Emigrate out of National Borders, Immigrate into Diasporic Spaces

Abstract

The article explores the ways in which Vietnamese international doctoral students participated in and influenced social spaces to produce diasporic subjectivity among Vietnamese diasporic communities in the study countries, and how this diasporic subjectivity was produced in what I term ‘diasporised moments’. Guided by theory of space, I look at how Vietnamese doctoral students negotiated their ‘membership’ of those communities, how their national identity was challenged and contested, and how their nostalgia was triggered against the backdrop of their transnational life, leading to their diasporic subjectivity in the making. I argue that the theoretical bearings of space allow us to expand our understanding of the integration of international students into life on foreign soil beyond the common assumption of integration into the local culture only. I further argue that international students do not purely experience homesickness but actually produce diasporic subjectivity in their temporary migration for academic pursuits.