Works on intersection of nationalism, anticolonialism, and historical/literary canons

From: John Phan via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2024 1:37 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Works on intersection of nationalism, anticolonialism, and historical/literary canons

Dear all,

My sincerest apologies again for the terribly late replies, and thank you so very much to those who gave suggestions. We are hoping to get the course off the ground perhaps for next AY, and will keep VSG posted.

With my apologies again, John

From: Hue-Tam Tai via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2024 8:36 AM
To: mchale@gwu.edu; jdp49@cornell.edu
Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Works on intersection of nationalism, anticolonialism, and historical/literary canons

For literary works, both Phan Boi Chau and Nguyen An Ninh wrote plays about the Trung sisters that portrayed them as national heroines; Vu Trong Phung's Giong To featured a character who was involved in revolutionary politics (and depicted the status quo as corrupt.
Nhat Linh wrote several novels that hinted at revolutionary activities.
Regarding Shawn's message, I had the feeling that Le Cung, who was at Harvard for a while, wanted to make Buddhism and Buddhists better acceptable to the powers-that-be by highlighting the Buddhists' contribution to the revolution. This would make their situation easier.
There was a movement called Gia Dinh Phat Tu that did support the NLF. One of its members was Nguyen Dac Xuan (see Nha Ca's portrait of him in her Mourning Band for Hue). in 1969, in the wake  of the Tet Offensive, he fled to the maquis together with Nguyen Khoa Diem (later Minister of Culture and the son of the writers Hai Trieu and Dam Phuong) Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong and one more person whose name I don't recall.

Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Harvard University emerita

From: Shawn McHale via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2024 7:53 AM
To: John Phan <jdp49@cornell.edu>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Works on intersection of nationalism, anticolonialism, and historical/literary canons

John, 

What a welcome initiative! 

An interesting example might be the way in which religion has often been nationalized. A case history would be the Buddhist protests of 1963. A lot of the American diplomatic/ military approaches to this topic (e.g.  by Mark Moyar)) gives a very political spin on these protests: see his "Political Monks: The Militant Buddhist Movement during the Vietnam War." Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Oct., 2004), pp. 749-784. 

 But this political spin comes from a different direction from within Vietnam: thus, Lê Cung and Lê Thànnh Nam emphasize the important contribution to the "revolution" and for the "people" of these protesters in Cuộc vận động của Phật giáo Việt Nam năm 1963 (2023 revision). Nationalizing the event and through particular political allegiances and frames of understanding leaves readers impoverishes our understanding of such an event.  

One could come up with other examples -- one is arguments over the China-Vietnam border, which can be intensely political and intensely nationalized. But see Qingfei Yin's book (forthcoming) on State Building in Cold War Asia, which, again, gives a more complicated by also more interesting view of how people at borders actually act. See 

 https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/state-building-in-cold-war-asia/473C569D9AF8624781253CE9EEA87E52

From: John Phan via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2024 11:00 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] Works on intersection of nationalism, anticolonialism, and historical/literary canons

Dear colleagues,

We are putting together a new graduate course that will examine the role of nationalisms (plural) on the creation of historical and literary canons. I know it's a very broad topic, but we are in the early stages. I have the monographs of many of you already on the syllabus. But if anyone has any suggestions, either for scholarship on this broad issue, or on examples of canonized narratives of history or literature that may serve as illustrative of the nationalist reimaginings of literature or history, I'd be so grateful. We are looking for a diversity of narratives.

With many thanks, John

--

John D. Phan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures

Columbia University

New York, New York 10027

For quicker replies, please contact me at: john.phan@columbia.edu