The main theme of the research consists in finding how multicultural identities of diasporic return migrants are actualized and expressed. Acknowledging the discursive nature of heritage, we can...Show moreThe main theme of the research consists in finding how multicultural identities of diasporic return migrants are actualized and expressed. Acknowledging the discursive nature of heritage, we can understand story-telling as a means to define one’s cultural identity. However, as language is tied to culture, we might consider a more universal form of expression that transcends cultural categorization to cease the multi-faceted and fluid identity of returnees. The following research attempts to establish art and visual representation as individual conscious or unconscious means of expression of cultural identity. This was illustrated on the hand of a case-study focused on a specific group of diasporic return migrants in Vietnam: the French Vietnamese returnee artists of Saigon . It was based on the analysis of the works of four French Vietnamese artists, locally defined as French “Viet Kieu” (“Overseas Vietnamese” in English): Sandrine Llouquet, Bao Vuong, Mai-Loan Tu and Florian Nguyen. In the first instance, the research process drew a contextual framework of Vietnamese society in parallel with the development of the Saigonese contemporary art scene to understand the experiences of the artists reported in their biographies in order to underline their relationship to Vietnamese heritage. In the second instance, ethnographic methods combined with their interpretive biographies informed an iconological study of their artistic production that identified potential expressions of their Vietnamese heritage in their work. Finally, the two approaches were combined in a synthetic exercise that helped drawing conclusions on the transmission of Vietnamese heritage and the general definition of the artists’ cultural heritage and identity.Show less
