Minutes 2022

Vietnam Studies Group (VSG) Annual Business Meeting 2022


Zoom: April 5, 2022 at 7:00am PST

In attendance (via Zoom records):

1. Tuan Hoang2. Chan Phan3. Frank Proschan4. Tuong Vu5. Alvin Bui6. Sarah G. Grant7. Maggie Bodemer8. Vu Minh Hoang9. Anh Tran10. Ed Miller11. Thuy Do12. Ann Marie Leshkowich13. Richard Tran14. Yen Vu15. Christina Schwenkel16. Rachel Tough17. Judith Henchy18. Diu Huong Nguyen19. Sean Fear20. Diane Fox21. John L. Tran22. Mark Alves23. Hieu Phung24. Charles Keith25. Liam Kelley26. Khanh Tran27. Trang Bui28. Wynn Gadkar Wilcox29. Madeleine Aitchison30. Thien Bui31. Christian Lentz32. Hy Luong

1. Introduction

a. No voting is necessary for this meeting, and any voting would be done over emailb. The agenda is a series of reports from people and subcommitteesc. We will leave time in the end for sharing news and announcements, including professional and institutional achievements

2. Elections

a. VSG held elections a few months agoi. Outcoming ExComm: Alvin Bui and Diane Foxii. Incoming ExComm and re-elected: Đỗ Thị Thanh Thủy, Sean Fear (second term), Christian Lentz (third term), Rachel Tough (second term as a Graduate Representative), Richard Tran (second term)iii. Three open slots for the next elections; VSG bylaws allow up to 9 members with a three-year term, and there are currently only 8 membersiv. Two members are expiring, but bylaws allow us to have an additional ExComm member, so we encourage any VSG members to consider running for one of these positionsb. No comments about elections from participants

3. SEAC report (Tuan & Judith)

a. SEAC decided not to continue with the country-sponsored panels at AAS several years ago, but members in SEAC lobbied to keep these sponsored panels reinstated; sponsored panels are back on the table; please consider submitting a panel for VSG sponsorship at forthcoming AAS meetingsb. Christina Schwenkel: SEAC member, states that panel sponsorship is not guaranteed but “designated panels” are a new, entirely different program (already determined by SEAC)c. Judith Henchy mentions a donation based post-doctoral opportunity/exchange with Southeast Asia); there is still $3000 for translation work and there is a need for a central clearing house for translations, perhaps building a website to serve as a repositoryd. Maggie Bodemer returned to the “designated panel” announcement – August 1, 2022 circulation of the call for the designated panel and the ExComm will need to circulate and develop their own announcement/criteria for selectione. $1000 coming to the treasury from SEAC

4. Treasurer’s report (Richard)

a. There are some errors in AAS reporting/accounting (balance sheets provided by AAS)b. Illegible financial statement makes it had to find concrete numbers; positive balance because two travel grants weren’t used last yearc. Grant from SEAC also contributes to the positive balanced. As soon as AAS provides a legible and current balance sheet, VSG ExComm will update memberse. No foreseeable problems regarding finances, but can’t make official financial decisions regarding

5. JVS report (Sarah Grant, Christina Schwenkel, and Charles Keith)

a. Charles and Christina are rolling off and JVS is moving back to Berkeley (Peter Zinoman, Van Nguyen Marshall, and Martha Lincoln, who will serve as the next editorial team) à some board members will be rolling off, and some coming on; book editors will be staying on as the journal transitions from UCR back to Berkeleyb. Christina and Charles's co-editor model has been successful, and thank everyone for the contributionsc. Thanks to all of the reviewers (and Christina and Charles for four years of service to the journal)

6. VSG website report (Judith): [discussing after agenda item #7]

a. Could the website be moved to WordPress or a more flexible format? Currently on Google sites, but this may change soonb. Acknowledging John Tran, the new VSG web assistant who has helped bring the archive current through 2022c. Current usage via Google Analytics is about 613 uses/month, down from a high of 1400 in April 2021 à partly because Google sites have moved the platform, and the website had to be restructured to go lived. John mentions that we’re not quite live yet but should be soon as they manage the technical side of the space (e.g., checking hyperlinks)e. Contract might be changing, where to go after Google because UW might be shifting out the contract with Googlef. Listserv has 1045 members (23% of users from Vietnam; Australia and Canada about 6%; the UK 5%; noticeable lack of users from France); the top-rated site was “Vietnamese Sorcery.”g. Changes are forthcoming to the website, and it's worth keeping this in mind as we move forward

