The Second Indochina War ended 50 years ago, but its traces remain. ‘The aftermaths continue to have an impact on families, culture and politics,’ says social anthropologist Professor Dr Minh Nguyen from Bielefeld University. Nguyen and her Bielefeld colleague Dr Ngoc Luong are organising the symposium ‘Half a Century after War: Voices from Global Vietnam’ to discuss these after-effects scientifically. The conference on 4 April will bring together perspectives from the post-war generations from Vietnam and the Vietnamese diaspora: researchers, the writer and bestselling author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and the artist Maithu Bùi will come together at Bielefeld University.

30 April 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War. Since the end of the war, millions of Vietnamese have left the country – as refugees, guest workers, students or skilled workers. This migration created new connections between East and West, North and South. The political scientist Assistant Professor Dr Kevin D. Pham from the University of Amsterdam examines in his book ‘The Architects of Dignity’ how Vietnamese thinkers question Western views of colonialism and independence. At the symposia, Pham and researchers from Vietnam, the USA and Canada will focus on the aspect of decolonisation.

The artist Maithu Bùi, born in Plauen (Germany) in 1991, will be showing her works on violence and history as part of the symposia. Her works, which were also shown at the Berlin Biennale, represent the German-born generation’s view of the past.

The writer Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai will read from her novel ‘Dust Child’. The book tells the story of war from different perspectives. Researchers from the USA, Canada and Vietnam will then discuss different interpretations of the story.

The degree will be rounded off by a panel discussion with eight researchers from Vietnam, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the USA on current research into Vietnamese society. They will talk about the new anthology ‘Reconfiguring Vietnam: Global Encounters, Translocal Lifeworlds’. The two editors of the book will take part in the discussion: Professor Dr Minh Nguyen from Bielefeld University and Professor Dr Kirsten Endres from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale).

The event will run in parallel on site and online. Simultaneous translation between English and Vietnamese will enable participants to exchange ideas across three continents. Participation is free of charge, registration is required.

Professor Dr Minh Nguyen, initiator and head of the symposium, comes from the northern Vietnamese city of Thai Binh. She is a researcher at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University. Her focus of research lies at the interface of social anthropology and international development. Her work is sponsored by the highly endowed Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council (ERC). In her project ‘FinancialLives’, she examines how the everyday lives of workers in countries such as China, Vietnam and Laos are increasingly subject to the logic of financial markets. The project builds on her ERC Starting Grant project ‘WelfareStruggles’.

The event website can be found on Facebook. To participate on site, please register by sending an email to doan.vo@uni-bielefeld.de. Alternatively, it is possible to register for participation via video conference.