The odd case of the Maspéro “River” in Vietnam
From: Shawn McHale <mchale@gwu.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] The odd case of the Maspéro "River" in Vietnam
Date: May 21, 2017 at 9:23:56 AM PDT
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: mchale@gwu.edu
Dear list,
A mystery. Trying to untangle some issues related to the First Indochina War on the ground in Sóc Trăng province, I came across the sông Maspéro [Maspero River] in Sóc Trăng province.
A little sleuthing shows that this is named after Georges Maspéro, the colonial administrator who had this canal/ river built. Maspéro is also one of the founding members of the École Francaise d'Extrême-Orient, the author of a history of Champa, but also of of a book on the French colonial empire. Suffice it to say that if you have read the major colonial historians of Vietnam and environs, you have read Maspéro.
I find it odd that a "river" -- actually, it is a canal -- in Vietnam is still named, in 2017, after an administrator of the French empire. While there are other French who are stlll honored in Vietnam (e.g. Yersin), they are honored for their scientific achievements.
Does anyone care to shed more light on this local mystery?
I might add that Google maps throws up other oddities -- for example, there are streets named after Tạ Thu Thâu, the Trotskyist assassinated in 1945 by the ICP, in An Giang and Tiên Giang!
Shawn McHale
George Washington University
From: Paul Schmehl <pschmehl@tx.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] The odd case of the Maspéro "Rive"r in Vietnam
Date: May 21, 2017 at 9:44:54 AM PDT
To: mchale@gwu.edu, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: Paul Schmehl <pschmehl@tx.rr.com>
Shawn, now that you've pointed them out, perhaps they will be changed. :-)
"The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who
reads them, inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer the truth than he
whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." - Thomas Jefferson
Paul Schmehl (pschmehl@tx.rr.com)
Independent Researcher
<Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au> wrote:
Hi Shawn,
I am not sure about the case of Maspéro canal.
But for other names, the local authority sometimes can name the street after the ‘prominent’ or ‘famous’ personality coming from their province. Even though these names are not exactly to the liking of the central government or ideological orthodoxy.
Ben Tre currently has a street name after Bui Quang Chieu, a prominent member of the Parti Constitutionalist and editor of the newspaper La Tribune Indigene. Of course he was targeted as a bourgeois and the enemy of the Communist Party. Ta Thu Thau came from An Giang, a Trostskit and editor of La Lutte, also was an enemy of CP. Both Bui Quang Chieu and Ta Thu Thau were patriots against the French colonial authority but followed different paths.
The local provincial authorities probably still consider these people as their ‘best’ personalities produced from the province in the modern history of Vietnam. The local authorities can in some cases override the central orthodoxy to accord with the sentiment of the local people.
One of the tragedies in the Vietnamese anti-colonial struggle to gain independence is that a lot of patriots were murdered, not by the French who hated them, but by their own fellow Vietnamese who did not like their ideas and thoughts. This is the lesson we should never repeat.
Hiep Nguyen
Atmospheric Scientist
Office of Environment & Heritage NSW
Australia
From: Vsg [mailto:vsg-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Shawn McHale
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 1:37 AM
To: Hiep Duc <Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] The odd case of the Maspéro “River” in Vietnam
These contributions are quite interesting. The idea that Bùi Quang Chiêu's name graces a street is ironic -- he too was assassinated in 1945 by communists.
One might also mention David Bigg's discussion of the "máy ko-le," or Kohler engines, bringing a bit of Wisconsin to the delta.
The Mekong delta and its coastal islands has an interesting "sedimentation" of names -- Malay, Khmer, Sino-Vietnamese, Vietnamese, French, even a few American ones.
The question, I guess, is whether mobile words can travel and transform (à la Anna Tsing), or whether they are appropriated into existing worlds, and domesticated.
Shawn McHale
George Washington University
From: David Marr <david.marr@anu.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] The odd case of the Maspéro "Rive"r in Vietnam
Date: May 22, 2017 at 6:28:16 PM PDT
To: "mchale@gwu.edu" <mchale@gwu.edu>, Hiep Duc <Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
“Phép vua thua lệ làng”? Maybe there’s no one in Hanoi anymore making sure that all street names are politically correct… I’d guess that Tạ thu Thâu Street only sneaked in during the past decade or so.
David Marr
ANU