Passing of Historian Pierre Brocheux
From: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2022 11:46 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Dear all,
Pierre Brocheux, an internationally recognized specialist in the history of Southeast Asia, Indochina and Vietnam, passed away at the age of 91 on December 25, 2022;
I invite you to read the following article that I wrote on him for the Alumni Association of the Lycée Chasseloup Laubat/Jean-Jacques Rousseau of Saigon (he was a professor of history and geography at this high school from 1960 to 1968).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1APpzzQSx4HKAGqFA-T25HrEQZqTVCemg/view?usp=sharing
Best regards and Happy New Year 2023 !!!
Nguyễn Ngọc Châu (author of two books on Việt Nam)
Visitez mon site https://sites.google.com/view/nguyenngocchau/accueil
From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2022 5:11 AM
To: yakiribocou@gmail.com; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
I am extremely sad to learn of Professeur Brocheux's death. I relied on his scholarship and enjoyed meeting him in person in Cambridge and in Paris.
He was more sympathetic than I was toward Albert Sarraut and the whole concept of the French "oeuvre" in Indochina. Perhaps this reflected our different family backgrounds. But his research, often in tandem with Daniel Hemery, was entirely reliable.
Thank you, anh Chau, for sharing this sad news.
Hue Tam Ho Tai
Harvard University emerita
From: Dien Nguyen <nguyendien519@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2022 11:27 AM
To: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Thank you, Anh Nguyễn Ngọc Châu, for sharing the sad news that Professor Pierre Brocheux has passed away.
I learned much about Việt Nam from Professor Brocheux's books. I did not know that he taught at the Lycée Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which was my high school from 1954 to 1961. I regret that I did not have the good fortune to be one of this students in 1960-61.
Nguyễn Điền
Canberra
From: Shawn McHale <mchale@gwu.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2022 12:58 PM
To: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Cc: yakiribocou@gmail.com; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Dear list,
This is indeed sad news. Pierre Brocheux is of course known for a range of his books, such as the once he co-wrote with Daniel Hémery entitled Indochine, la colonisation ambiguë, translated into English as Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonialism. His shorti-ish book on Hồ Chi Minh is a gem for its time -- he gets at the complexities of this individual without hagiography. And of course, unlike many foreign historians of Vietnam, he was actually interested in rural areas, a fact which came out in his book on the Mekong delta.
But such accomplishments aside, I appreciated him as a person. I first met Pierre Brocheux as a young graduate student carrying out doctoral research in 1991 or so. I think the Cambodia scholar David Chandler may have introduced me to him -- he was the one who told me about Pierre Brocheux's weekly seminar at Paris-VII. It turned out to be a quite lively affair at times. Piere Brocheux was exemplary in his advising to me, who was not, after all, a student in any French university. He invited me and my spouse to his home for dinner, introduced me to individuals in Paris (like the polymath Hoàng Xuân Hãn), and gave me invaluable research tips for work in France and Vietnam. Thanks to him, when I travelled to Vietnam, I was able to interview Nguyễn Đình Đầu, the Vietnamese Catholic historian born in the north who moved to the south, and saw and experienced key historical events. In such helpfulness, Pierre Brocheux represented the best of French hospitality.
Shawn McHale
From: Tan Pham <nxb315kio@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2022 8:34 PM
To: mchale@gwu.edu
Cc: yakiribocou@gmail.com; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
As reported in a Vietnamese FB
https://www.facebook.com/groups/373876840199844/permalink/1213647169556136/
Pierre Brocheux từ trần
------
Hôm nay là một ngày buồn cho Việt Nam (và cả cho Pháp). Giáo sư Pierre Brocheux (Pi-è Brô-Sơ) vừa qua đời ở tuổi 92. Ông là một trong những sử gia nổi tiếng, chuyên về thời kỳ Pháp thuộc.
.
