ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Vietnamese phrase “nhà nha” comes at the end of a conversation, a long day, a migration or a journey. It is spoken between parents and children, lovers, relatives, neighbors, and friends. It is both a question and a statement, a wish and a hope. It shines a light on the places we call home and asks us to go there, together.
What is Nhà Nha?
Founded in 2023, Nhà Nha is a community album dedicated to bringing together Vietnam and its diaspora. We look for photos and stories from the Vietnamese community, broadly defined, that encourage the thoughtful exploration of “home” as a space of origin, belonging, (dis)connection, placemaking, homesickness, and growth.
Our Mission
Run entirely by a team of volunteers, Nhà Nha strives to lift up new and diverse perspectives that deepen our individual and collective sense of home. Our mission is threefold: (1) to serve as an accessible gathering zone for anyone who considers themselves part of the Vietnamese community, wherever they are in the world, (2) to inspire conversations that agitate and renew, (3) and above all, to be a place where community members can share the parts of Vietnam that matter to them most.
Why an Album?
An album is memory, history, archive, an account and record of what and who matters. It connects people across different places and moments in time, bringing together into a single space the faces of the living, family members, ancestors, strangers, friends in sometimes surprising or unexpected ways, or in more illuminating terms.
We see the album not simply as an object, but as an opportunity for solidarity and community. We turn to the Vietnamese community, and ask how the intimacy and immediacy of images might be used to build new ways of relating to each other. This community album is a way to reimagine what “being Vietnamese” looks like by presenting the various categories of living and homemaking within and beyond Vietnam, and putting them close or approximate to each other.
OUR TEAM
Co-founder & Editor: Uyen Phuong Dang is a Vietnamese American writer from Saigon, Vietnam with work published in CRAFT, The Cincinnati Review, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. She graduated from Dartmouth with a BA in Cultural Anthropology and is an incoming doctoral candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology at Yale University (2024-). Currently living in Saigon, Uyen is working on a collection of short stories based on Vietnamese myths and memory.
Co-Founder & Production Director: José Barzola has a passion for creating social change through nonviolence, nurturing relationships that transcend cultural barriers, and focusing on issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity. He is a highly organized higher education administrator with experience and success in administration, student development within academic and student affairs. José has also been an affiliate faculty teaching courses on peace and conflict resolution, a professional mediator and facilitator both in New York and Hawai’i. He is currently the Conflict and Peace Specialist at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.
Translator: Andre Minh Triết Huỳnh, born and raised in Vietnam to an American mother and Vietnamese father, is a sophomore pursuing a BA in International Relations with a minor in French at Oral Roberts University. A highly motivated and results-oriented individual, he holds multiple leadership positions on campus including Vice-President of Asian Culture and International Relations student ambassador. He is particularly passionate about diplomacy and Southeast Asia geopolitics. Seasonally, he also represents his hometown, Đà Nẵng city, playing basketball in national tournaments across the country.
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Social Media Manager: Nhi Phan, born in Hanoi and currently based in Ho Chi Minh City, is a junior at Fulbright University Vietnam. She is actively pursuing a BA degree in Social Studies with minors in History and Art & Media Studies. Her interests center around urban anthropology and Vietnam’s contemporary art scene. At the intersection of these two fields, Nhi’s researches engage with themes of heritage, memory, and community engagement within urban spaces.
Cover illustration: Hannah Hoang
Former team: Kha Le (translator), Ton Nu Tuong Vy (project advisor)
Project supported by: The United States Institute of Peace and Fulbright University Vietnam