The Border Within: Vietnamese Migrants Transforming Ethnic Nationalism in Berlin

The Border Within explores the experiences of Vietnamese migrants in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall, highlighting how border crossings generate enduring migrant classifications and fracture shared ethnic, national, and religious identities.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2022
Publisher: Stanford University Press

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked a historic moment of unity and solidarity for Germany. It was also a time when Vietnamese border crossers, who had left their homeland after its reunification in 1975, found themselves caught up in the current. Many of these individuals were unwilling to live under the socialist regime and sought refuge in West Berlin. A second group of Vietnamese border crossers arrived in East Berlin as contract workers, driven by the desire to escape poverty and improve their economic prospects.

The Border Within, a compelling ethnography by Phi Hong Su, delves into the lives of these disparate Vietnamese migrants and their encounters in the post-socialist city of Berlin. Journalists, scholars, and Vietnamese border crossers themselves recognize these groups as one people, united by their shared ethnic nationhood. Su's rigorous research unpacks this intuition, revealing how these Cold War compatriots enact palpable social boundaries in their everyday lives.

Through her absorbing prose, Su explores how 20th-century state formation and international migration, particularly border crossings, generate enduring migrant classifications. She sheds light on how these classifications fracture shared ethnic, national, and religious identities in lasting ways, shaping the experiences and identities of these migrants in the process.

The Border Within is a valuable contribution to the study of migration, identity, and the complexities of post-socialist societies. It provides a nuanced understanding of the experiences of Vietnamese border crossers and their interactions with each other in the context of a changing world. Su's work sheds light on the enduring legacies of state formation, international migration, and border crossings, and their impact on the lives of individuals and communities.

Weight: 294g
Dimension: 139 x 216 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503630147