Minutes of the VSG Meeting 2015
Minutes of the
Vietnam Studies Group Annual Meeting
Friday, March 27, 2015
Sheraton Hotel, Chicago, IL
VSG Chair Michele Thomson called the meeting to order at 7:34 pm.
1) The meeting began with self-introductions by the Chair and the other members of the
VSG Executive Committee (EXCOM) in attendance:
Michele Thomson (chair), Southern Connecticut State University
Christina Firpo (treasurer), Calpoly University
Ed Miller (Secretary), Dartmouth College
Judith Hency (ex-officio), University of Washington
Brad Davis, Eastern Connecticut State University
Erik Harms, Yale University
David Biggs, UC Riverside
2) All others present introduced themselves:
Chi Pham, UC Riverside
Chan Phan, Harvard University
Vinh Nguyen, Harvard University
Luan Duong Vu, Harvard-Yenching Institute
Tri Phuong, Yale University
Cindy Nguyen, UC Berkeley
Claire Edington, UMass Boston
Mark Bradley, University of Chicago
Jack Yeager, Louisiana State University
Christophe Robert, CET Academic Programs
Tuong Vu, University of Oregon
Ann Marie Leshkowich, Holy Cross University
Nu-Anh Tran, University of Connecticut
Ivan Small, Central Connecticut State University
Martina Nguyen, Baruch College-CUNY
Haydon Cherry, North Carolina State University
Charles Keith, Michigan State University
Sophie Quinn-Judge, Temple University
Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox, Western Connecticut State University
Veronica Onorevole, Fulbright
3) Chair Michele Thomson noted that the minutes of the 2014 meeting were previously
approved by email.
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4) The Chair delivered her report on SEAC meeting, which had taken place earlier in the
week. Some highlights of the meeting:
The AAS has instituted a prize for the best paper presented by a graduate student
at this year’s AAS. Self-nominations are encouraged. To nominate their papers
for consideration, graduate student authors were invited to send their papers by
the last day of the conference (Sunday March 29) to hismvat@nus.edu.sg.
SEAC has announced an initiative known as “Rising Voices” which aims to
promote participation in future AAS conferences by early-career scholars from
Southeast Asia (including junior faculty members at Southeast Asian Universities
and scholars who have recently received their PhDs from Southeast Asian
universities.) The VSG’s Erik Harms is organizing this initiative, which features
a panel on the subject of “Urban Exclusion in Southeast Asia” that will be held at
next year’s AAS conference in Seattle. AAS has provided $2500 to support this
panel. Erik hopes that the panel will feature scholars from multiple countries.
Interested scholars must apply by June 15. See the SEAC website
(http://www.asian-studies.org/councils/SEAC.htm) for details.
SEAC seeks Southeast Asian-related contributions to “Asia Beat,” a new AAS
publication which features timely articles on contemporary topics on Asia and
Asian Studies.
Judith Henchy announced that the A.L. Becker Translation prize (which is a
triennial prize) will be awarded next year in Seattle. The prize recognizes work
on books that have been translated into English from a Southeast Asian language.
5) VSG Treasurer’s report. Christina Firpo delivered the VSG Treasurer's report. The
group began the year with a balance of $4,443. Our expenses for the year totaled
$2,589.34; the bulk of this was spent on the Graduate Student Paper prize, and a total
of eight VSG travel awards, most of which went to participants in the 2014 AAS and
the VSG-Temple University pre-conference. The VSG’s income for the year totaled
$2,510; this included a $500 SEAC subvention for 2014, and a total of $2010
provided by dues and donations from 84 VSG members. The membership generously
donated a total of $316 for the travel award and grad student prize. The VSG’s
current balance (prior to collecting dues for 2015) is $4,363.68.
In the discussion of the Treasurer’s report, several participants noted that SEAC and
the AAS have advised VSG that they should not carry over large budgetary balances
from year to year. The VSG therefore needs to consider how to spend the money that
it collects in dues and donations every year (which is considerably higher than the
funds collected by most other SEAC-affiliate groups).
