Que Hang Pham interviewed by Jasmine Frank, 2021 March 15

Records an interview with Que Hang Pham, whose family resettled in the United States following the fall of Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) to the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong in April 1975. Hang Pham, who was eight years old, recounts the dangerous evacuation journey by sea from Vietnam to Hong Kong, time spent in refugee camps in Hong Kong and Arkansas, and eventual resettlement in Richmond, Virginia. Topics discussed include second language acquisition, elementary education, parents’ graduate education and teaching careers, scholarships awarded at Virginia Commonwealth University, the value of education, upbringing, cultural adaptation, and traditional Vietnamese foodways and lifeways. Describes travels, fluency in Vietnamese, English, and Spanish, a degree in Business Information Systems, and work for IBM and the Department of Transportation. Includes references to the impact of cultural heritage on identity and self-formation.