Vietnamese in New Hebrides
From: Dana Sachs
Date: Sun, May 6, 2012 at 7:34 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
The message below was posted to a Vietnamese adoptee listserv. I remember hearing that Vietnamese migrant workers travelled to New Caledonia. Was this also the case for New Hebrides? If anyone has answers, I'll pass them along.
Thanks,
Dana Sachs
I'm hoping someone can help me with this: when/why did Vietnamese migrate to what was formerly know as New Hebrides. I am especially interested in 1960's. Would it have been unusual or unheard of for say, a 10-12yr old girl to be there? I have paperwork that indicates my adoptive mother was from New Hebrides when all this time I thought she was from Vietnam. Vietnam was definitely where she spent the majority of her years. I am just curious as to the validation of this information. I hope someone can enlighten me on this subject. Thanks!
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From: Lorraine M. Paterson
Date: Sun, May 6, 2012 at 8:03 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Dana,
Most Vietnamese migrant labor to the New Hebrides travelled from New Caledonia, not from Vietnam itself, and did so in the 1920s. By the end of the 1920s, there were 6000 Vietnamese workers there. For various reasons, many returned to New Caledonia but some remained and it would not have been surprising for a 12 year old girl to be there in the 1960s. The 1960s was the time when many Vietnamese opted to return to Vietnam - from both New Caledonia and the New Hebrides - which is why the mother in question may have spent the rest of her life in Vietnam. I haven't found much written about this topic in English or Vietnamese but there may be more information in French.
Best wishes,
Lorraine
Lorraine M Paterson
Assistant Professor
Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University
336 Rockefeller Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: 607-254-6562
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam
Date: Sun, May 6, 2012 at 8:47 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Mai Thu Van, the author of Vietnam: Un Peuple, des voix, was born in New Caledonia of a Vietnamese mother and French father, if I remember correctly. James Michener's Tales from the South Pacific includes a story featuring an old Tonkinese woman.
I remember reading a report about labor needs from about 1925 mentioning the need to import 25000 workers annually into Cochinchona, but also for sending to New Caledonia.
Hue Tam Ho Tai
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From: pascal bourdeaux
Date: Mon, May 7, 2012 at 12:20 AM
Subject: [Vsg] New Hebrides
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Dana,
Have a look on this book
http://www.harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=2085
Hua Dong Sy, De la Mélanésie au Vietnam, itinéraire d'un colonisé devenu francophile, l'Harmattan, Paris, 1993
and on this blog:
http://frank-bui.blogspot.fr/2007/07/ng-s-h.html
Pascal Bourdeaux
Maître de conférences
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes-GSRL
Religions de l'Asie du Sud-Est
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From: Charles Keith
Date: Sun, May 6, 2012 at 12:15 PM
Subject: [Vsg] Re: Vsg Digest, Vol 87, Issue 11
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
There is a book in French about the Vietnamese experience in New Caledonia - it's a strange combination of history, historical fiction, and autobiography:
Jean Van Mai, "Chân Ðang: Les Tonkinois de Calédonie au temps colonial" (Nouméa: Société d'études historiques de la Nouvelle Calédonie, 1980)