The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen

In this episode of Viet History Makers, we sit with Professor Kevin Pham to explore the remarkable life and legacy of Trần Đức Thảo, who we can describe as Vietnam’s earliest intellectual export. A philosopher trained in France, Thảo studied alongside some of the 20th century’s most influential European thinkers, including Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Yet his journey was not one of...

We sit down with siblings Han and Holden Nguyen , finalists from The Amazing Race Season 37. They open up about their journey to the show, including the audition process that first brought them into the spotlight. We dive into their unique sibling dynamic—how competing side by side strengthened their relationship, but also tested it under the pressures of racing around the world. Han and Holden al...

Kenneth Nguyen sits down with Hanh Nguyen , Executive Editor of Salon.com , to talk about Vietnam’s cultural rivalry with Korea, the power of K-pop and Korean dramas, and what defines meaningful culture. They also get into F1 the Movie , Brad Pitt as the ultimate leading man, and why Vietnam still lacks a star of that stature. -----------------------------------------------------------------------...

In this episode of The Origins of Vietnam , Kenneth sits down with Professor John Phan of Columbia University to explore the complex story of how the Vietnamese language took shape. While Vietnamese did not emerge genealogically from Chinese, its history is deeply entangled with centuries of Chinese influence. So where did it truly come from? Together, we trace the twists, turns, and unexpected de...

In this episode, Kenneth Nguyen sits down with Chris Tran from Little Saigon Official to unpack a challenging but necessary topic: toxic masculinity in the Vietnamese community and culture. Together, they explore how toxic masculinity shows up, how it shows up in our family lives, and the ways it impacts not only men but also families and the broader community. This is a conversation meant to spar...

Kaila Yu is an author based in Los Angeles. Her debut memoir, ‘Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty,’ will be published on August 19th, 2025, with Penguin Random House’s Crown Publishing. She is also a luxury travel, food, and culture writer and on-camera correspondent based in Los Angeles, who has written for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Con...

In this second episode of Ancient Vietnam, we return to the world of early Vietnamese history—this time loosely based on an AMA (Ask Me Anything) version shaped by the voices and comments of our audience. Building on the foundational themes of the first episode of the series Ancient Vietnam, co-host John Phan joins us to dive deeper into the linguistic and cultural mysteries that sparked so much j...

In this episode of Viet History Makers, Kenneth Nguyen and co-host Kevin Pham discuss the powerful and enduring legacy of the Hai Bà Trưng sisters—Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị—two warrior queens who led a monumental uprising against Chinese Han rule in 40 CE. Revered as national heroines, their story has long stood at the crossroads of legend, resistance, and identity. Together, we unpack the complex...

Twenty years ago, one of my best friends, Khoa Trong Nguyen moved to Vietnam to start a new life in Vietnam and a career in the new Vietnamese film industry. Today, Khoa and many Vietnamese Americans are living out their dreams in modern Vietnam. While box office success has eluded him, Khoa has forged a new path in academia as head of the Digital Film and Video Program at RMIT in Ho Chi Minh City...

In this episode of Viet History Makers , we sit down with Kevin Pham to explore the life and legacy of Phan Khôi (1887–1959)—a towering yet often underrecognized figure in modern Vietnamese intellectual history. Known as a journalist, poet, and dissident thinker, Phan Khôi stood at the intersection of literary innovation and political resistance during one of Vietnam's most turbulent eras. Tog...

In this episode, we return with Dr. Nam C. Kim, an anthropologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to reflect on the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Vietnamese refugees to Guam in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Dr. Kim shares details about a new project launching in 2025, supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, that explores the legacies of Operation New Life —the massiv...

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 s...

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 repr...

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, Amer...

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 lang...

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 cra...

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 impac...

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 i...

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 sp...

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...

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...

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  Yello...

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...

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, oc...

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 Cươn...