VN "inward turn," Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
From: Edward G. Miller via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2024 7:50 AM
To: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Dear Châu,
My monograph on Ngô Đình Diệm, which was published in English in 2013 under the title Misalliance, was translated and published in Vietnam in 2016 by National Politics Publishing House. It appeared under the Vietnamese title Liên minh sai lầm: Ngô Đình Diệm và số phận Nam Việt Nam. This spring, the publisher brought out a second edition:
Your question about which books get published in Vietnam is a very important one, I think. In the case of my book, I told the publisher from the outset that it would not be possible to publish a Vietnamese edition if it was censored. The reason was that my American publisher (Harvard University Press) has a policy of refusing to license censored translations. I held firm on this throughout the process of reviewing the Vietnamese translation. Despite my insistence, more than one of the agencies/offices that reviewed the text wanted to make changes to particular sentences, or even to delete a few lines altogether. At one point I expected that the entire project would be scuttled over these disagreements. But in the end, the publishing house devised a solution acceptable to everyone: the portions of the text that had been flagged by the censors were allowed to remain in the published edition, but with a footnote stating “in the opinion of the author” (theo quan điểm của tác giả).
I know that some of the works of history by non-Vietnamese authors that have been published in Vietnam have been censored to varying degrees. For example, I understand that Larry Berman’s book Perfect Spy on Phạm Xuân Ẩn was censored, but in a fairly minimal way. I don’t know if there are any other examples of publishers using the workaround that was devised in the case of my book.
Cheers,
Ed
Edward Miller (he, his, him)
Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies
Chair of the Department of Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages
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: Chau NGUYEN NGOC via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2024 10:37 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Thanks a lot for your answers.
What are the differences between the books authorized to be published in Viet Nam and the ones not authorized?
Pierre Brocheux could not have his translated book on Hồ Chí Minh published in Viet Nam.
Nguyễn Ngọc Châu
Mes articles (plus de 30.500 vues)
https://independent.academia.edu/ChauNGUYENNGOC2
From: Tan Pham via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2024 6:09 PM
To: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
interesting question, but Keith Taylor, George Dutton, Li Tana and others have had their books translated and published in VN.
https://sachkhaiminh.com/viet-nam-thoi-dung-nuoc-keith-weller-taylor
https://www.khaitam.com/lich-su-1/xu-dang-trong-lich-su-kinh-te-xa-hoi-viet-nam-the-ky-17-18
https://www.khaitam.com/lich-su-1/lich-su-viet-nam/cuoc-noi-day-cua-nha-tay-son
Kind regards,
Tan Pham (NZ)
Author of a book series on Vietnamese history: A Traveller’s Story of Vietnam’s Past.
Volume One: The Bronze Drums and The Earrings. ISBN: 978-0-473-59804-4.
Volume Two: One Thousand Years - The Stories of Giao Châu, the Kingdoms of Linyi, Funan and Zhenla. ISBN 978-0-473-63527-5.
From: David Marr via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2024 2:57 PM
To: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Two of my books were translated and published in Vietnam. Two others were translated but the rejected by the censors for publication.
David Marr
ANU
From: Chau NGUYEN NGOC via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2024 1:25 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
You do research in Viet Nam and write books on Vietnamese history. Are your books being read in Viet Nam? Have you published books in Viet Nam?
Nguyễn Ngọc Châu
Mes articles (plus de 30.500 vues)
https://independent.academia.edu/ChauNGUYENNGOC2
From: Pierre Asselin via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2024 10:30 AM
To: Hoang Vu <hmv23@cornell.edu>
Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Dear All:
As a quick follow-up to all this, and advice for young foreign researchers: the practice of gifting is fine and even recommended, but be sure that the gift is small, thoughtful, and never in the form of a cash sum. Trinkets from your university, good tea, fresh and cute little Korean pastries for everyone (my own go-to solution!) are good ideas. To avoid any perception of seeking favor, or creating undue pressure on local staff, follow the golden rule: provide the gift on your very last day of work at the archives, or wherever you have conducted your research (if you're there for several months, bringing in fruit once-in-a-while, whatever is in season, will always be appreciated, not to mention make you look like a pro!) Your gift will have far more meaning, and eliminate any potential for misunderstanding, if there is no chance for "repayment" of any sort. And if you plan to return to said archives or other site, it's a good way to build trust and a collegial relationship with your hosts. Showing respect and appreciation for others and being respected and appreciated in return goes a long way towards facilitating everyone's work.
