VietNOLA

Hosted ByKim Vu

From the Westbank to New Orleans East, there is a vibrant community of over 20,000 Vietnamese New Orleanians. Once a week host Kim Vu invites a guest to chat about Vietnamese etiquette, ancient proverbs, Vietnamese events in New Orleans, and Vietnamese food. A Vietnamese-American recently arrived from California, Kim combines her own discovery of the local Vietnamese community with her deep familiarity and love of Vietnamese life and customs. Kim and guests weave a tapestry of fun and pho, Hanoi and poboy, as VietNola explores the world of Vietnamese New Orleanians, here and in Vietnam.

I’ll take the Baby, but HOLD the Husband – VietNOLA – It’s New Orleans

Many of us are aware of some of the profound changes happening in Vietnam as it emerges into the global age. We see images of modern skyscrapers appearing on the Saigon skyline and cars replacing the ubiquitous motorbikes on Hanoi s streets, but change also means shifts in family structure and how men and women see their place in the family, and in society at large. In the early 1990 s, Seattle University anthropologist Harriet Phinney went Vietnam with the intention of conducting research on reproductive health, but found that what many people really wanted to talk about was a phenomenon of single women opting to have children on their own, and by intention, without a husband. VietNOLA caught up with Harriet a couple weeks ago when she visited the Tulane School of Public Health to talk about her research and its implications for that society, and on our sense of what it means to be Vietnamese.