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A Village Called Versailles
Screening: 5:30 pm, Braker 001
Followed by Speaker and Dinner: Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center
This film documents the underrepresented perspective of the Vietnamese refugee community in New Orleans East in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It traces the historical trajectory of their migration from villages in North Viet Nam to urban America, and the relief, return and rebuilding efforts after this national disaster. The film explores, through the eyes of local leaders, the questions of immigrant political empowerment, interracial relations, and intergenerational community formation.
Speaker: Loan Dao
Loan Dao, associate producer of this documentary, co-founded “VietBAK” (Vietnamese Bay Area Katrina relief group) and she has made frequent trips to the Gulf Coast to help with rebuilding and relief efforts, provide translation, and advocate for more resources for Vietnamese communities along the Gulf Coast. Loan received her undergraduate degree from UT-Austin and her Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC-Berkeley. Her dissertation research examined social movements among Southeast Asian youth challenging the detention and deportation of SEAs in the U.S. Between 2002 and 2006 she used her academic expertise to help connect college, community, legal, and policy organizations to form a multi-pronged response to the detention and deportation crisis affecting Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese refugee communities. She helped form the Southeast Asian Freedom Network, which was the first national network of organizations to specifically address post-9/11 detentions and deportation practices in the U.S., and she has assisted numerous SEA families facing deportation in her role as researcher, expert witness and legal advocate. In 2005, she served as a consultant to the documentary “Sentenced Home,” which chronicled the lives of three Cambodian men living in Seattle who faced deportation.
Sponsored by Vietnamese Students Club and Asian American Center, through funding from AS&E Diversity Fund, and co-sponsored by American Studies, Anthropology Department, Sociology Department, Asian American Alliance, Filipino Cultural Society, Japanese Culture Club, and Tufts Association of South Asians.
For more info: AsianAmCenter@tufts.edu, 617-627-3056 |