Pierre
.
Pierre Asselin
Professor of History - Dwight E. Stanford Chair in US Foreign Relations
San Diego State University
History Department
5500 Campanile Dr.
San Diego, CA 92182-6050
From: Cau Thai via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 5:27 PM
To: David Marr <phanmarr@gmail.com>
Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
I have enjoyed traveling and found the power of a smile or being polite, being patient almost everywhere in the world. However a lack of "flirtatious smiles" and the like should play no role in the situation that several members just mentioned.
Almost 10 years ago, I experienced something similar to what was described. For more than 5 preceding years, per their request in preparation for a legal proceeding, we worked with MoFA officials to help strengthen Vietnam's case in the South China sea disputes. The effort went well until everything came to a sudden stop in early 2016.
There was no more communication from these officials or if any, then it was not relating to what we had done together in the prior years. We did not know the real reason until I met one of them, coming from Vietnam for some meetings in DC. Over dinner, he told me that due to a leadership change, Vietnam had "một chính sách mới về Biển Đông" and legal proceeding was no longer in that policy.
I hope that whatever it is now is only temporary, whether it is regarding the pressure placed by the local authority on church volunteers in the invalid ARVN soldier case, the harassment that an 80-plus-year old woman in Saigon faced, as cited on the List several weeks ago, or the changes or impacts that researchers and scholars in the West have gone through in Vietnam.
Vietnam cannot afford to go back to "the grim 1976-85 era" while other countries in the region are moving ahead at full speed.
Best wishes,
Calvin Thai
Independent
PS: I met some of these officials in Vietnam last year. We have remained friends.
From: David Marr via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 4:08 PM
To: Hoang Vu <hmv23@cornell.edu>
Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
On first reading of this useful exchange, it sounds like a return to the grim 1976-85 era. I remember at the Archives in Hanoi having to submit my pen notes to the monitor for initialing before exiting the reading room. Can’t be that bad today?
How are indigenous Vietnamese scholars commenting? Which topics are newly sensitive? Are journals tightening up? Access to external information is now ten times less difficult than before.
David Marr
ANU
From: Hoang Vu via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 9:00 AM
To: Pierre Asselin <passelin@sdsu.edu>
Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Dear Prof. Hue-Tam,
Before I get into trouble, I want to clarify that I haven't seen anything untoward said or done between researchers and archives staff. Those of us who have worked in Vietnamese office environments know that often people tend to take a very deep interest in our personal lives. As a young man working in the archives, I have been constantly asked whether I am married or have a girlfriend, and until recently the answer was no, leading to further personal questions. In these cases, instead of taking offense, I try to smile back and take their questioning as a positive sign of care, whereas in Western work environments that might be seen differently. It is the same with small gifts: it is certainly uncommon in Western environments to give small gifts to archivists, but in Vietnam, while I would not say they are expected, they can help establish rapport in a gift-giving society.
The main message, as Pierre so eloquently put it, is that there are many differences and indeed challenges, bureaucratic and cultural, in working in Vietnam. Most often, staff and officials are well-meaning and eager to help but are constrained by the ambiguity of regulations. At the same time, there is a real responsibility for researchers to protect the livelihoods and safety of the people who help us. Fellow researchers and institutions like Fulbright can and should help researchers navigate these evolving challenges, which should not stand in the way of productive research.
Hoang Minh Vu
Columbia & Fulbright University Vietnam
From: Pierre Asselin via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 8:20 AM
To: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Dear All:
Oh, I remember the days when my "flirtatious smiles" used to work at Archives 3.... back in the mid-1990s. Now that I'm in my mid-50s, I just creep people out....
