History Books in VN
From: David Marr <david.marr@anu.edu.au>
Subject: [Vsg] history books in VN
Date: April 10, 2017 at 6:49:43 PM PDT
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Recently I perused bookstores in Vietnam, particularly looking for Vietnam history titles. It was a disappointing exercise. I failed to find a single recent publication written by a Vietnamese in Vietnam that relied on primary sources. There were a few worthy reprints of books written by Vietnamese many decades ago, and some translations of foreign studies.
It has become less risky to publish about the French colonial era. Most surprising was a thick volume by Governor General Paul Doumer, titled L’Indo-Chine francaise, translated and published last year. Five thousand copies! There was also a big study of Nguyen Anh’s relations with foreigners, especially French. I found both of these in the main Hue bookstore, which has more VN history titles than either HCMC or Da Nang bookstores.
I could not find a single new, serious Vietnamese study of the 1945-1975 era. Is this because younger historians are disinterested? Or because publishing houses are too tied down by Party censors? Or both? Has anyone canvassed recent PhD theses on history?
David Marr
ANU
From: HRT <hvroet@gmx.de>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] history books in VN
Date: April 10, 2017 at 8:38:47 PM PDT
To: "David Marr" <david.marr@anu.edu.au>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear David,
you are right - it is hard to find history books in Vietnam. I am looking for good books over two years now, but every visit of a book shop ends disappointing. I have heard that the "cultural clearing" is getting stricter when it comes to history...
Unfortunately there is no reason to expect a change in the near future.
But if you find something please let us know where!
Best,
Henning
_
Dr. Henning Roet de Rouet
HCMC
From: Hue-Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] history books in VN
Date: April 10, 2017 at 9:04:35 PM PDT
To: HRT <hvroet@gmx.de>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
This is my clue for mentioning the monograph by Do thi Tuy Lan (apologies for the absence of diacritics:
He thong cang thi tren song Dang Ngoai: Lich su ngoai thuong Viet Nam the ky 17-18 (nxb DHQG-HN, 2016). I would also mention Tran Quang Duc, Ngan Nam Ao Mu (2013).
Nguyen Duy Chinh, an overseas Vietnamese has published 5 volumes on Vietnam-China relations in the 18th century that has been the topic of significant debate within Vietnam.
As for a history of the period 1945-75, we will have to wait quite while... But Ed Miller's book Misalliance has been translated into Vietnamese.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Harvard
From: Liam Kelley <liam@hawaii.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] history books in VN
Date: April 10, 2017 at 9:19:36 PM PDT
To: HRT <hvroet@gmx.de>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear David,
I would suggest that you are looking for history in the wrong place. You are right, history is not in bookstores in Vietnam (Nhã Nam has a little), but it is very much alive and well in other venues. Just in the past week on facebook I’ve seen an announcement about a forum at a book fair in which some young scholars talked about a 1750 text on religion that a Catholic missionary wrote and which Olga Dror translated a few years ago (and they are talking about it thanks to Dror's translation):
There was another talk at a public venue on South Vietnamese philosopher/“historian” Lương Kim Định and structuralism.
When I was there last summer I saw a fascinating movie and discussion on Vietnamese who had served as laborers in France during WW II:
https://leminhkhai.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/cong-binh-as-microhistory/
There was also a fascinating art exhibit that dealt with historical issues:
https://leminhkhai.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/microhistory-in-phan-quangs-recover/
There are events like this all the time now. So I beg to differ. I think that history has never been more alive and well than it is in Vietnam today. It’s just that it’s not in bookstores. It’s on facebook (I just checked and saw that Trần Quang Đức, a scholar who posts on facebook about premodern historical issues, is followed on facebook by over 19,000 people!!! How many historians anywhere else in the world can attract 19,000 people?!!) and blogs and at various public events around the country. So yes, bookstores in Vietnam are bleak, but history is incredibly alive. It's a great time to be engaged with Vietnam.
Liam Kelley
University of Hawaii
On 11 April 2017 at 09:28, François Guillemot <francois.guillemot@ens-lyon.fr> wrote:
Dear David Marr,
You are right, it is really difficult to find a recent publication written by a Vietnamese that relied on primary sources. Even sometimes in the two main historical review (Xua va Nay or Nghien cuu lich su, although Xua va Nay is much better in this regard on the contemporary period).
