The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen

In this special July 4th episode, I sit in conversation with Chris Tran from Little Saigon Official to discuss a topic close to our hearts: the importance of solidarity between the Vietnamese American community and other immigrant groups in the U.S. today. In light of the ongoing ICE raids around us, we explore why the Vietnamese American diaspora must stand in support of immigrants, even as the struggles of today’s newcomers echo ...

Tuyet Van Huynh specializes in Film, Immersive Film, Theatre and Multi Disciplinary work. She is an advocate in amplifying and championing underrepresented voices in the arts and as a British Vietnamese-Chinese Creative, she is always looking at different ways in how to raise the profile of East & Southeast Asian arts and artists within the UK cultural industry and increase this voice and representation within the UK’s cultural...

Historian and professor Sean Fear joins Kenneth to discuss the complexities of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and how it shaped the war’s outcome. Together, they revisit moments and ask a provocative question: What if South Vietnam had been better funded, structured, and supported? Could history have unfolded differently? This conversation offers a nuanced take on counterfactual history, American foreign policy, and the ...

Welcome to the first episode of our sub-series, Ancient Vietnam, where we explore the depths of Vietnam's early history through language, culture, and forgotten stories. In this inaugural conversation, co-host John Phan—linguistic historian at Columbia University and author of Lost Tongues of the Red River—guides us through the intricate relationship between ancient Vietnam's spoken languages, literary traditions, and writi...

In this episode of Viet History Makers, co-hosts Kenneth Nguyen and Kevin Pham explore the history of The Tale of Kieu (Truyện Kiều), the seminal poetic masterpiece by Nguyễn Du, expanding the historical context surrounding its creation and the impact it had on Vietnamese culture and identity.

Written in the early 19th century during a period of intense turmoil and dynastic upheaval, Nguyễn Du crafted this epic poem as both a subtle...

We sit down with Dr. Andrew Wells-Dang, a senior expert at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), for a conversation about Vietnam, geopolitics, and lessons from war. We start by exploring how Dr. Wells-Dang found his way to working in Vietnam, and the unexpected connection between his last name and Vietnamese culture.

This episode discussed the critical work of USIP and reflect on the impact of its recent d...

John D. Phan is an Associate Professor of Vietnamese Humanities at Columbia University, based in the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. He focuses on the linguistic history of Vietnam and its cultural context.

.His first book, The Lost Tongues of the Red River: Annamese Middle Chinese & the Origins of the Vietnamese Language, published in April 2025 by Harvard University P...

In this episode of Viet History Makers, co-hosts Kevin Pham and Kenneth Nguyen look into the life of Nguyễn Khắc Viện — a revolutionary intellectual, physician and cultural critic who helped shape modern Vietnamese identity.

Born in 1913 in Ha Tinh, Nguyễn Khắc Viện studied medicine in France, where he became deeply involved in anti-colonial activism and the international communist movement. He spent years in exile, publishing proli...

In this roundtable discussion Kenneth Nguyen, we bring together four artists in Vietnamese literature, art, and academia to reflect on creativity, memory, and healing, 50 years after the end of the Vietnam War.

Christina Vo is the author of My Vietnam, Your Vietnam, a memoir that weaves together the stories of two generations navigating identity and belonging. With a background in international development and storytelling, Christin...

Mia Nguyen is a Vietnamese community builder and the founder of Viet Boss Babes - a Vietlish podcast and media platform sharing Vietnamese culture, identity and ambition with the world. Born and raised in Hanoi and currently living in Toronto, Mia’s work bridges the diaspora experience with global conversations.

By day, she leads marketing strategies in the tech industry. By night, she’s building a platform that redefines what it me...

In this episode of The Vietnamese podcast, host Anderson Le sits down with Tony Bui, a pioneer in the Vietnamese American independent cinema space. Tony is a Sundance award-winning writer, director, and producer. He is currently Artist-in-Residence at Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute and teaches in Columbia’s School of the Arts graduate film program. 

His films include Yellow Lotus, Three Seasons, Green Dragon,...

Can The Japanese Internment Camps Happen Again?

In this episode, we sit with Kevin Nguyen, author of the new novel Mỹ Documents, a chilling and satirical reimagining of American history. Kevin is the features editor at The Verge, formerly a senior editor at GQ, and the author of New Waves.

We talk about his latest book, which imagines a near-future America where Vietnamese Americans are rounded up and detained in internment camps...

On the 50th anniversary of April 30, 1975 — the official end of the Vietnam War — I sat in silence at home and thought about what a few of us have been thinking for a long time: it’s time to think about the next 50 years of what the Vietnamese all over the world can do together.

Not to forget, not to erase, but to release. We’ve all carried the weight of this war for five decades — across time, oceans, generation...

In this episode of Viet History Makers, host Kenneth Nguyen and co-host Kevin Pham explore the life and legacy of Đào Duy Anh (1904–1988), a pioneering figure in Vietnam's intellectual history. As a historian, lexicographer, and cultural scholar, Đào Duy Anh laid the groundwork for modern Vietnamese social sciences. His seminal works, including the Hán-Việt Từ Điển and Việt Nam Văn Hóa Sử Cương, have become cornerstones in the ...

Andrew Lam is a Vietnamese American author and journalist known for his insightful and humorous explorations of the Vietnamese diaspora and immigrant identity. Born Lâm Quang Dũng in 1964 in South Vietnam, he is the son of General Lâm Quang Thi of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. At the age of 11, during the fall of Saigon in April 1975, Lam and his family fled Vietnam, eventually settling in California.

His ...

In this episode of The Vietnamese, we sit down with veteran director/producer Timothy Linh Bui to explore his journey in the film business from Hollywood to Vietnam. Starting from his formative years at Columbia College in Los Angeles, Timothy shares insights into his early works, including Three Seasons and Green Dragon, and his collaborations with actors like Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker. Timothy has gone on to work with ac...

In this episode of The Vietnamese Podcast, we’re joined by Đoan Hoàng Curtis, a director and producer, to discuss her journey in the world of documentary filmmaking. Doan shares her behind-the-scenes experience working on the new Netflix series Turning Point: The Vietnam War, where she played a pivotal role in shedding light on the complexities of the Vietnam War.

Doan also talks about her own documentary Oh Saigon, a deeply persona...

Join host Kenneth Nguyen and series co-host Kevin Pham, author of The Architects of Dignity: Vietnamese Visions of Decolonization (Oxford University Press, 2024), in this sub-series of the podcast, where they explore the key figures and pivotal moments in Vietnamese history.

In this episode of Viet History Makers, Kenneth and Kevin dive into one of the most somber chapters of the Vietnam War: the final days of...

In this episode of The Vietnamese podcast, host Anderson Le sits down with Duong Dieu Linh, a distinctive voice in Vietnam’s new wave of independent cinema. Known for her quirky, layered storytelling and bold visual style, Duong shares her perspective on filmmaking in Vietnam and the unique path she’s carved out as a director.

The conversation opens with Linh’s artistic beginnings, tracing how her studies abroad and early creati...