Seriously, though, there's something to be said for always remaining polite and patient in our interactions with Vietnamese colleagues and counterparts. I've definitely noticed a "hardening" of sorts on the Vietnam side since COVID. I can no longer give lectures on any topic I want at public institutions. Public security showed up at one of my talks in Hanoi two years ago. Archives 3 demanded a letter of introduction for my last two visits, something I no longer had to provide in pre-COVID days. There's clearly stuff going on behind-the-scenes, as Danielle's original message suggested, and as other members of this list have indicated on their postings about Hanoi's ongoing war on corruption inside and outside of the otherwise infallible Party. The thing to keep in mind for us is, the people at various institutions in Vietnam we as scholars, NGO personnel, and other workers interact with always/usually want to help and accommodate us, but they have to be careful because they answer to higher authorities. They're following current internal regulations. Jobs, livelihoods, professional relationships may be on the line for some. Fundamentally, and as Comrade Hoang points out, it's part of the fun of doing research and other work in a socialist paradise. It certainly can be terribly frustrating at times, but so damn gratifying, fulfilling, and pleasant at others.
And believe me, however challenging it might be/feel for some of you now, everything remains so much better and easier today than it was before. And that makes me smile.
Pierre
Pierre Asselin
Professor of History - Dwight E. Stanford Chair in US Foreign Relations
San Diego State University
History Department
5500 Campanile Dr.
San Diego, CA 92182-6050
From: Hue-Tam Tai via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 7:36 AM
To: Hoang Vu <hmv23@cornell.edu>; ben.kerkvliet@anu.edu.au
Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
"Cute gifts and flirtatious smiles"? Is that how one should conduct research in Vietnam? Wow!!
I have experience having workshops and conferences held up by bureaucrats fearful of making decisions.
I recently was told by heads of research institutes to avoid working through VASS. Fulbright U is in a different situation vis-a-vis the authorities than other universities. Its advantages cannot be replicated.
Hue Tam Ho Tai
Harvard University emerita
From: Hoang Vu via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 6:08 AM
To: Benedict Kerkvliet <ben.kerkvliet@anu.edu.au>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Dear list,
Directives and laws in Vietnam have always been evolving and will often appear more constraining and burdensome than the practical reality. I sincerely hope no researcher is discouraged from working in Vietnam and contributing to the study and development of the country because of the byzantine bureaucracy. It is the mission of the Vietnam Studies Center at Fulbright University Vietnam to act as an on-the-ground hub supporting all researchers who want work on Vietnam, through issuing introduction letters and fostering institutional and personal connections, helping with long- and short-term research visas, and providing information, research guidance, and academic resources. Please find attached our Visiting Scholar application procedure. Our support to international scholars has always and will continue to be extended free of charge — we only ask that you in turn contribute something (talk, report, performance, etc.) to our community and acknowledge our support in your publications. Over the past years, we have been helping dozens of international scholars with their projects, including many list members.
I have the greatest respect for Bill and agree with his assessment that Vietnamese society is becoming more closed domestically, but I find the article prematurely pessimistic on foreign relations with the West. Vietnam is undergoing a leadership change rather than a regime change, and its domestic policy transition has little congruence with foreign policy orientation. The new leaders of Vietnam will continue to tread the (at times infuriating) strategic middle ground, fostering robust diplomatic engagement, economic integration, and political and military cooperation with a wide range of international partners.
On a lighter note, while restrictions on research in Vietnam can often be frustrating and discouraging, I have found that the challenge is often part of the fun and adds to the quality and accomplishment of the works. I have witnessed my fellow historians and political scientists earn the trust and genuine friendship of archivists with cute gifts and flirtatious smiles, while foraging through the back alley booksellers and fostering personal connections with officials for the inside scoops. I have seen artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers outsmart the censors with creative and subtle methods, and this interaction and evolving dialogue with censorship has increased the depth and sophistication of their art. I have been in awe of anthropologists, sociologists, and journalists who spent years taking on personal risks to immerse themselves into vulnerable communities on society’s edge and tell their candid stories with groundbreaking research that has pushed the boundaries of methodology in their fields. I have seen researchers make painstaking efforts cross-referencing, gathering mountains of evidence, and carefully workshopping their writing to get their stories watertight in the face of state officials carrying the demeanor of Reviewer 2. Sometimes, doing research in Vietnam is all about having the right attitude, mindset, and chutzpah. After all, what is Jerry 🐁 without Tom 🐈⬛? Have fun researching everyone!
