to building community.
This module explores the development of Vietnamese American communities, many of which are known as “Little Saigon” districts, across the United States in California, Texas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and the Virginia-Maryland-DC area. The largest population of overseas Vietnamese is in Orange County, California, with a population of over two hundred thousand.
We will take a closer look at these diasporic communities in order to understand how a group of relative newcomers to America were able to make great economic, cultural, and political impacts on a region in less than half a century. We will gain insight into the reasons for Vietnamese resettlement in Orange County, the discrimination faced by early refugees rebuilding their lives, and the opportunities they carved out through entrepreneurship and intra-ethnic networks.
Image 19.04.01 — Vietnamese population in the US, 2000-2019 by the Pew Research Center
Courtesy of Pew Research Center. Metadata ↗
What are the prevalent social issues facing Vietnamese American communities?
What does an ethnic community need to thrive in America?
How did Vietnamese Americans come together to form Little Saigons?
