Vietnamese Traditions in Canada: A Research Proposal By : Louis-Jacques Dorais
Universite Laval Quebec, Canada G1K 7P4
louis-jacques.dorais@ant.ulaval.ca
Overseas Vietnamese – the Viet Kieu – often deplore that their traditions are less and less known and
practiced by younger individuals. Adults and elderly people born and raised in Vietnam cannot but notice
that the Western way of life is not conducive to the preservation and transmission of traditional
Vietnamese behavioral patterns, ceremonies, festivals, etc. In the United States, Canada, Australia or
Europe, family members often live far from one another; children are subject to the influence of their non-
Vietnamese teachers and schoolmates; and adults cannot take care any more of their old parents, as
was usual in Vietnam.
It is therefore important to document Vietnamese social, cultural and religious traditions while
knowledgeable people who experimented these traditions as youngsters are still around. And it is still
more important to know which of these traditions are deemed essential to elderly overseas Vietnamese,
why are they considered essential, and how should they be transmitted to the younger generation.
Moreover, it might also be interesting to know if older Viet Kieu think that some Vietnamese traditions
could help Western people in general cope with current social problems such as family breakdowns,
violence, drug addiction, etc.
This is precisely what a research and action project supervised by the author intends to do. This project,
which is just starting as of January 2003, is conducted in collaboration with the Vietnamese Community in
Montreal and the Quebec City Senior Vietnamese Association. It is funded by Heritage Canada, the
Canadian federal department in charge of multiculturalism and citizenship.
The idea is to interview 8-12 elderly Vietnamese individuals, both men and women, living in Montreal and
Quebec City. The interview schedule, which takes the form of a short life history centered on the
respondents' youth in Vietnam, covers the following points: 1. Childhood memories; relations of the
respondents with their parents and other adults. 2. Relations with other children. 3. Adolescence and
marriage (circumstances and ceremonies). 4. Relations with the respondents’ in-laws and children. 5.
Relations with neighbors. 6. Professional training and occupation; practice of a trade. 7. Yearly festivals
and ceremonies (lunar New Year, village festivals, Fall Moon festival, etc.). 8. Ancestors’ worship and
religion (Buddhism, Christianity, etc.). 9. Survival – or not – in Canada, of the traditions mentioned
above. 10. Values drawn from these traditions to be preserved by Canadian Vietnamese. 11. Traditions
which should be better known by the Canadian public in general. 12. What must be done to ensure the
preservation and dissemination of Vietnamese tradition.
Interviews – conducted in Vietnamese, French or English, according to the wish of interviewees – are to
be tape-recorded and, then, transcribed in written form. Transcriptions will be summarized, codified and
compared with each other according to the usual techniques of contents analysis, in order to bring their
most salient characteristics into light. As a last step, analyzed data will be synthesized and drafted into a
book-length manuscript describing the traditions discussed by respondents during interviews. If will also
convey the respondents’ opinions and underline some important characteristics of these traditions and
opinions. The text will include comprehensive excerpts of interviews, in order to communicate to readers
the very words uttered by elderly Vietnamese Canadians.
If everything goes on as planned, the manuscript should be published under book form – in French, but
Vietnamese and English versions might appear later on – during fall 2003 or winter 2004. The author’s
opinion is that such a book could have a double impact. First of all, it should familiarize young
Vietnamese Canadians with their ancestral country’s identity and traditions, thus helping to reduce the
often severe inter-generation gap observed among overseas Vietnamese by authors such as Hien Duc
Do, Peter Van Do and Min Zhou. At the same time, it might sensitize Canadians in general to the value of
other cultures. Maybe that if similar projects are conducted with other groups of Viet Kieu, elsewhere in
North America, Australia or Europe, mutual understanding and intercultural knowledge will increase, thus
contributing to the advent of a better and more tolerant society.
Bibliography
Do, Hien Duc. The Vietnamese Americans. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Van Do, Peter. Between Two Cultures: Struggles of Vietnamese American Adolescents. The Review of
Vietnamese Studies, 2(1), 2002.
Zhou, Min. Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States. New York:
Russell Sage Foundation, 1998.
Louis-Jacques Dorais teaches anthropology at Universite Laval, Quebec City, Canada. For some 25
years, he has conducted research and published on overseas Vietnamese social organization and
identity in Canada and Europe.