Hoang Minh Vu
Columbia University & Fulbright University Vietnam
From: Benedict Kerkvliet via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2024 11:51 PM
To: Danielle Labbé <danielle.labbe@umontreal.ca>; Pamela McElwee <pdmcelwee@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Dear colleagues,
The messages from Danielle and Pam greatly sadden and disturb me. Vietnamese authorities in key sectors of the hierarchy appear to be going backwards, to the 1980s, when rules and regulations greatly hampered academic and research collaboration and interaction between Vietnamese and "western" (but also Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, and other Asian) scholars and institutions.
To overcome and break through those obstacles, various Vietnamese scholars and organizations struggled and, gradually, succeeded. I'm thinking especially of Professor Phan Huy Le /Phan Huy Lê/ and the Trung tam Nghien Cuu Vietnam (Trung tâm Nghiên Cứu Việt Nam) he led (I don't know if diacritics will travel intact to every email address), but there were others.
So, I'm wondering, are there now, in 2024, such folks and groups in Vietnam who can struggle against the new, regressive (in my view) measures? I don't know; I'm out of the loop not having been to Vietnam since pre-covid. I would hope the successor to Professor Le's center, Vien Viet Nam Hoc va Khoa Hoc Phat Trien Viet Nam (Viện Việt Nam Học và Khoa Học Phát triển Việt Nam) could be an advocate for scholars like Pam and Danielle. Does anyone in the VSG list know? And might there be other such advocates? If so, how might we in VSG help?
Best wishes to all,
Ben
Ben Kerkvliet
Emeritus Professor
Australian National University
From: Mark Sidel via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2024 6:29 AM
To: Pamela McElwee <pdmcelwee@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] Increasing securitization in Vietnam — multiple aspects
Following up on Danielle’s and Pam’s posts, I should add that these increasing restrictions — what we call “securitization” in the Chinese context and there is no reason not to use that term for Vietnam — go far beyond the important foreign/joint research context into other related areas.
Three examples among many:
1. Foreign NGOs are finding it harder to get permission to set up offices and projects in Vietnam, the result of new regulation, hardened implementation, and delays in approvals/decision making.
2. Domestic nonprofits of various kinds are finding it harder to bring foreign donations onshore, also the result of new regulation as well as hardened implementation and delays in approvals from regulatory agencies.
3. And of course the increasing repression of civil society activists in Vietnam as well as — importantly — some quite establishment civil society people and researchers who are running/working in registered nonprofits — also a result of increasing securitization.
I’ve written about some of this at https://usali.org/usali-perspectives-blog/vietnams-closing-space-for-civil-society but others have too, at greater length, notably Project 88 and other human rights groups.
In general we know more about the dynamics of these processes in China than in Vietnam because there’s been more written about the increasing constraints in China, and because China tends to be more explicit about the growing role of security services and “securitization” in these and other matters.
A couple of other points:
1. Delays in approving projects and funding (without giving a formal “no”) are a feature of the increasingly constrained environment.
But do such delays represent actual implementation of new, hardened policy, or, perhaps, sometimes, a form of careful institutional resistance to that securitization?
If a formal answer (on registration, projects, funding, cooperation) would have to be “no” in the current hardened, securitized situation, are delays in responding without ever saying a formal “no” a way of saying no, or are they a way of, sometimes, regulatory institutions avoiding saying no (through delay) to try to maintain some cooperation in a securitized environment? (I’m looking at you, VUFO and PACCOM….)
2. Second, in China there are academic institutions which have the ability to continue with some kinds of exchange and cooperation work when many others cannot — because of special status; or special relationships with security agencies; or occasionally some enhanced, careful courage; or relationships with local or national institutions that are prepared to go a bit further.
Without overstating this, I would note that Tsinghua University in Beijing is an example of this in some fields (for several of the reasons mentioned above).
Are we seeing that dynamic in Vietnam of academic institutions that can still do some more things in the current situation — and if so what factors determine that?
3. Given the timing of all this — many of these constraints ramping up well before Directive 24 was promulgated — it may be useful to recognize that Directive 24 is a reflection of securitization and a push forward for it without being the origination of some of these constraints.
Many of the constraints discussed in this and the other postings visibly began well before Directive 24 was promulgated.
