Lonely Planet: Hill Tribes

Dear list members,

I have a favor to ask. If you happen to have a copy of 6th (2001)

and/or 7th (2003) editions of Lonely Planet Vietnam within your reach,

could you please look up to see whether there's a separate section on

Ethnic Minorities included in those two editions, and if there is,

whether it's 'advertised' for in the cover page? I just noticed that the

2005 edition no longer has it, and want to find out since when it was

removed.

Many thanks in advance,

Hanh

Duong Bich Hanh

Department of Anthropology

University of Washington

I have the 6th French edition (2003) and it does not have a special section on minorities nor does it advertise anything on the front page. The 5th edition in english does: "With Expanded Hill Tribe Coverage"

Nora

Hello!

I was just looking at the 7th (English) edition, 2003. Besides scattered references throughout the book, there is also a section called Hill Tribes in Vietnam, 257-262. The front cover only says Special Section on Vietn. cuisine...

cheers,

Elise DeVido

Ah yes, "hill tribes". Some scattered “tribes" up in the "hills". One wonders how many decades these guide book writers have to know something about the country and still not adopt the VN government's =ery correct terminology of "ethnic minorities". Does anyone else get perplexed that this weird orientalism remains so stubbornly entrenched in the language of virtually all travel writers and virtually all western media? Oh but of course the west always has so many lessons for VN to learn ...

Michael Karadjis

Bingo, Michael. Just like the unrelenting orientalist depiction in

tourism and the media of the "timeless" and "ancient imperial capital"

of Hue...

Christoph Giebel

Yep, the "ancient imperial capital" is about as ancient as Savannah, Georgia -- although Hue is a very nice tourist destination, so the misrepresentation is not necessary or appropriate.

Chuck Searcy

but both loose uses of rhetoric probably contribute to greater interest among tourists. and more tourists are a pretty straightforward good thing, right? ... ooops, wait, never mind. that one could probably get us all arguing for weeks! anyhow, i know we're talking about what would be ideal. in the imperfect world we have, though, ...

markus