As you say, old studies on Viet Nam are reprinted as those of Nguyen The Anh and Ta Chi Dai Truong (two great historians in the VNCH period and in exile) and one of Vinh Vinh. And even as you mention more older biographical items has been published by Alpha Books and Nha Nam.
On the 1945-1975, there have been efforts in the direction of more openness as demonstrated by the some historical publications on the South but it is always difficult to manage with history in communist Vietnam. I remember a discussion with a Vietnamese compilator of primary press sources (in the VNCH collections) for the 4 vol. of the history of the Southern resistance
Hội đồng chỉ đạo biên soạn lịch sử Nam bộ kháng chiến:
The entire draft written in the South had to be "kiem duyet" by the propaganda committee in the North before to obtain an authorization for publication. (and in major cases changes in the text).
But you can find some interesting "authorized" research with (some) primary sources on conventional topics as : students struggle against Saigon regime ; history of the TNXP ; history on political prisoners or on VC commandos...
Discuting with editors on the topic of historical studies produced by Vietnamese last year in Saigon, I think young historians are not disinterested but they must take care of the consequences of their historical analysis. It is a great risk for them and their family. And not only only for young people... See for example the last episode with the book on Truong Vinh Ky directed by Nguyen Dinh Dau (the famous researcher born in 1920!).
For me, some problems appear :
- The academic training of historians which could be less ideological (even no ideological at all) ;
- The censorship and its implications and the social life of authors.
I haven't the opportunity to consult recent PdD thesis on history in Vietnam but read some thesis in France written by Vietnamese scholars working now in VN.
To conclude, saying that, I hope your own publications will be translate in Vietnamese as the last work of Ed Miller on Ngo Dinh Diem (seems with no censorship). And if you have the time and enough energy to do it, you should contribute to the emergence in Vietnam of a collection of historical studies mainly based on primary sources in partnership with a Vietnamese editor. It could be useful.
Best regards
F
PS : Sorry for my approximate English
On Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 6:10 PM, liem vu duc <vuducliemhnue@gmail.com> wrote:
Some of the events mentioned by Liam were recorded and posted online recently. It is true that they pave the way for a newly unconventional / "unofficial" platform of historical practice. Its aim I guess is to send different messages, capture increasingly social demand of historiographical diversification, and promote alternative historical interpretations.
Tran Quang Duc and Tran Trong Duong: "How Vietnamese history was written".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90gZiH_TrWA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYN6ukaZS8Y
Talk at Hanoi book fair on Opusculum de Sectis Apud Sinenses et Tunkinenses:
https://soundcloud.com/ph-ng-djing/voice-034
Nguyen Phuc Anh''s Power of culture and cursed rock at Hung Temples
https://soundcloud.com/user-145487025/hstalk1
Best,
Liem
From: Anthony Morreale <amorreale22@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] history books in VN
Date: April 11, 2017 at 5:13:16 AM PDT
To: vuducliemhnue@ymail.com
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hi all,
I know it's not the period in question, but I purchased Đặng Phong's "Phá Rào Trong Kinh Tế Vào Đêm Trước Đổi Mới" at ĐHXHNV in Hồ Chí Minh a few months ago. As far as I can tell it's pretty honest. I spoke with the employee at the bookstore about my inability to find the 1st volume of his "Lịch sử Kinh tế Việt Nam" (It's not even in the library), and they told me that it has been taken out of circulation due to its analysis of land reform. Can anyone confirm?
I also found Ngô Thảo's "Dĩ Vãng Phía Trước" at the Phương Nam bookstore in Vincom and though not a historical monograph, I was shocked by some of the content about the time in question. Questions about "Is this actually a civil war?", and details of NLF assassinations of pregnant women. Some of these things just slip through the cracks I suppose...
-Anthony Morreale
Graduate Student
UC Berkeley
From: Hue-Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] history books in VN
Date: April 11, 2017 at 6:24:17 AM PDT
To: Anthony Morreale <amorreale22@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>, "vuducliemhnue@ymail.com" <vuducliemhnue@ymail.com>
I am surprised that Dang Phong's Lich su kinh te VN was taken out.