Sinh ra ở Chợ Lớn, ông sang Pháp sau Chiến Tranh Thế Giới Thứ 2 và học cao học ở Paris trong thập niên 195x (Đại học Sorbonne), rồi sau đó về dạy ở trường trung học Pháp tại Sài Gòn trong thập niên 196x. Đến cuối thập niên, ông quay lại Pháp để bảo vệ luận án tiến sỹ rồi tiếp tục sự nghiệp giảng dạy. Ông dần được coi là một trong những chuyên gia hàng đầu về lịch sử Việt Nam. Ông đã được nhiều giải thưởng Việt Nam học, trong đó cái cuối cùng là giải thưởng Quỹ Phan Chu Trinh (do bà Nguyễn Thị Bình làm chủ tịch) năm 2018.
.
Cách đây hai năm, lần đầu được gặp ông, tôi thật không ngờ rằng với họ tên hoàn toàn Pháp, nét Việt Nam vẫn chiếm ưu thế trên khuôn mặt ông! Giới trí thức Hà Nội thì đã biết đến ông từ lâu. Những ai chưa biết ông thì chưa muộn để tham khảo quyển ”Indochine, la colonisation ambiguë 1858-1954” hay “Đông Dương, một nền thuộc địa nhập nhằng 1858-1954” (nếu bạn không biết tiếng Pháp). Theo ý kiến cá nhân thì đây là một trong những quyển hay nhất về lịch sử Việt Nam thời đó.
Kind regards,
Tan Pham
Author of a book series on Vietnamese history: A Traveller’s Story of Vietnam’s Past.
Volume One: The Bronze Drums and The Earrings.
Volume Two: One Thousand Years - The Stories of Giao Châu, the Kingdoms of Linyi, Funan and Zhenla.
From: David Del Testa <ddeltest@bucknell.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2022 6:45 AM
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Colleagues, I agree with Shawn in particular about Professor Brocheux's helpfulness and kindness. Of the French scholars of colonel Indochina, he and Daniel Hémery provided invaluable guidance to me during research in Paris in 1992-93 and again in Aix in 1995-96. While I never had a chance to attend the seminars, he had good stories to tell about doing research in Vietnam (particularly about visiting Nghệ An in 1986), and he had comments for a panel that Tobias Rettig and Sophie Quinn-Judge and I put together for EUROSEAS. I wish that I had had another chance to talk with him.
With best wishes, David Del Testa
From: Guillemot Francois <francois.guillemot@ens-lyon.fr>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2022 12:03 PM
To: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Dear Chau, dear all,
Many historians of our generation who make research on Vietnam in France will keep a deep memory to Pierre Brocheux who supported us in our new researchs outside the official historiography. He was a good and generous ears in his comments, he was also very present in Parisian colloquia and academic activities on Vietnam until a very recent period. Inhabited by the history of contemporary Vietnam and its destiny, he enjoyed debating on it. Finally, he was one of the co-founders of Afrase (Association France pour la Recherche sur l'Asie du Sud-Est), former students, friends and colleagues will regret him.
Sincere congratulations to his family.
F
---
15 parvis René Descartes
BP 7000, 69342 Lyon cedex 07
Guillemot François
Historien, ingénieur de recherche CNRS
Institut d'Asie Orientale - UMR 5062
Tél. 04 37 37 62 41
francois.guillemot@ens-lyon.fr
Responsable des collections vietnamiennes
Référent ingénierie de projets
Membre du Bureau éditorial d'ENS éditions
----------------------------
Carnets de recherche & ressources
https://guerillera.hypotheses.org/
https://indomemoires.hypotheses.org/
https://indosources.hypotheses.org/
From: Edward G. Miller <Edward.G.Miller@dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2022 12:30 PM
To: Guillemot Francois <francois.guillemot@ens-lyon.fr>; Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Dear Chau, François, and everyone,
I was very sad to hear the news of Pierre Brocheux’s death earlier this week. I only met him in person once, in 2003, when he invited me to visit him at his home in Paris. At the time, I was a graduate student conducting dissertation research. I had recently read his fantastic book on the Mekong Delta, and I was both excited and nervous to meet him. He was wonderfully supportive and encouraging and provided me with a great deal of useful advice.