6) VSG listserv and website. Judith Henchy delivered a report on the VSG listserv and
website. The VSG website will be upgraded soon, which will make it easier to edit
and update. The listserv currently has over 1000 members.
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Ed Miller presented a proposed addition to the text of the VSG rules, in the form of a
new preamble. The purpose of this preamble is to affirm the VSG’s identity as an
academic list. The proposed language was as follows.
PREAMBLE: The core mission of the Vietnamese Studies Group listserv is
facilitating the exchange of academic knowledge about Vietnam and
Vietnamese history, society, culture, and politics. Although not all contributors
to the VSG list are professional scholars, all contributors are required to uphold
the values of professionalism and mutual respect befitting a scholarly
community. To this end, list contributors must observe the following rules:
David Biggs made a motion to add the proposed preamble, which was seconded. All
present voted in favor, except one participant, who voted against.
7) Report on the Journal of Vietnamese Studies. Since the JVS editors were not present
at the meeting, there was no formal report. However, there was some discussion of
whether or not the journal should publish fewer issues each year, given that the
pipeline of new articles has not been as full as the editors would like. In response,
Tuong Vu noted that the publisher (University of California Press) has stipulated that
the journal should produce four issues per year.
8) Michele Thompson led a discussion of several items related to next year’s AAS
meeting, which will take place in Seattle:
a) VSG sponsorship for panel proposals. As in past years, the VSG will select one
Vietnam-themed panel and recommend its inclusion in the conference program.
VSG sponsorship does not guarantee that the panel will be accepted, but no VSGsponsored
panel has ever been turned down by AAS conference organizing
committee. Michele noted that the committee will look especially favorably on
panels dealing with underrepresented areas of scholarship, such as anthropology,
premoder history, and archaeology. Because the AAS deadline for panel
applications will be in early August, the deadline for a panel proposal to be
considered for VSG sponsorship will be early July. Details will be provided via
the VSG listserv.
b) As in past years, the VSG will award a limited number of travel grants (usually
around $400/grant) to assist grad students and junior scholars who will be
presenting papers in Seattle. More details will be available via the VSG listerv
toward the end of 2015.
c) The group discussed the possibility of organizing a VSG “pre-conference” in
Seattle, to take place immediately before the AAS. One possible partner for such
an event would be the University of Washington. After discussion, a motion was
made to authorize the VSG Executive committee to spend up to $3000.00
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(contingent on the availability of funds in the VSG treasury) to support graduate
student participation in such a pre-conference, should one be organized. The
motion passed unanimously.
9) Other business.
a) The group discussed continuing the practice of providing a subsidy to cover the
costs of maintaining the website and listserv. David Biggs made a motion to
authorize an amount of $500.00 for this purpose. The motion was seconded and
approved unanimously.
b) The group also discussed continuing its support for the annual VSG Graduate
Student prize, awarded to the author of the best paper produced in the past year on
a topic in Vietnamese Studies. Prof. Hue-Tam Ho Tai proposed that the VSG
contribute $300, in addition to any donations from members specifically
earmarked for this prize. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
c) Christina Firpo, VSG Treasurer, reminded VSG members to pay their annual
dues. Those members who were not present to pay their dues in person should
contact Christina at christina.firpo@gmail.com for instructions on how to pay
online. Dues are $10 for a student membership and $20 for everyone else.
d) Judith Henchy, announced a project to work with the Thua Thien Hue provincial
library to digitize journals published during South Vietnam’s Republican period
(1954-1975). The project has just received $7000.00 in startup funds. Judith now
needs to form a committee of scholars who can advise on the particular titles to be
included. Those interested in serving on the committee should contact Judith at
judithh@u.washington.edu.
