Episode 3 - Nguyễn Phú Trọng's US Visit, Nguyễners

This year marks two decades since the normalization of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Việt Nam. For the first time ever, the Vietnamese Communist Party is sending its General Secretary, Nguyễn Phú Trọng, to Washington, DC, to meet with senior White House officials.

We discuss the implications of this high level visit with Điềm Đỗ, Chairman of the pro-democracy party Việt Tân. As leader of an unsanctioned opposition party, Đỗ and a Vietnamese delegation met with President George W. Bush in 2007 to discuss human rights in Việt Nam. Loa’s Duyên Bùi has this “On the Record”.

Have you ever wondered why such a vast percentage of the Vietnamese population share the surname “Nguyễn”? Nope, they are not all related to each other. Here is Chris Lê on this week’s Vietnamism, Việt Nam’s history with the “Nguyễns”.

Air date: May 11, 2015

Episode 2 - Social Media Landscape; Terms of Address

Episode 2 - Social Media Landscape; Terms of Address

In our second episode, Trinh Nguyễn goes “On the Record” to explore how social media is transforming Việt Nam’s sociopolitical space in new and exciting ways.

To close the show, we bring you our first “Vietnamism” segment and decode the cool and confusing parts of the Vietnamese language. We explain how Vietnamese terms of address work and the best approach to take in order to avoid any embarrassing faux pas.

Episode 1 - Black April; A Poetry Reading of Tổ Quốc Gọi Tên

In our first episode, we bring you “A Look Inside” at how Vietnamese youth in Việt Nam and around the world commemorate 40 years since the war, 40 years of a divergent history.

We will be closing our show on Black April with our “Solitary Envoi” segment, which features written works that inspire or are written by the politically repressed in Việt Nam.

Music credit:
Major MajorNo Rhyme
KontinuumAware

Air date: April 27, 2015