Week 5-Uyen Ngo

As I become older, I found it harder to connect to my Vietnamese culture, especially when I left for college and was no longer surrounded by a very strong Vietnamese American community. For that reason, especially since being a student of Professor Valverde, I have found that the Ao Dai was one of the few things that still helped me connect strongly to my culture. I recently returned home for Lunar New Years and I remember feeling like I was remembering the Vietnamese part of my identity once again. That's why I have emphasized so much in this course of how cherished the Ao Dai is to me. However, this week's reading of "National Colors: Ethnic Minorities in Vietnamese Public Imagery" by Jonsson and Taylor reminded me of the complexity of other pieces that I have seemingly forgotten; most particularly the ao tu than in my own experiences. I grew up with my grandma cherishing the ao tu than as she would show me pictures of her as a teenager in the ao tu than or she would put me in one myself when taking photoshoots as a child. For a while, her love for the ao tu than transferred onto me as well as I would always prefer wearing that over an ao dai if given the chance.

Even when I arrived in America, I would see it plastered all over the walls of the pho shop I went to or on the walls of a Vietnamese clothing shop. While the ao tu than is not an ethnic dress, it made me think of how I also have seen ethnic minority dresses plastered on the walls of these shops. I used to think that I was proud to be from a country that celebrated multiple forms of cultural dresses. However, I never realized the political purpose behind it and other ethnic dresses. The article made an argument that "in Vietnamese art, women and their clothing are portrayed to illustrate national symbols that have been invented or created for political purpose" and that "when depicted in works of art utilized by a national organization, the dresses worn by minority women highlight the non-modern qualities of the ethnic minorities" (164). I used to think that it was amazing how my country did not ignore the fact that we had other minorities and there was more than one piece that represented our country. However, looking at it now, when I come to think of it, we love to include these dresses to show that we are united when in reality, it is not reflected on the people. Ethnic minority people are often times seen as uneducated or lesser than. Even for those outside the bigger cities, there is a prejudice within class. So it makes me rethink the pride that I use to have when it came to the inclusion of other costumes in Vietnam. Because I used to look at other Southeast Asian countries and think that I was proud there was such diversity and representation of other subset groups of people. However, no I see that there is a political double ended sword to it that makes me wonder if its better to have no representation than to inaccurately represent them and only offer representation when beneficial.
Works Cited

Hjorleifur R. Jonsson and Nora A. Taylor. “National Colors: Ethnic Minorities in VietnamesePublic Imagery