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Solidarity Rhetoric in the Vietnamese American Coalition

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Solidarity Rhetoric in the Vietnamese American Coalition “TO COME TOGETHER AND CREATE A MOVEMENT”: SOLIDARITY RHETORIC IN THE VIETNAMESE AMERICAN COALITION (VAC) DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Haivan Viet Hoang, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2004 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Dr. Beverly J. Moss, Adviser Dr. Andrea A. Lunsford Adviser Dr. Brenda J. Brueggemann Department of English Dr. Amy Shuman ABSTRACT If rhetoric, as Aristotle suggests, is a defensive art—an art based on opposition— can we imagine a rhetoric that is also about coming together, about building solidarity? Drawing from an ethnographic case study of the Vietnamese American Coalition (VAC), I explore a rhetoric that both reflects and achieves solidarity—a solidarity that is based on mutuality, respects difference, and builds alliances. A grassroots college student organization formed in 1993, VAC’s mission has been to foster political awareness and community activism among Vietnamese Americans, university students, and, generally, the local community. VAC students’ meetings, newsletters, and interview accounts reveal multivalent sources for coming together, ranging from involvement in an immediate interaction to a solidarity that revolves, more broadly, around public texts. By analyzing these students’ speech and writing, I call readers’ attention to several dimensions of a solidarity rhetoric: (1) invitations into a community, (2) identifications that forge new alliances, (3) memorial connections that write individuals and groups into larger sociohistorical contexts, and (4) public texts that perform and revise our relationships. The solidarity that emerges as central to VAC students’ rhetoric is critical not only to their community, but is moreover fundamental to the ways that we, as social beings, make our worlds cohere. In this sense, students’ rhetorics are instructive to the ways in which speakers and writers connect through rhetorical means. ii To my parents, sisters, and brothers iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I cannot imagine writing this dissertation without the generous support of both individuals and institutions, and I therefore wish to thank all the folks who gave so graciously. My appreciation extends first to the students, alumni, and staff adviser of the Vietnamese American Coalition (VAC), who unvaryingly welcomed and shared their stories with me. Those involved in VAC have given me more hope for a Vietnamese American community that will keep coming together and creating a movement. Beverly J. Moss, my dissertation adviser and also a leading literacy researcher, has always responded to my ideas with care and thoughtfulness, asked invaluable questions, and offered intellectual support—in every way, an impetus to move forward in my inquiry. I appreciate her, moreover, because she has become a respected friend with whom I have enjoyed many conversations over the years. My conversations with my dissertation committee also echo resoundingly throughout these pages. Andrea A. Lunsford, my previous adviser and a continual mentor, joined new colleagues at Stanford early in my graduate studies, yet she has continued to introduce me to relevant scholarship, and, in her comments, magically makes clear what had previously been muddy. Brenda J. Brueggemann’s insights about literacy research have helped me see my own work with new eyes, her warm encouragement has been a refuge, and her nimble writing inspires me to play with my iv own language. Amy Shuman, too, has inspired me not only with her work on storytelling and entitlement, but also she has inspired me with her own storytelling. Her stories and the difficult questions that emerge have challenged me to think deeply about research practices, language, and ethnic heritage while also remaining grounded in what matters to the research participants. I would also like to thank other faculty and fellow graduate students who have contributed to my studies at The Ohio State University: Jacqueline Jones Royster, for her sharp questions about rhetorical memory, race, and gender and her worthy interest in lived experience; Marcia Farr, for her stimulating seminar discussions about literacy studies and her belief that such work needs to influence everyday curricula; Gabriella Modan, for introducing me to how discourse analysis might enrich my analysis of VAC students’ public texts; and my fellow graduate students, for countless provocative seminar discussions. At The Ohio State University, I have received several forms of support for which I am grateful. The Department of English granted me an Edward P.J. Corbett Research Award and a 2002 Summer Dissertation Fellowship, which together supported my fieldwork, and, more