Raymond Feddema

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 23:22:53 +0200

From: Oscar Salemink <OJHM.Salemink@fsw.vu.nl>

Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu

To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Raymond Feddema

Dear list,

This is to let you know that on 26 September Raymond Feddema passed away in Amsterdam, only 53 years old, after an almost 7-year battle with cancer.

Some of you who have been involved in Vietnam studies for a longer period of time may remember Raymond as one of the people who pioneered the study of Vietnam in the Netherlands since the early 1980s, based at the Institute of Modern Asian History of the University of Amsterdam. Back then he was involved in one of the 26 university cooperation programs between Vietnamese and Dutch universities that on the Dutch side had its roots in the solidarity movement with Vietnam, and that on the Vietnamese side was headed by Prof. Phan Huy Le. Raymond conducted his own archival research in France and Vietnam, culminating in a doctoral dissertation entitled (in translation) Asociety in crisis: Continuity and change in the Tonkin Delta, 1827-1927. But perhaps more important than his research was his role as a teacher and a storyteller. He was always one of the students favorite lecturers, supervising hundreds of masters theses over the years. His narrative and performative gifts earned him a place as a welcome guest in the Dutch media especially on radio and television.

For a variety of reasons Raymond moved away from Vietnam studies and from the discipline of history in the 1990s, as his institute was integrated into the Department of International Relations. Geographically, he shifted his interest to East Asia especially Korea and Japan; and within international relations he developed an interest in contemporary security and financial issues having to do with Asia. Testimony to this is the book he edited with Kurt Radtke, Comprehensive security in Asia: Views from Asia and the West on a changing security environment (Leiden 2000).

During the same period he became more active in extra-academic projects, doing projects and consultancies in the context of policy think tanks or working for a larger audience: the media. The high point of the latter was the 2001 Emmy Award for best documentary film that he and director Peter Tetteroo received for their film Welcome in North Korea, shot under extremely difficult circumstances. During those years, when he was already battling his disease, he kept up his optimism and constantly bubbled with ideas and plans for next projects.

To me, Raymond Feddema was a teacher, my first mentor in Vietnam studies, my master's thesis supervisor, and the person who accompanied me to Hanoi to study Vietnamese there in 1987. I have fond memories of us riding our bikes in Hanoi, trying to avoid the potholes in pitch black nights during week-long power blackouts, on our way to the next quoc lui bar - usually a pho place. More than a teacher and (later) a colleague, he was a friend to me. Raymond was an extremely generous person, a warm and sparkling personality, a bon-vivant and storyteller, and the sheer embodiment of optimism. During the years that his health went up and down, Raymond enthusiastically kept making plans for future projects. One of the projects that he will never carry out is a BBC series on Vietnam that he was discussing after the Emmy Award. In fact, making plans was part of his lifestyle, and in this way Raymond battled his disease with his willpower, his optimism and his inextinguishable lust for life until the very end. Which came way too early, for himself, his family, and his friends.

Raymond leaves his partner, Truke van Koeverden. If you wish, you can send your condolences to her at Geldersekade 18A, 1012 BH Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Oscar Salemink