Jay Nguyen
The Archive Host
Essayist, observer, and inheritor of two world.
Jay writes from the boundary between worlds – Vietnam and the diaspora, tradition and rupture, reflection and resistance. His work excavates memory, challenges modernity, and connects Vietnamese thought to the global pulse.
He believes in essays as transmissions, writing as inheritance, and identity as strategy.
I write from the friction between exile and emergence.
Recent Essays & Refractions
ASEAN Between The Giants: The Future of Strategic Ambiguity
As U.S. global influence wanes and China asserts its regional vision, Southeast Asia must confront the limits of its long-standing strategy of ambiguity.
Refractions Series: The Country That Lives Between My Rib
What it means to be Vietnamese when you’re not quite here nor there.
Even though I was born here, Vietnam still lives in me like an echo!
Vietnam Between Giants: Welcoming Xi Jinping Amid U.S.-China Rivalry
Bamboo bends. it does not break. Vietnam’s foreign policy, in one sentence. Is Vietnam playing both sides, or is it simply playing smart?
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Tranformation is philosophical. Repetitions make it real.