ABSTRACT
In Vietnam, there is a well-known phrase among Vietnamese called ‘nguoi tay.’ Literally translated, it means ‘person West,’ or ‘Western person,’ and has numerous meanings and contexts. Its historical origins, according to one respondent I interviewed, are from French colonial times. It was used by Vietnamese to describe the French colonizer and is sometimes used today in slightly demeaning terms to describe all Western people. In the current era, Vietnam has witnessed a radical shift in its economic landscape with the advent of doi moi (‘new change’ or ‘renovation’), a policy established by the Vietnamese government in 1986 that has opened the country to foreign investment, allowed more privatization opportunities to entrepreneurs, and made promises to deregulate the monopolies of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in all economic sectors.1 These shifts in the Vietnamese economy have broadened definitions of the term ‘nguoi tay’ to reflect the economic and social habits of foreign investors, new residents, and overseas tourists. In Vietnam’s cities, especially in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), other meanings can be explained as follows: ‘nguoi tay’ can be used when Vietnamese discuss marriage between a Westerner and a Vietnamese (as in ‘lay nguoi tay roi,’ literally ‘he/she takes a Western spouse’), it is used in jokes to capture some of the strange behaviors and tendencies non-Vietnamese display, and it is used to call attention to a potential customer in a store or on the streets of Vietnam’s cities.2 As these examples attest, there is a direct correlation between these discursive understandings of ‘Western people’ and consumption patterns in Vietnam. Indeed, if one takes the historical trajectory of ‘nguoi tay’ from the period of French colonization in the 1800s, the term’s consumptive tendencies carry much historical baggage and thus may incorporate the consumption of people, livelihoods, and identities as much as material or symbolic goods. In research conducted on how actors in the HCMC tourism industry give explanatory voice to ‘nguoi tay,’ I have learned that these ‘outsiders’ are coveted for their spending power, compliance and generosity in giving to the disabled and poor, intrigue of Vietnamese socio-economic character, and generally easy-going dispositions. The quintessential tourist consumer is the ‘nguoi tay,’ for he/she
symbolizes wealth, status, openness, ‘outsideness,’ and a certain gullibility that is laden within these identities.
