Dr. Y Thien Nguyen

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds as a Teaching Fellow in South-East Asian History in Fall 2022. I completed my PhD in at Northwestern University, specializing in historical sociology and Vietnamese and Vietnamese refugee history.

Previously, I was a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the US-Vietnam Research Center, an affiliate of the Global Studies Institute at the University of Oregon. I have also served as the Resource Development Officer for the Vietnamese American non-profit Boat People S.O.S., Inc. 

I was born in Đà Nẳng, Việt Nam and, as a child,  emigrated with my family to the United States as refugees through the Humanitarian Operation Program. My family resettled in southern California and I was raised in the Little Saigon District of Orange County.

Research interests

My research focuses on the history of the Republic of Vietnam (1955-1975) and Vietnamese refugee communities, the discursive evolution of Vietnamese anticommunism, and the ideological, political, and institutional connectivity between the Republican Vietnam and Vietnamese America. Trained as a historical sociologist, I focus on historical instutionalism, legacies, and the “consolidation” of ideas, norms, and beliefs during the Cold War in South East Asia. 

I draw upon an array of methodologies for my research, including Vietnamese-language archival documents, periodicals, and cultural productions, as well as ethnography, interviews and oral histories. 

Qualifications

• Ph.D., Sociology, Northwestern University (2021)
• BA, Sociology, University of California, Irvine (2014)

Professional memberships

• Association of Asian American Studies
• American Sociological Association
• Social Science History Association
• Association of Asian Studies

Student education

I presently teach HIST 3888: The Global Vietnam War and HIST 1817: Skills and Concepts in International History. I am also a member of the teaching team for HIST 5055: Practicing Modern History and HIST 5825M: Histories of Migration from Early Modern to Modern. I am happy to supervise Final Year dissertations on Vietnamese and South East Asian history, as well as the Cold War and Refugee studies.