2024-07-18 04:38:00
It takes almost half a day to fly to Vietnam from the Czech Republic, but thanks to the large Vietnamese minority, it is no stranger to us. The Vietnam near and far exhibition at the Náprstek Museum focuses on the history of this country, but also gives a voice to the Vietnamese living in the Czech Republic. “It was a chance to make a modern exhibition with the contribution of the given community. It is no longer about them without them,” says one of the authors Ondřej Crhák. The show will last until the end of next year.
Colorful paper lanterns, pastel display cases and in them historical artifacts from the territory of today’s Vietnam. All this provided with trilingual inscriptions – Czech, English and Vietnamese – in a yellow font, such as can be seen even in the Vietnamese market of Sapa. On the ground floor of the Náprstka Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures in Prague, an almost authentic “Vietnamese street” is newly opened, which briefly introduces visitors to the history of the country in Southeast Asia.
Architect Tomáš Sloboda took care of its visual appearance. It was based on what the streets of the cities there look like and how the country presents itself at the World Expo. The organizers also consulted with organizations such as VietUp, which brings together young Vietnamese people, who acknowledged the result by saying that “it looks like a Hanoi street”.
In contrast, the second part of the exhibition is austere. It consists of light boxes with screens from which Vietnamese men and women talk about their experiences, identity, relationships or perhaps bullying in childhood. The thrifty look has a prosaic reason. “Originally, we wanted to include some symbols that would represent the given topics, or inscriptions. However, the community told us that the older generation would not even listen to some conversations dealing with a topic that is taboo for them,” explains historian Ondřej Crhák. .
A number of younger Vietnamese, whom the creators consulted during the preparations, were looking forward to visiting the exhibition with their older relatives. They didn’t exactly confide in easy topics. In filmed interviews, young Vietnamese men and women think, for example, about intergenerational clashes with their parents or what it is like for them to be queer.
Tolerated, not respected
The show also touches on negative stereotypes and the position of the “tolerated, not respected minority”. The so-called booth of stereotypes is dedicated to this. As soon as the viewer enters, the statements of Vietnamese men and women are projected in it, while the sign “open” familiar from convenience stores flashes on the opposite wall. Some well-known faces in the Czech Republic speak here, such as the cook Ta Thuy Dung alias Chili or the blogger Do Thu Trang, who share their experiences with comments about eating dogs or slanted eyes.
Historically, stereotypes towards Asians have their roots in colonial times, explains Crhák. “In the 19th century, they were reinforced by travelers and politicians. In the 20th century, pop culture added to that and how Asians were portrayed, for example, in films. Some parts were dehumanized or they were talked about as if they didn’t even have their own culture,” he says . Therefore, even today, Asians can experience people treating them with condescending condescension, a bit like they are children.
But the authors also focused on areas in which Vietnamese men and women living in the Czech Republic break stereotypes. This is primarily an area of work and positions that especially the young generation already born here manage to occupy. The visitor can listen to the statement of a professional soldier, the director of the office of the President of the Senate or a tour guide.
Czechs and Vietnamese? A short but intense relationship
Vietnam near and far also briefly captures the history of this country. According to Crhák, its knowledge in the Czech Republic is limited to the war that took place in the second half of the 20th century and, possibly, the conflict in Indochina. In addition, information panels describe the origin of Vietnamese traditions or the concept of family life, which can contribute to a better understanding of the minority. “Intergenerational conflicts, which young Vietnamese deal with a lot today, result from the fact that the family is built on an old tradition based on Confucianism, which came there from China,” he explains.
The stereotype about “hardworking Vietnamese” was born right here. “It is based on the values of self-denial in favor of work and family,” the historian mentions. Czechs use this as an argument when they distinguish themselves against other minorities who, from their point of view, are just hanging around. “This is also due to the fact that they usually don’t see Vietnamese people anywhere other than at work. But when the topic of Vietnamese crime appears in the media, the reactions are very negative,” he points out.
The exhibition in the Náprstek museum also briefly captures the history of Vietnam. | Photo: National Museum
Crhák describes the relationship between Czechs and Vietnamese as very short, but intense. It began to take shape after the Second World War, and already in 1954, Czechoslovakia accepted orphans, the so-called Chrastava children, who found refuge precisely in the children’s home in this North Bohemian city. This was followed by scholarship programs for talented Vietnamese students, who were allowed to enter universities in friendly countries, and programs for workers who were supposed to improve their work in the Czech Republic and then return to Vietnam.
The two groups lived quite separately as Vietnam adopted the strict Chinese model of foreign travel. Both students and workers were guarded by the Vietnamese embassy. “In addition to the foreman in the factory, they also had Vietnamese supervision over them. The government did not want them to establish relations with the Czechs, because then they would not return home,” says the historian.
Some university students nevertheless managed to break through the barrier, and in 1989 they were already translating the Czech press for their Vietnamese compatriots or publishing their own samizdat. Often, because of this, they could not return to their homeland. One of them also speaks at the exhibition, where he recalls that his own father considered him a traitor because of his samizdat activities.
After the Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovakia terminated contracts regarding study and work stays. Vietnamese men and women with promising scientific careers therefore often remained invisible. “Furthermore, the 1990s buried science from a financial point of view. They either went back to Vietnam or started making money,” describes one of the creators of the exhibition, how the stereotype of Vietnamese was born in the market and later in the convenience store. “In addition, finding a job as a Vietnamese in the 90s was probably not easy, which no one reflected at the time,” he adds.
Other than the western view
Vietnam near and far is the first initiative of the Thimble Museum in which the community it concerns participated directly. It is one of the ways to include a decolonial perspective, or a “non-Western” view of the past and present, in museum work, which gives a voice to people from countries that were colonies in the past and are still perceived as “second-rate” today. In addition to Vietnam itself, the historian is also professionally interested in postcolonial thinking, which, from his point of view, is still almost not developed in the Czech Republic.
“But it moved on the art scene, it was a big topic at the Biennale in Venice,” recalls the project of artist Eva Koťátková, who worked on the story of the first Czechoslovakian giraffe captured in Kenya. The animal died after two years in Czech captivity due to inadequate conditions. However, according to Ondřej Crhák, individuals still bring such a voice to the public space.
Video: I felt sick. Ramba told why she almost rejected The Alcoholic Notebook (3/7/2024)
Actress Tereza Ramba has just played the dramatic lead role in the movie The Drunken Wrestler, which is being shown in cinemas. She talked about him on Spotlight. | Video: Team Spotlight