recently, the Graduate School honored me with a 2003-2004 Presidential Fellowship to complete my writing. I offer my great thanks to Debra Moddelmog, Susan Williams, and Kathleen Gagel in the Department of English Graduate Studies Office because I only received these awards by leaning on their expertise and encouragement. In addition to university support, I have also received intellectual support from the Conference on College Composition and Communication, particularly from those who form the Asian and Asian American Caucus (with special thanks to v Morris Young for sharing his manuscript with me), the Scholars for the Dream Network, and the Committee on Diversity. Finally, my graduate studies have been that much more satisfying with the love of family and friends. I wish to thank my parents, sisters, and brothers for always supporting me in all areas of my life. I thank Cedric, too, for reading parts of this dissertation with me, for helping me appreciate this opportunity to study what I enjoy, and for generously encouraging me throughout my research. vi VITA February 13, 1976 Born in Los Angeles, California, USA 1996 B.A., English, University of California at Berkeley 1999 M.A., English, California State University at Hayward 1997-1999, Summer 2000 Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, California State University at Hayward 1999-2000 Dean’s Graduate Enrichment Fellowship, Graduate School, The Ohio State University 2000-2001 Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, The Ohio State University 2001-2002 Writing Center Consultant and Outreach Consultant, Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, The Ohio State University Summer 2002 Summer Dissertation Fellowship, Department of English, The Ohio State University 2002-2003 Writing Center Assistant Coordinator, Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, The Ohio State University 2003-2004 Presidential Fellowship, Graduate School, The Ohio State University vii PUBLICATIONS Literacy Tutorial Programs in Elementary Schools: A Reference Guide for Program Coordinators and Tutors. Columbus: The Ohio State University Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, 2003. FIELD OF STUDY Major Field: English Specializations: Rhetoric and Composition Studies, Literacy Studies, Vietnamese American Studies viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .………………………………………………………………………………. ii Dedication …………………………………………………………………………….. iii Acknowledgments ……………………………………………………………………. iv Vita ……………………………………………………………………………………. vii List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………. xi List of Transcription Conventions ……………………………………………………. xii Introduction. Toward a Rhetoric of Solidarity ………………………………………… 1 Beginnings of a Solidarity Rhetoric …………………………………………... 5 Solidarity in U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minority Communities ……………………... 13 The Vietnamese American Coalition (VAC): Coming Together and Creating a Movement ……………………………………………. 21 In Search of the Available Means …………………………………………….. 37 Chapter 1. Invitations to a Community ……………………………………………….. 45 “A Proposal for an Invitational Rhetoric” …………………………………….. 48 Invitations to the VAC Community …………………………………………... 54 Issues of Entitlement: The Right to Invite ……………………………………. 64 Challenges to Invitations ……………………………………………………… 77 Achieving Community through “Letters of Encouragement” ………………… 85 Beyond the VAC Community ………………………………………………… 92 Chapter 2. Identifications beyond the VAC Community ……………………………... 96 Identification: From Division to Solidarity …………………………………… 97 Autonomy and Sociality ………………………………………………………. 102 Authority: Playing Whose Game? …………………………………………….. 109 ix Responsibility to Identify ……………………………………………………… 118 Social and Memorial “Bodies of Identification” ……………………………… 135 Chapter 3. Rhetorical Memory as Cultural Memory ………………………………….. 138 Memory in the Rhetorical Tradition ………………………………………….. 140 Vietnamese Americans and the Imperative for Cultural Memory …………… 155 Memory’s Form in VAC ………………..………………………………….…. 162 Reviving and Revising Memory: An Analysis of the 2000 McCain Protest …. 165 Cultural Memories Re-Performed …………………………………………….. 183 Chapter 4. Re-Visionary Public Texts ………………………………………………… 186 Performativity: From How to Do Things with Words to Subversive Acts ……. 189 “and we are so much more”: A Vietnamese American Curriculum ………….. 192 Re-Presentations of Vietnamese American Women in a Culture Night Performance …………………………………………………………… 207 “You make whatever America is”: Performance Art and Textual Art ……….. 220 Performing Solidarity …………………………………………………………. 231 Conclusion. A Movement for A Solidarity Rhetoric …………………………………. 234 Implications for Rhetorical Theory and Research: Asian American Rhetorics ………………………………………………………………. 236 Implications for Rhetorical Practice and Pedagogy: Composing Dialogue and Cultural
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