I have taken the liberty of changing the heading to reflect a broader set of securitization issues of which Directive 24 is an important part rather than being the motivating event, at least in some cases.
My apologies for this long post, which reflects a number of things I’ve been working on.
Best wishes…. Mark
Mark Sidel | UW-Madison | sidel@wisc.edu
From: Pamela McElwee via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2024 4:59 AM
To: Danielle Labbé <danielle.labbe@umontreal.ca>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Danielle’s experience is one I have also had since 2022. It is exactly the same - a new requirement that started in fall 2022 for any international funding for scientific projects to get approval of multiple *ministries* and public security departments is extraordinary and extremely time consuming and cumbersome. Universities don’t fully understand how to go through the process and I have had 9 month delays on projects only to have requests for the entire topic to be changed. In the past, I have never had requests for publications to be reviewed before submitting to a publisher before, which are now in place and which I assume will go through the same delays and censorship.
It has put a very strong damper on foreign cooperation for research and will have a very negative effect on Vietnamese researchers, who already had barriers to accessing international grant funding. It’s going to be hard to build globally recognized universities for STEM, as Vietnam wants to do, without rethinking these restrictions on research cooperation. I myself am already moving away from Vietnam to other Southeast Asian countries for research cooperation, which is a shame given my history of 30 years of work with Vietnamese institutions.
Pam McElwee, Rutgers
From: Danielle Labbé via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, May 12, 2024 7:46 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] VN "inward turn, " Directive 24 - impact on foreign researchers?
Dear VSG colleagues,
Following up on the recently published analysis by Bill Hayton, David Brown and other observers of the political landscape in Vietnam, I would like to ask if other foreign researchers in the group have noticed changes or impacts on their research activities in Vietnam echoing what Bill calls an “inward turn” in reference to politics? My experience of the last couple years might be an epiphenomenon here but I have noticed (and been impacted by the following):
Difficulties getting more than a 3-month research visa and the local institutions I work with reporting a more burdensome and complicated process (note: these shorter visa also mean I can’t have a bank account in Vietnam anymore. The one I had had for years here was “frozen” in 2021);
One institution declining to renew a MoU of cooperation with my home university in Canada because it is too “politically risky.”
The same institution informing me that they now need to get the approval of 4 different ministries, including the Min. of Foreign Affairs and the MPI to receive any research funding from abroad (a process of approval which now takes months);
Requirement that any publication I produce in collaboration with the researchers of the public research institutions I work with be “reviewed” by said institution before it is submitted to make sure it contains no “false information”;
International NGOs active in VN for decades I have been collaborating with being increasingly weary of collaborating with foreign researchers, especially if it involves fieldwork or any form of contact with local authorities and government more generally;
Increasing difficulties to get authorizations from local governments to be able to do data collection (surveys, etc.) with residents and local partners increasingly unwilling to try getting such authorizations.
I could add other examples.
I’m wondering if this is just happening to me or if other have had similar experiences in the last couple years or so and whether it is affecting what you are able to do in Vietnam in terms of research.
Feel free to reply privately if you prefer.
Danielle Labbé
Prof. Urban Planning
University of Montreal
De : Vsg <vsg-bounces@mailman12.u.washington.edu> De la part de David Brown via Vsg
Envoyé : 11 mai 2024 02:22
À : Carl Robinson <robinsoncarl88@gmail.com>; Dan Tsang <dtsang@uci.edu>; John Berthelsen <jberthelsen@asiasentinel.com>; Michael Tatarski <matatarski@gmail.com>; Mitu <mitu305@gmail.com>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Objet : Re: [Vsg] Vietnam’s political turmoil reveals a turn towards China – and away from the West | Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank
Re the purge . . . I’d say Bill Hayton’s analysis of the intra-CPV purge is spot-on. With or without General Secretary Trong’s blessing, the cops
have laid waste the gov’f wing of the party. Hayton may be right about a closer entente with the PRC too. Time will tell.
Link to my latest on this: asiasentinel.com/p/viet-communist-party-eats-it’s-own
Regards, David Brown
On Fri, May 10, 2024 at 10:51 Dan Tsang via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu> wrote:
Bill Hayton's analysis
Dan
Daniel C. Tsang
Librarian Emeritus
University of California, Irvine