“Bridging Worlds –
Vietnamese Transnational Migrant Communities in Poland:
From Socialist Fraternity to New Opportunities under Global Capitalism”
Dr. Grażyna Szymańska-Matusiewicz
Date: April 29, 2016. INTS 1111. 3:00-4:30pm
Despite recent developments in the field, Vietnamese migrant communities in Eastern European countries continue to be poorly investigated in both regional studies and migration studies. However, this history – starting with educational exchanges between Soviet bloc countries and developing into “grey zone” bazaar practices under conditions of ‘wild capitalism’ – offers fascinating insights into macro and micro processes, from larger geopolitical frameworks to individual migration experiences, as well as relations between migrants and with those back in the homeland. Based on more than ten years of research on Vietnamese communities in Poland, as their families in Hanoi, I focus on the transnational connections maintained by migrants and returnees against a backdrop of changing political and economic systems in both countries, exploring how such changes have shaped individual strategies of contemporary migration to Europe.

This talk is sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, SEATRiP, and Asian Studies.