Politics 146b Mr Hindley
Spring Semester 2014
SEMINAR: REVOLUTION IN THE THIRD WORLD:
THE VIETNAMESE REVOLUTION AND WARS
Contact information forProfessor Hindley:
Office: Golding 118; office hours Mondays 12:10 to 1:10 p.m.; Thursdays 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.; and by appointment.
Email: . It is my wont to respond quickly to email.
Telephone: X62757
This seminar seeks to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the Vietnamese Revolution and Wars. The focus is on the Vietnamese people – using English-language sources.
You are urged to purchase the following six paperback books:
Bao Ninh: The Sorrow of War. A Novel of North Vietnam
**William J. Duiker:Sacred War. Nationalism and Revolution in a Divided Vietnam
Duong Thu Huong: Novel Without a Name
Duong Van Mai Elliott: The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family
Andrew X. Pham: Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam
Truong Nhu Tang: A Vietcong Memoir.
**William J. Duiker is, in my opinion, the best analyst of the Vietnam Revolution/Wars. I ask that you purchase for early reading, and regular reference, his Sacred War. Nationalism and Revolution in a Divided Vietnam. It is long out of print, but available, used, at a reasonable price, at amazon.com. Duiker is also the author of Ho Chi Minh: A Life,the lengthy but superb political biography of “Uncle Ho” (1890-1969), the George Washington and much more of Vietnam’s fight for independence.
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This reading list is not as formidable as it may appear at first sight.
The first two books to sink your teeth into happen to be the two “sacreds.”
Duiker’s Sacred Warprovides the basic, overall story of the revolution within a reasonable space.Duong Van MaiElliott’s The Sacred Willow is necessarily long, but is a wonderful, rich, deeply informed and humane family history that will introduce you to the Vietnamese as no other source I know.
The other four books are “easy reads.”
The Sorrow of War and Novel Without a Name are novels written by survivors from the North Vietnamese forces fighting in South Vietnam, mostly against the Americans.
Truong Nhu Tang (Vietcong Memoir) was a South Vietnamese intellectual, a founder of the National Liberation Front (NLF) who became Minister of Justice in the Viet Cong government in the jungle; he fled abroad as “liberation” turned into a Communist Party dictatorship.
Andrew X. Pham (Catfish and Mandala) was taken to the U.S. as his parents fled the communist victory; as a young Vietnamese American he visited “home,” bicycling the length of Vietnam – at the time when the economy had hit post-“liberation” bottom.
EXPECTED OF ALL STUDENTS:
1) To attend every class and to participate therein.
2) To read the to-be-purchased books. I recommend that you start Duiker’s Sacred War and Elliott’s The Sacred Willow immediately, and at the same time begin one of the novels. Do take notes as you read, especially of what particularly catches your attention and curiosity, or what raises questions and comments. There will be class discussions of the books.
3) To make a class presentation of about 20 minutes on a topic from Indochinese history (before the arrival of the French), or the geography, peoples and cultures of Vietnam or of the other Indochinese states (Cambodia and Laos). Powerpoint presentations are most welcome but not required.
4) To prepare a page research paper of some 20 or so pages on a subject directly involved with the revolution/wars from 1941 onwards. I expect that these findings will also be presented to the class.
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I would like the seminar to move generally in a chronological line, with research topics spanning the various periods and presented in more or less chronological order. The entire class should be reading the chronologically relevant parts of Duiker’s Sacred War and Elliott’s The Sacred Willow, and would be expected to attend class with notes from those texts for comment, discussion and question.
THE MAJOR HISTORICAL PERIODS
We are concerned in this course with 1) through 4)
1) The French colonial period, with the emergent Vietnamese nationalist response and the successful French efforts at repression, 1850’s to 1945
2) The “August Revolution” of 1945, when communist-led nationalists seized control of much of Vietnam and established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)
3) The War against France, 1945-1954
4) The War against Saigon and the USA, late 1950’s to April 1975
5) The Communists in power after “liberation.” At first the failed attempt to create a prosperous communist society; and wars with communist Cambodia and China (and the occupation of Cambodia from late 1978 to1989)
6) From the late 1980’s, and following the Chinese example, a cautious opening to capitalism. Vietnam finally joined the booming AsianTigers in the 1990’s.
SOME TOPICS THAT MAY COME TO INTEREST YOU, and for which there are adequate sources for a presentation and/or research paper.
For example, the role of women in the struggle; the CPV’s political and/or military strategies; what the Communists did with the Northern half of the country after they gained full control of it in 1954; the Ho Chi Minh Trail; U.S. “counter-insurgency” strategies; the Vietnamese Communists’ relations with their “brother” revolutionaries in Laos and Cambodia; and the relations of the Vietnamese communist leaders with the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The continuation and ultimate victory of the Revolution depended on massive
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aid from both China and the USSR – who by 1960 were openly bitter enemies. Or the “Vietnam War” as it embroiled Cambodia and Laos (Laos became the most heavily bombed country in world history). Or what happened to Cambodia (“the Killing Fields”) or Laos after liberation in 1975.
GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY AND PEOPLES OF VIETNAM
Vietnam. A Country Study (1987) is a good, encyclopaedic source to begin with: Read Chapter 1, “Historical Setting” and from Chapter 2, “The Society and Environment,” include especially geography, ethnic groups, and religions. The immediate post-Liberation economy and politics are not directly relevant to our inquiry, but may be of interest - to see what happened after the victory.
Four maps:
Basic topographical map of Indochina:
Basic political map of Indochina:
Superb clickable topographical of Indochina:
Excellent clickable ethno-linguistic map of Indochina:
Some Vietnamese government sitesare now quite classy, and with links and information ranging far beyond “tourism.” You might look into and explore: - for example, - and (doclick on “Vietnam” and “Galleries”).
DOCUMENTARY FILM SERIES
Serendipity brought me to the Canadian-made multi-reel “Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War” (produced in 1980). It is surprisingly good. Although its primary focus is on the Americans and their role, we’ll watch several reels – and also other documentaries.