Week 7 - Alaina Cagalingan

Vietnam, among many other countries, has the largest refugee count in the United States due to the civil war that pursued many years ago.  Countless of victims have fled from their lifestyle and came to the United States and other countries to run away from undesired communist groups and wars.  As a result, many of the Vietnamese population were displaced around the globe–thus forming the transnational population. At first, there was disagreements between the people and the state. The transnational population were deliberately separated from their home country much because of the anti-communist sentiments of those who took refuge. However, time fortunately had brought the government and the people together again building stronger relations between the nation-state and its overseas people, later allowing the flow of remittances from overseas Vietnamese to their families left at home.

Similarly, there is also a unique relationship forming between the Philippine government and its overseas population. Much to say, a transnational Filipino family is common nowadays wherein the dad, mom, sister, brother are each working in different countries while the last family member awaits at home. This is true as more and more Filipinos are looking to find job else where but their country. In fact, the local government makes the process of employment easier so that Filipinos are equipped with the right skills to work abroad as if encouraging the formation of transnational families. Ultimately, the state makes profits from the large sum of remittances from these families.

In the production of a successful national aesthetic, we see that the transnational population is important. Even though they are physically and geographically away from their home country, they still play an important part and contribute for a favorable national image. Vietnam’s government learned later that they must strengthen their ties with their overseas population in order to also better their economy.  And Philippines has been using the remittances to collect large sums of money for the economy. And so, when producing a national aesthetic, the government should consider heavily the transnational population in policy making so to strengthen ties with the diaspora as these communities can contribute largely for funding of a new aesthetic.

Question:  In what ways can the government make the transnational community feel in touch with their homeland? How can they make these ties stronger? 

Image URL:  http://blogs.cofc.edu/modernism/files/2011/12/google_earth.jpg

Work Reference: Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde. "Introduction: Transnationalizing Viet Nam."