I received it around the time it was published (2002). It was easily available then, but most books are printed in a limited number of copies, so I am not surprised it's not available in bookstores.
Re: the larger issue raised by David Marr, there is some good historical scholarship based on primary sources, though not necessarily in book form or in research that is ostensibly "historical." Much discussion, as Liam Kelley suggests, occurs in blogs; it may take off from works published in Vietnam or overseas.
And of course, what is said informally is very different from what can be published.
A big problem lies in the tight ideological control over multi-volumes official histories coupled with the lack of scholarly rigor. I am told that the current 15-volume history is riddled with errors. But just as I would not rely on US history textbooks (especially after they have been approved in Texas, the largest market and therefore a driver for the rest of the country), I do not think we can judge the state of Vietnamese historical scholarship on these textbooks.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Harvard
From: Vsg [mailto:vsg-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Judith A. Henchy
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2017 6:23 AM
To: Anthony Morreale <amorreale22@gmail.com>; vuducliemhnue@ymail.com
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] history books in VN
Anthony, UW has Lịch sử Kinh tế Việt Nam vols 1 and 2. It looks as if there should be more, since these volumes go to 1975 only. This is the volume published by the Viện kinh tế học. Is that correct. Full title: Lịch sử kinh tế Việt Nam, 1945-2000.
It looks as if UCB and other US libraries also have these volumes.
Best
Judith
Judith Henchy, Ph.D., MLIS
Head, Southeast Asia Section
Special Assistant to the Dean of University Libraries for International Programs
University of Washington Libraries
From: "Pierre Asselin, Ph.D" <passelin@hpu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] history books in VN
Date: April 11, 2017 at 9:56:44 AM PDT
To: "Judith A. Henchy" <judithh@uw.edu>, Anthony Morreale <amorreale22@gmail.com>,
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
All:
In reference to David’s initial query, there’s a number of reasons there is a dearth of good Vietnamese materials in print in Vietnam on the history of the 1954-75 period.
First, that history, as I have written elsewhere, is the purview of the Party. It remains a significant source of its legitimacy. Good Vietnamese historians know better than to try to tackle the political, diplomatic, and military aspects of the period in an academic way.
Second, in light of the first point, many professors actively discourage grad students from engaging topics from the period, either for their own sake or that of their students. This is particularly true of topics that involve anything Hanoi/the Party had a hand in. I’ve experienced it first-hand, and have been working closely with students and professors in the History Department at USSH in Hanoi to help remedy the problem there and nationally.
Third, with respect to sources, Vietnamese scholars do not define documentary evidence in the way we in the West define it. The term “tai lieu” is used extremely loosely in Vietnam, even within academic circles. As to “tai lieu luu tru,” many Vietnamese refuse to rely upon them as they do not trust their own authorities and therefore believe that relying upon archival evidence from Vietnam’s own official repositories is a waste of time. Nothing could be further from the truth, as those of us who have been working in Vietnamese archives know very well, but there’s a remarkable degree of skepticism among Vietnamese when it comes to the use of Vietnamese primary sources for the 1954-75 period. Again, I’ve been working with USSH and certain Faculty members to help students there learn to appreciate the value of such materials, but it’s been challenging. Grad students at USSH have started to use Archives 2 in Saigon, the FRUS volumes, and the CWIHP and TTU digital archives; but they mostly work on the southern regime, and the authorities are less concerned about how that history is presented (that also happens to be the reason Ed’s book was translated, but Hang’s will never be despite request to that effect by Vietnamese academics). Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, very few Vietnamese scholars and students from USSH work in Archives 3, which houses the DRVN’s records and is right there. Interestingly enough, there are often more foreigners working at TTLT3 on a given day than there are Vietnamese!.
I have more to say but program reviews beckons. Yeah!! Program review!!
By the way, if anyone wants to help with the effort to assist the History Department at USSH in the ways I have suggested above, please contact me off-list. We are especially interested in amassing documentary sources on Vietnam’s past and make those accessible to students.
Aloha,
Pierre
Pierre Asselin
Professor of History
Hawai'i Pacific University
1188 Fort St., Suite MP 409
Honolulu, HI 96813