My most recent communications with Pierre had to do with a chapter that he contributed to the forthcoming Cambridge History of the Vietnam War. I am editing the first volume of that collection, and I was delighted when he agreed to write the chapter on Ho Chi Minh. In my judgment, it is an excellent and very original essay. Hopefully it will be viewed as a fitting coda to an outstanding scholarly career!
Ed
Edward Miller (he, his, him)
Associate Professor of History
Director of the Dartmouth Digital History Initiative
Dartmouth College
6107 Carson Hall, Hanover, NH 03755
Edward.Miller@Dartmouth.edu
http://history.dartmouth.edu/people/edward-miller
From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 2, 2023 1:29 PM
To: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Dear anh Chau and list:
I was under the impression that Brocheux's mother was Chinese from Vietnam. Daniel Hemery, I believe, had been a Trotskyist. Both tried to intervene on my father's behalf after my father was arrested in 1978 for publicly advocating that the Vietnamese state observe freedom of opinion. They reported to me that Pham van Dong had told them, by way of declining their plea, that he expected only one-third of his orders to be implemented. I could hear in their voices how disappointed they were by their meeting with him and what they saw in Vietnam.
Did what was happening in Vietnam lead to their disenchantment with communism? or did Mitterand and the Socialist Party hasten the demise of the PCF (not to mention the opulent headquarters of the PCF that became an easy target of criticism)?
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Harvard University emerita
From: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 2, 2023 2:31 PM
To: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Dear Hue-Tam and the list
I was at the funeral of Pierre Brocheux this morning. I met Daniel Hemery who gave me his written thoughts on my book two years ago.
Two years ago, they only told me that both joined the French Communist Party when they were young by idealism, and that they were disappointed because they didn't find what they hoped for and they were in disagreement with the Party.
Regards,
Nguyễn Ngọc Châu, author of two books on Việt Nam history
Visitez mon site https://sites.google.com/view/nguyenngocchau/accueil
From: Dien Nguyen <nguyendien519@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2023 12:52 AM
To: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Cc: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Dear Chị Huệ Tâm and list,
Pierre Brocheux wrote in 2018 when he received the Phan Châu Trinh Prize that his mother was from the Trương family which originated from Phan Thiết and then moved to Vĩnh Long:
Trong diễn từ gửi Ban tổ chức giải thưởng văn hóa Phan Châu Trinh năm 2018 khi anh và Daniel được tặng giải "nghiên cứu Việt học", Pierre tóm tắt cuộc đời và 40 năm nghiên cứu sử học như sau :
“ Cho phép tôi trong vài lời bày tỏ cùng quý vị hành trình cá nhân và nghề nghiệp của tôi. Tôi càng dễ nhạy cảm hơn trong thức nhận về các công trình chép sử của tôi khi nó bắt nguồn từ đất nước mà tôi gọi là đất mẹ của tôi trong khi tổ quốc tôi là đất nước của cha tôi. Nhà Brocheux vốn thuộc một dòng họ vùng Normandie còn mẹ tôi lại thuộc dòng họ Trương mà cái nôi sinh thành là Phan Thiết và sau đó đã di cư về Vĩnh Long.”