e) Judith also reported on a Southeast Asian newspaper digitization project that is
being spearheaded by Cornell University. The project will develop a platform to
deliver current newspapers from across the region to participating libraries, which
will purchase electronic subscriptions. The focus will be on provincial and local
newspapers, rather than on national publications.
f) Charles Keith announced an NEH-funded initiative to digitize the papers of the
Michigan State Vietnam Group, which operated in South Vietnam during 1955-
1962. The soft launch date for the project’s website is set for late April.
g) Christina Firpo announced that Philip Taylor’s The Khmer Lands of Vietnam and
has been long-listed for the ICAS annual award for the best book on Southeast
Asia. In addition Claudine Ang has been longlisted for the dissertation prize for
her thesis entitled "Statecraft on the Margins: Drama, Poetry, and the Civilizing
Mission in Eighteenth Century Southern Vietnam."
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h) VSG member Charles Keith is the winner of the 2015 Benda Award for the best
first book on Southeast Asian studies, for his Catholic Vietnam: A Church from
Empire to Nation (UC Press, 2012).
10) Announcements and news
a) Christina Firpo announced the results of the VSG graduate student paper prize,
awarded annually to the best paper by a graduate student on a topic in Vietnamese
studies:
Winner: Le Hoang Ngoc Yen, "‘Here, Everyone is like Everyone Else!’
Exile and Re-emplacement in an Exclusive Leprosy Village."
Honorable mention: Katie Dyt for "‘Calling for Wind and Rain’:
Environment, Emotion and Nguyễn Governance in Nineteenth-century
Vietnam"
Honorable mention: Melissa Andersen “‘Quarters haunted by soldiers and
sailors’: Race, violence, and the limits of assimilationism in the Saigon
colonial police, 1881-1914.”
b) Ed Miller announced the winners of the VSG Travel grants, awarded to graduate
students and junior scholars who are presenting papers at this year’s AAS
conference. The winners are:
Haydon Cherry (North Carolina State)
Vinh Quoc Nguyen (independent scholar)
Chi Phuong Pham (UC Berkeley)
Ivan V. Small (Central Connecticut State)
c) Veronica Onorevole of the Fulbright Program spoke about some significant
changes to the Fulbright Program for Vietnam during 2016-2017. Fulbright now
is now looking for both academics and professionals who are interested in
teaching in Vietnam, or who are interested in a combination of teaching and
research activities. Scholars working in the humanities, arts, or any of the social
sciences are encouraged to apply.
In response to a question, Ms. Onorevole stated that the program is emphasizing
teaching right now, and does not expect to fund research-only awards during
2016-2017.
d) The following upcoming conferences and workshops were announced:
The 6th International Conference on the History of Medicine in Southeast Asia
(HOMSEA) will take place in Siem Reap in January 2016. The call for papers is
available here: http://cshm-schm.ca/call-for-papers-6th-international-conferenceon-
the-history-of-medicine-in-southeast-asia-homsea-2016/.
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A Workshop on the State in 20th Century Vietnam, organized by VSGers Haydon
Cherry and Claire Edington, will be held at Harvard on April 24-26, 2015. Papers
will examine the colonial state, the RVN, the DRV, and the SRV.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai is organizing and co-hosting a conference on “The Geo-body of
Vietnam” to take place in Goettingen on May 20-21, 2015.
A Nom Studies conference will be held at Temple University on May 9-10, 2015.
The Annual “Engaging Vietnam” conference will take place in Hanoi in early
July 2015.
The East-West Center will host its annual graduate student conference in
February 2016, around Valentine’s Day. The deadline to submit paper proposals
will be in August 2015.
11) Michele Thompson introduced the incoming members of the VSG executive
committee: Maggie Bodemer, Carrie Coe, Erik Harms, and Christina Schwenkel.
12) The group voted an expression of thanks to Brad Davis, who is rotating off the
executive committee after three years.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:36pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Edward Miller
Secretary