Catholic resettlement in 1954

For an article which complicates Hickey's analysis, I'd also recommend Stan B. Tan's article "Swiddens, Resettlements, Sedentarizations, and Villages: State Formation among the Central Highlanders of Vietnam Under the First Republic, 1955-1961", Journal of Vietnamese Studies 1 (2006), pp. 210-252.

Simon

On Friday, 23 October 2020, Edward G. Miller <Edward.G.Miller@dartmouth.edu> wrote:

Dear Viet and everyone,

A few more important recent works in this area:

Phi Van Nguyen, “Fighting the First Indochina War Again? Catholic Refugees in the Republic of Vietnam, 1954-1959,” SOJOURN, Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 31, n.1 (2016): 207-246.

Phi Van Nguyen, “Les résidus de la guerre: la mobilisation des réfugiés du Nord pour un Vietnam non-communiste, 1954-1965,” Ph.D. Thesis, Université du Québec à Montréal, 2015.

Phi Van Nguyen, “La mise à sac de l'ambassade de France à Saigon de juillet 1964: les réfugiés du Nord face à la double menace de neutralisation,” Revue historique des armées 276 (2014): 57-68.

Jason Picard, “Fragmented Loyalties: the Great Migration’s Impact on South Vietnam, 1954-1963,” PhD. Thesis, University of California at Berkeley, 2014.

Jason Picard. “Fertile Lands Await: The Promise and Pitfalls of Directed Resettlement, 1954–1958.” Journal of Vietnamese studies 11, no. 3/4 (2016): 58–102.

Cheers,

Ed

Edward Miller

Associate Professor of History

Dartmouth College

6107 Carson Hall, Hanover, NH 03755

Edward.Miller@Dartmouth.edu

http://history.dartmouth.edu/people/edward-miller

From: Vsg <vsg-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Erik Harms

Sent: Friday, October 23, 2020 8:36 AM

To: Viet Thanh Nguyen <vnguyen@usc.edu>

Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Catholic resettlement in 1954

Dear Viet,

In addition to the important sources folks have already shared about 1954 Catholics, I would recommend that you look into the work of Gerald Hickey, who was very critical of Diem's policies toward non-Kinh groups, who were then lumped together under the categories Montagnard or "Highlanders". In addition to Hickey's published books, there are a lot of reports he wrote for the Rand Corporation which can be found in research libraries and in many cases online. For example, take this passage from a report called "Accommodation in South Vietnam: The Key to Sociopolitical Solidarity" written by Hickey for Rand in 1967:

"The policies of the Diem regime were aimed at rapid assimilation of the Highlanders into Vietnamese culture through such things as suppression of the Highlander Law Courts established by the French, doing away with instruction in those Highlander

languages which had alphabets, and changing all place names hitherto Highlander to Vietnamese. Bringing Vietnamese

culture to the highlands also was one of several goals of the Land Development Center Project which involved settling

Vietnamese (the planned total was 88,000 on 30,030 hectares, and by 1959 there were reported to be 38,000 on 13,000

hectares) on land without regard for Highlander land tenure claims. The Viet Cong played upon the consequent discontents

of the Highlanders (Radio Hanoi aided with broadcasts beamed to the southern highlands in four languages weekly), and by

1960 Viet Cong influence among the Highlanders was gaining." (p.16) (available online here: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjSv9T80crsAhUhknIEHQpLDycQFjAFegQIBRAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapps.dtic.mil%2Fsti%2Fpdfs%2FAD0660646.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2SrcUDZZVSATE6FP1EOlNI)

And of course, one of the most important books you can look into is Oscar Salemink's The Ethnography of Vietnam's Central Highlanders: A Historical Contextualization, 1850–1990 (Hawaii, 2003). Around page 190 of that book has discussions you might find interesting regarding the 1957 Land Development Program in the highlands that sought to settle the highlands with Kinh.

best wishes,

Erik

On Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 1:30 AM Viet Thanh Nguyen <vnguyen@usc.edu> wrote:

Hello everyone,

I’m wondering if people can point me towards sources that address the resettlement of northern Catholics in the south from 1954 onwards. Was there a program that determined where people would go, and what was the logic? I’m particularly interested (because of my own family history) in resettlement in Ban Mê Thuột, as it was spelled then, and the Central Highlands; and in whether there was any deliberate intention to resettle Catholics in areas with “ethnic minority” populations, as was the case with Ban Mê Thuột. I’m curious also as to any research on the relations and/or tensions between these Catholics, who I assume were all Kinh, and indigenous peoples, and to what extent indigeneity and internal colonization were considered in resettlement programs.

Thanks in advance.

Viet

---

Viet Thanh Nguyen

University Professor

Aerol Arnold Chair of English

Professor of English, Comparative Literature,

and American Studies & Ethnicity

University of Southern California

Website: vietnguyen.info

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