Transnational Familial Business and Inter-generational Conflicts within Vietnamese Diaspora in the Urban Spaces of the Czechia

Background and objective: In the contemporary globalized world, with migration and mobility occurring at an unprecedented scale, it is crucial to understand the lives of various diasporas and their integration challenges within host societies, particularly those diasporas that are culturally very different from the host society. This article analyzes the socio-economic and cultural sources of intergenerational conflicts within Vietnamese diasporic families living in the Czech Republic.Methods: The research adopted an ethnographic approach, the analytical data based on three years of participant observations and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 43 first-generation and 35 individuals from 1.5 and second-generation Vietnamese Czechs in Brno, Prague, and Olomouc.Results: Through the lens of acculturation, the article demonstrates that first-generation Vietnamese migrants come to the Czech Republic as part of a broader family network to improve their family/kin's financial situation and secure a better future for their children. In the host country, they establish transnational family business networks, which provide socio-economic security and upward mobility for the entire family/kin. However, the uncertainties embedded in the migrant’s temporary status, and their social networks are founded on traditional Vietnamese family values, morality, and ethics, which shared not common by the second generation.Conclusion: The social positions, the transnational family networks, and the differing cultural values between the two generations generate intergenerational conflicts, particularly concerning the second generation's life strategies, such as forming romantic or marital partnerships with members of the host society.