Belonging & Collective Action: Viet Thanh Nguyen + Thao Nguyen

Belonging & Collective Action: Viet Thanh Nguyen + Thao Nguyen

49:16 Dec 30, 2025
About this episode
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer) gives a talk about belonging at a live performance at the Litquake Festival. San Francisco State University’s Dr. Russell Jeung speaks about founding Stop AAPI Hate and Asian identity and belonging. He describes how the pandemic seems to have revived and strengthened longstanding hate towards Asian Americans, and explains his term for collective action against this, “flocking.” Thao Nguyen (of the Get Down Stay Down) plays a new song called “Keep It Moving.”Chapters:00:04:58Viet Thanh Nguyen speaks about belonging at a live event during in San Francisco.00:27:05Dr. Russell Jeung speaks about his research on belonging, collective action, and the founding of Stop AAPI Hate.00:40:20Thao Nguyen introduces her new song.SongWriterPodcast.comInstagram.com/SongWriterPodcastFacebook.com/SongWriterPodcastTikTok.com/@SongWriterPodcastYouTube.com/@SongwriterPodcastSongWriter is a music and songwriting podcast that turns stories into songs. Host Ben Arthur invites writers, poets, and musicians to share a story or poem, then pairs it with an original song written in response. Along the way, the show explores the creative process through intimate conversations and performances. Guests have included Questlove, Susan Orlean, David Gilmour, David Sedaris, George Saunders, and many more. Distributed by PRX, SongWriter also appears on the syndicated radio program Acoustic Café and in Paste Magazine. Learn more at SongWriterPodcast.com. Season seven is made possible by a grant from
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