Basing on multi-sited anthropological fieldwork, the author provides the picture of the Vietnamese in Poland - a community which emerged in result of socialist fraternity assistance programs and developed after the fall of the Soviet Bloc.
The world order that emerged after the Second World War resulted in the formation of rather unexpected connections between Poland and Vietnam, two middle-sized countries located on opposite sides of the globe. The mobility induced by "socialist fraternity" student exchange programs resulted in the emergence of the largest non-European migrant community in Poland already after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc. Basing on multi-sited anthropological fieldwork conducted in Poland, Vietnam, and the Internet, the author provides nuanced picture of Vietnamese migrant community, focusing on evolution of resources transferred by the migrants during particular periods of history. The main question posed in the book is the durability of Cold War era patterns of human mobility in the current era of "global capitalism".
World order after World War II - Cold War Era - Connections between Poland and Vietnam - "Socialist fraternity" - Student exchange programs - Non-European migrant community in Poland - Collapse of the Soviet Bloc - Vietnamese migrant community - Patterns of human mobility - Era of "global capitalism"
Grazyna Szymanska-Matusiewicz is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Sociology of University of Warsaw. Her academic interests concentrate on the Vietnamese community in Poland and global Vietnamese diaspora. The results of her research have been published in acknowledged international journals and numerous Polish venues.
