Date of Graduation

Spring 5-15-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in International Studies (MAIS)

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

International Studies

First Advisor

John Zarobell

Second Advisor

Ilaria Giglioli

Abstract

During the Vietnam War, citizens contested US imperialism at multiple levels. In South Vietnam, citizens published newspapers and magazines to challenge their government and expose the depth of US aggression in South Vietnamese society and culture. Inside the imperial core, Black, Chicano, and Asian American activists formed solidarities to resist the war and challenge racial inequality. At the intersection of imperialism inside and outside its borders, lies a group of South Vietnamese students and scholars who became American, migrating during the war via state-structured projects. However, in response to the heightening of war and drawing inspiration from their ‘Third World’ peers, Vietnamese American students and scholars defied expectations of silence and loyalty to the state by joining antiwar demonstrations and contributing to alternative publications that criticized US imperialism.

This project first examines a history of South Vietnam, conceptualizations of empire, and the mobilization of solidarity movements. Then, it analyzes publications that Vietnamese Americans created or contributed to during the war. By engaging contemporary scholars and voices of resistance from the past, this project demonstrates the necessity of re-centering agencies and recognizing historical specificities in order to build contemporary solidarity, while also contributing to a Vietnamese American framework that draws on anti-imperialist practices.

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