Linda Nguyen Blog Post 10

Linda Nguyen

ASA 189F, National Aesthetics

Professor Valverde

11 March 2017

Blog Post 10: Viet Nam’s Challenges and Vision for the Future

     In Professor Valverde’s reading, Transnationalizing Viet Nam Community, Culture, and Politics in the Diaspora, I believe a country like Viet Nam remade itself by their cultural force and financial forces, and introduction and promoting the internet in Vietnam. The cultural force in which Viet Nam and its diasporas have strong cultural influence over one another. For example, Viet Nam extended offers to improve relations with its overseas populations. Viet Nam has given Viet Kieu tax incentives and liberalized rules on business participation. In other words, overseas Vietnamese benefit from global financial restructuring. The change in terms of Viet Kieu from my nguy (American Puppet) to kieu bao (people coming from the same wounds) symbolize the Vietnamese’s government’s open attitudes towards overseas Vietnamese. Thus, this directly coincides with Viet Nam’s need for economic investment and its desire to join the global market. Financial forces such as remittance can remake a country. In the case of Viet Nam, remittance remains a crucial component of their economy. Remittances from abroad aided in to maintain the value of the dong (Vietnamese money) and finance a part of the national government’s sizable deficit. They initially helped Viet Nam stabilize its postwar economy, and the flows of currency later aided the Viet Nam’s adjustment from a communist to a more market-driven state. Lastly, through the work of American expatriates and overseas Vietnamese introducing and promoting information communication technology (ICT) in Vietnam, remade Vietnam as progressive, connects (with the overseas Vietnamese community and diaspora living and acting transnationally), expressive of themselves, and promotes a sociopolitical change. What more I think it can do to achieve maximum “national aesthetics” status of Vietnam is the

(currently) higher education sector, which has the least investment and it has attracted a disproportionate number of negative reports concerning regulation non-compliance. Significant reform of current regulations and governance models to provide transparency for all stakeholders and to ensure longevity for education reforming the country.

     My nation branding framework would be similar to In Ch 71: Issues in Transnational Higher Education Regulation in Vietnam by George Nguyen and Anna Shillabeer’s reading on “liberal-flexible,” in which there is flexibility negotiated between the foreign provider and the host country as long as the foreign provider meets the host country minimum [or maximum] condition and any criteria of the host country before operation starts (Nguyen and Shillabeer 639). If I were to come up with my own nation branding framework with Bhutan in mind, then I would have to consider to meet the host country’s maximum condition because Bhutan’s country is restricted and strict. Bhutan is cautious in their approach to preserving their culture and their religious traditions. Bhutanese people and their country are big on respect and culture, even their constitution, Bhutanese has a responsibility and that is to preserve the environment and have social and political morality. In relation to the theme of the week and current events outside of class, China is also facing challenges in (re)making their image as “good,” but there still more work to be done. China’s challenges are its social problems as well as their environmental problems.

Question: Where can we see transnational practices among diasporas groups, except for Viet Nam?

Vietnam Remittance Statistics 

Image citation: https://oklinkblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/vietnam-remittance-stats.jpg?w=300&h=200

  

Bibliography

Adhikari, IP. "The Making of the Constitution and Democracy in Bhutan." IPA JOURNAL. N.p., 26 Sept. 

     2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

George Nguyen and Anna Shillabeer. “Issues in Transnational Higher Education Regulation in Vietnam.”

Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde. “Introduction: Transnationalizing Viet Nam.”