https://www.diendan.org/nhung-con-nguoi/georges-henri-va-hom-nay-pierre
The same Diễn Đàn article listed Pierre Brocheux's principal publications:
Pierre Brocheux : Những chuyên khảo
Ngoài những bài nghiên cứu đăng trên các tập san chuyên ngành, Pierre Brocheux cũng là tác giả (hay đồng tác giả) của nhiều sách chuyên khảo chung quanh chủ đề giải thực, đặc biệt là ở Đông Dương. Có thể kể:
- Histoire de l'Asie du Sud-Est : révoltes, réformes et révolutions [Lịch sử Đông Nam Á : nổi loạn, cải cách và cách mạng], Presses universitaires de Lille, 1981
- The Mekong Delta. Ecology, Economy and Revolution. 1860-1960 [Châu thổ sông Cửu Long: Sinh thái, Kinh tế và Cách mạng]. Wisconsin University Press, 1995, tái bản năm 2009
- (viết chung với Daniel Hémeery) Indochine, la colonisation ambiguë, Paris, La Découverte, coll. « Textes à l'appui/ série histoire contemporaine », 1995, 427 p. Cuốn này đã được Giải thưởng văn chương về châu Á năm 1996 của Hiệp hội các nhà văn viết tiếng Pháp (Prix littéraire de l'Asie de l'Association des écrivains de langue française 1996), và đã tái bản năm 2000. Được dịch ra tiếng Anh do NXB Đại học California (University of California Press) xuất bản năm 2013. Nó cũng đã được dịch ra tiếng Việt với nhan đề Đông Dương: Một Nền Thuộc Địa Nhập Nhằng / Giai Đoạn 1858 – 1954, Nxb Thế Giới 2022.
- Hô Chi Minh Une Biographie, Presses de Sciences Po, coll. « Références/Facettes », 2000, được Claire Duiker chuyển ngữ sang tiếng Anh, nhà xuất bản ĐH Cambridge University ấn hành năm 2007. Theo GS David G. Marr, Đại học Quốc gia Úc, cuốn tiểu sử này là “Một công trình nghiên cứu có cách tiếp cận tinh tế nhất về nhân vật lịch sử phức tạp cũng như biểu tượng Hồ Chí Minh mà tôi đã được đọc từ trước đến nay. GS Brocheux cho chúng ta thấy cách kiến giải riêng của ông về Hồ Chí Minh mà không bị sa vào lối viết mang tính giả tưởng”.
- Hô Chi Minh, du révolutionnaire à l’icône [Hồ Chí Minh, Từ nhà cách mạng tới một biểu tượng], Payot, 2003, được giải thưởng mang tên Auguste Pavie của Hàn Lâm Viện Pháp quốc Hải ngoại (Prix Auguste-Pavie 2003 de l'Académie des sciences d'outre-mer), và dịch ra tiếng Anh với nhan đề Vietnam Expose, and New biography of Ho Chi Minh. Tác giả đã trả lời đài BBC Tiếng Việt về cuốn sách này, ở đây.
- Une histoire économique du Viet Nam : 1850-2007 : la palanche et le camion [Một lịch sử kinh tế của Việt Nam: 1850-2007: Chiếc đòn gánh và Xe tải], Les Indes savantes 2009.
- Histoire du Vietnam contemporain : la nation résiliente [Lịch sử Việt Nam đương đại: Một dân tộc bền bỉ], Fayard, 2011.
- Les décolonisations au XXe siècle : la fin des empires européens et japonais [Những cuộc giải thực trong thế kỷ XX, sự kết thúc của các đế quốc châu Âu và Nhật Bản], A.Colin, 2012 (PB là chủ biên và đồng tác giả).
- Viet Nam Exposé. French Scholarship on Twentieth Century Vietnamese Society, The University of Michigan Press, 2002 (PB cùng Gissèle Bosquet là chủ biên và đồng tác giả).
Nguyễn Điền
Canberra
From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2023 4:46 AM
To: nguyendien519@gmail.com
Cc: yakiribocou@gmail.com; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
Anh Dien and list:
Thank you for this biographical information on Pierre Brocheux.
Hue Tam Ho Tai
Harvard University emerita
From: Ha Vu <havu90@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2023 6:12 AM
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Historian Pierre Brocheux left us on 25 december 2022
It's really sad to hear about Pierre's passing. I met Pierre many years ago while doing research in France as an undergrad. He generously welcomed me into his home and shared many stories, and I had such fond memories of the experience. He pointed me to an interview about his childhood in Indochina that was published that listserv members may find of interest
https://www.cairn.info/de-l-indochine-a-l-algerie--9782707140074-page-32.htm
Ha Ngan (Milkie) Vu
Assistant Professor
Northwestern University