7. Committee Reports

a. Graduate Paper Prize (Sean): we had fewer submissions this year, likely because of the pandemic, but the submissions were interdisciplinary and of high quality; they included a graduate student representative oni. Madeleine Aitchison (University of Ottawa) for “Love and Romance in the Works of Phan Thi Bach Van" and Marie Agathe Simonetti (University of Wisconsin) for “Phan Chau Trinh's Portrait - Creating Vietnamese Agency with Photography"
b. AAS Travel Award (Maggie): ability to give travel awards for AAS this year with a full committee and innovated via Google Form; international applicants demonstrated needi. Didn’t spend any money in this category this year as recipients were unable to attend AAS
c. Rules committee reports no major issues this year; just a few moments to send a template to certain recipients but do not recall any warnings issues, although a few threads ran long and had to be closed (e.g., over-posting)i. Maggie mentions that the future of the Rules Committee could also be encouraging people to post and engage, especially if the listserv seems intimidating for new postersii. Vu Minh Hoang proposes VSG perhaps expanding to other online platforms and spaces (e.g., social mediaiii. Judith – from a librarian’s POV, Facebook is horrible because it can’t be archived, and it’s not searchable, an impossible medium iv. Frank Proschan comments in the chat box: “Many organizations manage complementary presences of social media and other channels such as e-mail. The lack of efficient search on Facebook groups, in my view disqualifies it for many functions that good old-fashioned luddite e-mail performs better.”v. Sean Fear comments in the chat box: “Is there any risk to researchers based in Vietnam for using Facebook? I know many people there use it, obviously, but perhaps not to discuss some of the topics that have come up on the listserv in the past?”

8. Proposed funding: N/A as VSG awaits updated legible financial reports from AAS

9. Call for dues (new and renewal) and donations

a. please renew your dues if you have not done so alreadlyi. Anh Tran asks in chat: “How do I pay my due online since I have not been to the VSG meeting at AAS in recent years?”ii. Richard Tran shares the website: https://www.asianstudies.org/donate/ for VSG dues and adds: If you make an online payment, please forward the receipt to Richard Tran at RQTRAN@gmail.com with the subject heading "VSG Dues."

10. Member announcements: recent positions, publications, transitions, etc.

a. Christina Schwenkel announces the next issue of JVS: Tuan Hoang’s edited double special issue of JVS forthcoming on Catholicism
b. Anh Tran mentions some of the forthcoming work on Catholicism and active research projects
c. Liam Kelley announced the “Engaging Vietnam” conference that is focused on a workshop with collective group activities and discussions; this year, the collaborating institution is USSH HCMC and will take place in Ho Chi Minh City and another provincial location: “Knowledge Production in the Age of Metrics and Global Rankings” (connecting various events at the conference) à October 23 – 31, 2022 (http://engagingwithvietnam.org/)1) Launched a book series “Global Vietnam” with Springer, many VSG members on the board2) Monographs and edited volumes looking for a home, please consider reaching out3) Judith Henchy comments on the significance of English language publications on a wide variety of platforms that might be questionable (as demonstrated through the process of compiling the bibliography) and is happy that folks will explore these metrics through the Engaging Vietnam conference this Fall
d. Vu Minh Hoang announces a conference on liberal arts education in Vietnam based around the Tonkin Free School, hosted by Fulbright University1) Asking for any papers looking at papers around liberal tradition in Vietnamese education and interactions across the educational system, or anything related to historical higher education in Vietnam (submissions open until April 30) à conference takes place in November 20222) Formal Vietnam Studies Center forthcoming at the university to centralize resources and to support visiting scholars; exchange trips and other project support and exchange, please consider reaching out for Vietnamese institution needs; speaker series
e. Yen Vu is working on a podcast project that “approaches Vietnamese history through casual chats” (“Nam Phong Dialogues”): https://open.spotify.com/show/7BtHUqhDThqo6OUlrncdyt?si=a2a4e39e9b93454f&nd=1 (share any feedback or ideas for discussion)
f. Alvin Bui mentions the availability of domain names “vietnamesehistory.com” that could potentially be used by members
g. Congratulations to Hy Van Luong for completing his year as President of AAS Tuan ended the meeting at 8:14 am