FOOD NEVER FORGETS: DIGITAL FOODPRINTS AND COLLECTIVE MEMORIES OF VIETNAMESE FACEBOOK GROUP

Abstract

To understand how the Vietnamese diasporic community navigates the tensions and conflicts with both home and host countries, in this article, I draw on a study designed to transcend geographical boundaries and follow the community’s digital footprints on Facebook. I describe how participants of the Vietnamese Food Group, as a segment of the Vietnamese diasporic community, have used their online foodways sharing to reclaim collective memories across borders and imprint their collective memories as legitimate historical accounts. I illustrate the potential sociocultural power of food and online foodway sharing to broaden geographic boundaries; overcome dialectal differences, discrimination, and political conflicts; and imagine and connect communities.