From politics lecturer to political candidate - a podcast by ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences

Dr Kim Huynh has always felt like he wanted to do something a bit different.

“Not necessarily better, but in many ways I'm an applied social scientist,” he says. “Everything I teach I want to apply: I want to apply ideas about leadership, I want to apply ideas about creativity, I want to apply ideas about what it means to belong in a society.”

This urge has seen him try his hand at a lot of different things. One of the biggest was running as an independent candidate in the 2016 ACT election.

“I knew enough about how the electoral system in Canberra works and the challenges of starting from scratch too, that I wasn't going to win. But at least I could've said I tried.”

In this episode, Kim talks about how fleeing Vietnam with his family during the Vietnam War shaped his identity. He discusses his 23 years at ANU and how he is inspired by his students' courage – which was part of what motivated him to run for politics.

Kim Huynh came to Canberra as a Vietnamese refugee when he was two and has lived here ever since. He has had a go at a few things. He worked in a bakery for much of his youth and now teaches refugee politics and political philosophy in the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. He ran as an independent candidate in the 2016 ACT election (GoKimbo.com.au). Kim’s currently having a go at being a roving reporter for ABC Radio Canberra.

He’s written fiction (Vietnam as if... Tales of youth, love and destiny) and creative non-fiction (Where the Sea Takes Us: A Vietnamese-Australian Story). Kim’s academic efforts include co-authoring Children and Global Conflict and co-editing The Culture Wars: Australian and American Politics in the 21st Century. He’s also written for Australian newspapers and the BBC Vietnamese and is writing a book on Australia’s Refugee Politics.

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The theme music for This Academic’s Life is “Snow Blower” by Flower Crown.

Other music used in this episode: “Blue blanket” by Podington Bear and “Rodney Skopes” by Blue Dot Sessions.

This Academic’s Life is a production of the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences. It’s produced by Evana Ho. The production assistant for this episode was Brandon Tan.

You can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @ANUCASS.

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