Community Reformation in the Diaspora
Chapter 6 investigates the circulation of foreign-produced recordings in Vietnam to understand how popular music is generating a heightened awareness of Hmong transnationalism. Vietnamese minorities are compensating for shortcomings in the national media by accessing transnational networks through alternative technological means. VCDs, cell phones, and the Internet are permitting an unprecedented intensification of cross-border exchanges, some of which promote the concept of an independent Hmong nation. Vietnam-based Hmong now regularly listen to, watch, and comment on recordings and music videos produced in other countries. This chapter examines the means of access to these global networks and argues that the limitations on access outweigh the potential for unification as an independent Hmong nation. The research traces the emergence of a Hmong music industry to provide a means of understanding Vietnamese Hmong power, or lack thereof, in this reimagined ethnonationalist community.