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Multi-format set / Oral History of David Nguyen

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Summary information.

Title
Oral History of David Nguyen
Creator
Nguyen, David
Contributor
Luu, Evan
Date Created and/or Issued
2019-02-15
Contributing Institution
UC Irvine, Libraries, Southeast Asian Archive
Collection
Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History project
Rights Information
Copyrighted
This material is provided for private study, scholarship, or research. Transmission or reproduction of any material protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Contact the University of California, Irvine Libraries, Special Collections and Archives for more information (spcoll@uci.edu).
Description
Scope/Content: This is an oral history with Dr. David Nguyen, aged 35, and born in Culver City on July 7, 1985. He is a second generation Christian Vietnamese American that is a plastic surgeon. Throughout his life, he has not been around many Vietnamese Americans until he attended UCLA. There he started to establish his Vietnamese identity by establishing a Vietnamese dance team. From there he went onto medical school, residency, and is now running his plastic surgery practice, Heavenly Plastics, in Lake Forest, California while living in Irvine, CA. Right now, he has no children but is currently seeing someone. He also has good relationships with his parents and his sister.
Scope/Content: At what point in time can one pinpoint the beginning of Vietnamese America? Does it begin with the Fall of Saigon? Does it begin with the creation of Little Saigons throughout America? In looking to define Vietnamese American experiences, do we limit what it has been and what it could be? Whatever the entry point, experiences of Vietnamese Americans are inextricably tangled with the political, economic, and social structures of racial, class, and gender hierarchy in the United States and notions of authenticity and nationalism. Thus, to begin learning what the Vietnamese American experience entails, is to also begin unlearning. This course seeks to understand, unravel and complicate what Vietnamese America is through a critical refugee and critical race lens. By analyzing various issues, we are able to see how Vietnamese Americans are affected by larger societal forces such as capitalism and imperialism. This course aims to: 1. To introduce the student to the history, culture, and contemporary experiences of Vietnamese Americans, highlighting how power and privilege entangles them all together. 2. Expand current discourse around social issues that affect Vietnamese Americans by using both scientific literature, creative works and scholarly articles. 3. Expose students to the multitude of historical, contemporary and local Vietnamese American narratives, taking advantage of the proximity to one of the largest Little Saigons.
Scope/Content: David Nguyen at his practice in Lake Forest, photographer Evan Luu, March 2019.
Type
sound
Format
2 mp3 audio files; 2 pdf transcriptions English; 1 pdf time log; 1 pdf life map; 3 jpg image files
Extent
01:52:00
Identifier
ark:/81235/d8np0q
VAOHP0365
http://hdl.handle.net/10575/14644
Language
English
en
Subject
Assimilation | Education | Healthcare | Higher Education | Identity | Medical | Professional | Plastic Surgery | University of California, Los Angeles | Los Angeles County, California | Growing up American
Time Period
1980-1989
Relation
Vietnamese American Experience Class Oral Histories, 2019 Winter

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