Article on Contemporary VN seen from the Past/CAOM

From: CGoscha@aol.com

To: "Vietnam Studies Group" <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: Article on Contemporary VN seen from the Past/CAOM

Hi Judith,

Nothing published. One must consult the inventories at Aix, though it MAY be possible that there are doubles at the National Archives in Paris (I have HEARD that was/is the case). Nothing on the internet, yet, at least not to my knowledge.

I should add that the full name of this archival grouping is

Resident Superieur du Tonkin, Nouveau Fonds, Indochina, Centre des Archives d'Outre-Mer (CAOM), Aix-en-Provence.

I think that a another part of the RSTonkin grouping is also in Hanoi. I will check with Madame Vachier later this year. The EFEO in Hanoi would know infinitely more on this than I. As I mentioned, I only perused this fonds last year, but I wanted to make it known based on its apparent richness.

I might mention that the fonds of the Resident Superieur du Laos and du Cambodge were also nicely catalogued in the 90s. These are very rich sources running from the bottom up.

One of these days, I will sit down and at least type up a list of old and many new archival fonds on "colonial" and "post-colonial" French Indochina in France. The sources are truly very rich, but remain largely unknown, even in France ...

However, I would like to consult first with Madame Vachier at Aix, for she may already have something prepared and of which I am ignorant. And I would like to have a green light from her first.

I'll get back to you all at the point.

best,

christopher

From: mchale <mchale@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>

To: "Vietnam Studies Group" <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Archival sources in France

Christopher Goscha note on the new fonds opening up in France was most welcome. One of the fonds that he mentions, that of the corps expeditionnaire, is very rich, has quite rare material (e.g. intercepted material between Phan Boi Chau, Ngo duc Ke, and a host of others -- original letters unknown, it seems, to many scholars of Phan Boi Chau. )

Some Residence Superieure au Tonkin files are indeed open in Vietnam and are accessible. what seems intriguing about Christopher Goscha's post is that there appear to be lots of files from the bottom of the administrative hierarchy now available in France. It used to be that you only got files from the top of the administrative hierarchy -- that is, they missed all the desiderata of daily life, desiderata that is often missing in the scholarship on the colonial period.

Shawn McHale

Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs

The George Washington University

e-mail address: mchale@gwu.edu

From: John Kleinen <kleinen@pscw.uva.nl>

To: "Vietnam Studies Group" <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: Article on Contemporary VN seen from the Past/CAOM

Dear Judith and Chris,

Yes, the "new" RST NF fonds is quiet rich. I agree with Chris that Lucette Vachier did a wonderful job. She is now working on the 1945-1954 files. For the richness and exact titles, I refer to David Marr's use of it for his book 1945. I was lucky to consult some of the files for my village study years ago, when the Fonds was still not open for the public. As far as I know, they seem to correspond with the RST files in Hanoi (for an inventory see the Sach chi dan cac phong luu tru thoi ky thuoc dia by Vu Chu Tha e.a., Hanoi 1995), but the Hanoi files seem to be richer for an anthropologist or social historian, because the E and F series contain materials beyond the district and the canton-borders (e.g. land-and tax registers; remarks about "law and order" issues in villages; elections of village heads in so-called "villages reformes"). They were left behind, because they were judged as less "political" as I understand it. See for the contents of some of these files also Martin Grossheim's dissertation. I was also able to consult the Military Intelligence files in the Chateau de Vincennes (AOM SHAT) for the period 1945-1954 and they should also be mentioned. For some provinces especailly around Hanoi you can compare them with the Viet Minh materials on the same period. In 1993, the SHAT-access however was a little bit difficult, while the VM documents were easy to get. I joked about that with the responsible Colonel in Vincennes and he understood the irony. But the service was excellent. You need a good introduction, though.

All the best,

JOHN

From: CGoscha@aol.com

To: "Vietnam Studies Group" <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Article on Contemporary VN seen from the Past/CAOM

For those who are not necessarily able to follow special issues on Vietnam-Europe, I thought I would mention that Le Monde Diplomatique recently ran very good one, especially on the Vietnamese State against the Party, but viewed from a long term historical context.

The special issue is in the February 2000 issue of Le Monde Diplomatique.

You can try the web site for an electronice version, I think: www.monde-diplomatique.fr

I thought I should also mention that the Archives at Aix-en-Provence opened last year the archives of the "R=E9sident Sup=E9rieur du Tonkin". I only glanced at its contents, but it is massive and appears to be extremely rich. I noticed much on northern newspapers (including the Surete's monitoring of their functioning, funds, and activities), Vichy, and, most interesting, scores of files on social history topics: trade, bandits, prostitution,

trains, ethnic groups, etc.

Madame Lucette Vachier put this collection together, complete with an outstanding guide and index. She really must be applauded for this excellen contribution to Vietnamese studies during the "colonial period".

best,

christopher goscha