research question
How do Vietnamese students get together, cultivate mutual care and support during the COVID-19 pandemic while in London?
research objective
Explore praxis of care and togetherness, both analog and digital, of one Vietnamese community during the pandemic in London;
Examine how the digital platforms and affordances, i.e., of Messenger and Facebook, enable the conceptualization of 'Vietnamese digital neighborhood' in London.
background
In 2020, international students coming to London experienced an unprecedented phenomenon - a 20/21 school year via digital platforms for the most part due to the widespread COVID-19 pandemic.
As a 20/21 postgraduate student at UCL, I have a fair share of stories related to coping with geographical changes, nostalgia, disappointment, or mental health deterioration. However, COVID-19 also enables new ways of being together that I find fascinated.
Since October 2020, I was fortunate to know six Vietnamese postgraduate students with pseudonyms of Tien, Van, Nga, Huyen, An, Nguyet from different universities in London. The students' conversations via a common Messenger group chat intrigued me to explore a potential conceptual formation of a 'Vietnamese digital neighborhood' in London.
My four-month-digital ethnography with this group, from February to May 2021, reveals forms of being together that can be arguably conceptualized as tuong than tuong ai (mutual care - my translation) or tinh thuong men thuong (care and love - my translation) - the two proverbs connoted care/ support and often associated with the Vietnamese translation of the term 'neighborhood' or hang xom lang gieng.
methodology
I resorted to in-depth interviews, online participant observation, sensory ethnography, and digital archives to illustrate a partial imaginary of a 'Vietnamese digital neighborhood' in London. My main digital field site is the Messenger group chat.
In particular, after determining to proceed with the topic, I phoned each person in the group and invited them to become research participants. Then, I explained the research objective and asked for consent. I kept digital archives such as screenshots of text messages and personal posts on Facebook for four months. The group has several meet-ups, and I asked to partake digitally via either Zoom or Microsoft Teams. I took part in three online participant observations, and each lasts around three to four hours. Sometimes, when there were intriguing activities, the group members generously took pictures/ videos for me or adjusted the webcam so that I could gain sensory experiences.
Afterward, I conducted six individual in-depth interviews, and each ranges from approximately an hour to two. On a regular basis, I was a familiar Facebook account chatting with the group about literally everything, including but not limited to food, London's locations to hang out, schoolwork, Vietnamese and UK events, COVID-19, or personal interests.
I came to the group as my usual self, staying as honest and engaged as possible. While most of the interactions were smooth and productive, I still encountered some resistance. For instance, Nga shared that often she was thinking whether me being friendly and talkative was due to "the objective of the research [to get more information]" or my authentic personality. For that, I attempted to connect by sharing my passion for anthropological studies and the intention of treating other people in a truthful manner regardless of the circumstances.
digital anthropology as an approach
The approach of digital anthropology plays an indispensable role in fostering understanding of a 'Vietnamese digital neighborhood' in London.
Miller (2018) defines 'digital anthropology' as "(1) the consequences of the rise of digital technologies for particular populations, (2) the use of these technologies within the anthropological methodology, or (3) the study of specific digital technologies." The 'Vietnamese digital neighborhood in London' project encapsulates all those three categories.
First of all, for (1), the utility of Facebook and Messenger makes the formation of a 'Vietnamese digital neighborhood' in London possible. In coping with the UK COVID-19 lockdown regulations, the Vietnamese interlocutors have been optimizing the two digital platforms to enhance interaction and togetherness. Participants live in different areas of London (see figure 1) yet digitally gather in a Messenger group chat and share public exchanges by mutually reacting and commenting to Facebook status.
Thus, the rise of Messenger and Facebook engenders a material containment of the Vietnamese digital neighborhood, facilitating the praxis of togetherness through care, food, and idle talk among group members.
Secondly, for (2), the project utilizes digital technologies within anthropological methodologies for research, such as online interviews via Microsoft Teams, online participant observations and sensory ethnographies via Zoom and Microsoft Teams, digital screenshots from my personal smartphone and laptop with encrypted protection. The adoption of digital technologies mitigates the risks of COVID-19 and puts emphasis on understanding possibilities and forms of togetherness enacted through virtual spaces.
Finally, for (3), the project focuses on the study of specific digital technologies, i.e., digital platforms and affordances of Messenger and Facebook, to explore how such digital objects and systems enable the conceptualization of a 'Vietnamese digital neighborhood.' The group members have been residing in a Messenger group chat to be together with one another, using its diverse affordances such as the 'text bar' for conversations, 'add photos and videos' for visual sharing, 'stickers' and 'GIFs' to express emotions and graphic cues, to name a few.
Therefore, from the points mentioned above, digital anthropology significantly contributes to making sense of a 'Vietnamese digital neighborhood.'
limitations
One of the project's limitations is the inaccessibility of the rich, non-digitized Vietnamese literature of hang xom lang gieng; therefore, the negotiation of concepts lacks a historical depth and is solely ethnographically based. Nevertheless, such shortcoming can complement the nuances of the topic. I contend that 'Vietnamese digital neighborhood' is a concept-in-the-making. For the sake of conceptual exploration, the term unnecessarily requires grounded theoretical frameworks to define. I explain further the process of conceptualization in the next section.
read my reflexivity here.
key words
digital neighborhood; Viet Nam; hang xom lang gieng; care; togetherness
bibliographies
Miller, Daniel. 2018. "Digital Anthropology". Cambridge Encyclopedia Of Anthropology. http://doi.org/10.29164/18digital.