CANH THÂN
Notes on Vietnamese history and culture
BOOKS
Nu-Anh Tran. Disunion: Anticommunist Nationalism and the Making of the Republic of Vietnam. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2022.
Since the 1950s, the domestic politics of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) has puzzled outside observers. To these external analysts, the American-backed regime seemed to be plagued by instability and factionalism for no apparent reason. Their bewilderment, however, has obscured a deep and complex history. My book shows how factional struggles in the Saigon-based republic reflected serious disagreements about political ideas at a pivotal moment in the lead-up to the Vietnam War. Read more…
Nu-Anh Tran and Tuong Vu, ed. Building a Republican Nation in Vietnam, 1920-1963. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2022.
Western observers have long considered communism to be synonymous with Vietnam’s modern historical experience. Eager to make sense of the North Vietnamese victory in the Vietnam War, scholars and journalists have spilled much ink on the history of Vietnamese communists. But this preoccupation has obscured the diversity of ideas and experiences that defined Vietnam in the twentieth century, in which communism represented just one of many tendencies. Building a Republican Nation in Vietnam, 1920–1963, posits that republicanism shaped modern Vietnam no less profoundly than communism. Republicans championed representative government, the universal rights of man, civil liberties, and the primacy of the nation. Read more…
ARTICLES
Nu-Anh Tran. “Will the Real Caravelle Manifesto Please Stand Up? A Critique and a New Translation.” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 18, no. 3 (summer 2023): 1-55.
The Caravelle Manifesto of 1960 is arguably the most famous document ever produced by the political opposition in the Republic of Vietnam. Although domestically censored at the time, a published translation of the manifesto appeared abroad and became the standard version of the document in the English-speaking world. Yet this widely available translation was profoundly flawed. I have located what appears to be the original Vietnamese version, and I authenticate it through internal textual analysis and a comparison with earlier, more obscure translations. I urge scholars to adopt this version as the new standard and offer a more accurate translation. Read more…
Nu-Anh Tran. “Denouncing the ‘Việt Cộng’: Tales of Revolution and Betrayal in the Republic of Vietnam.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 53, no. 4 (Dec 2022): 686-708.
The Denounce the Communists Campaign (1955–c.1960) was a key moment in the conflict between the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, South Vietnam) and the Vietnamese communist movement and would eventually escalate to become the Vietnam War. The RVN launched the campaign to turn public opinion against communism and destroy the underground communist network. Building on previous scholarship, this article examines the propaganda associated with the initiative. During the campaign, state propagandists and allied intellectuals developed a historical narrative about the Anti-French Resistance (1945–54) that vilified the communists. Although highly partisan, the narrative illuminates the longer history of violence between communists and anti-communists in Vietnam. Read more…
Nu-Anh Tran. “‘Let History Render Judgement on My Life’: The Suicide of Nhất Linh (Nguyễn Tường Tam) and the Making of a Martyr in the Republic of Vietnam.” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 15, no. 3 (2020): 79-118.
The famous writer and revolutionary Nhất Linh (Nguyễn Tường Tam) committed suicide on July 7, 1963, in protest against Ngô Đình Diệm, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam). Although largely ignored by Western scholars, the suicide was a major catalyst for the growing resistance to Ngô Đình Diệm and contributed to a deeper transformation of Vietnamese political culture. Even decades after the collapse of the RVN, the event remains central to the historical memory of the Vietnamese diaspora. Read more…
Nu-Anh Tran. “South Vietnamese Identity, American Intervention and the Newspaper Chính Luận [Political Discussion], 1965-1969.” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 1, no. 1-2 (February/August 2006): 169-209.
This paper explores representations of political and cultural identity within journalistic discourse about the American presence in the South Vietnamese newspaper Chính Luận [Political Discussion] from 1965 to 1969. The encounter with Americans prompted Vietnamese writers to highlight the distinctive nature of their own culture, to define their national identity based on an imagined history and the image of proper Vietnamese womanhood, and to delineate normative boundaries of group membership. These constructions of identity represent certain continuities with the colonial era but were clearly modified by the dialogical relationship and unequal alliance between the United States and the Republic of Vietnam. Read more…
THINK PIECES
Nu-Anh Tran. “The Neglect of the Republic of Vietnam in the American Historical Memory: A Historian’s Appeal to the Vietnamese-American Community,” in The Republic of Vietnam, 1955-1975, ed. Sean Fear and Tuong Vu, 173-178. Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program, 2020).
This book chapter explains the neglect of the Republic of Vietnam in the American historical memory. It makes a personal appeal to the diasporic community for help in addressing this problem. Echoing the overarching view of the anthology regarding the importance of Vietnamese historical memories, my chapter urges everyone who lived under the Republic of Vietnam to write memoirs, to grant interviews, and to share their memories. The most important kind of help from the community, the chapter argues, is to provide primary sources for historians. In addition, the chapter contends that the community should support Vietnamese studies, value the humanities and the social sciences as possible careers for their children, and support intellectual freedom. Read the chapter and the anthology…
Nu-Anh Tran. “Add Vietnamese People and Stir?: A Reflection on Burns’s and Novick’s The Vietnam War and a Call for New Interpretations,” Diplomatic History 42, no. 3 (1 Jun 2018): 406-410.
This review article considers what it means to include Vietnamese experiences in our narratives about the Vietnam War. I propose different ways of reconceptualizing the war to better reflect those experiences. Read more…
TEACHING VIDEOS AND WEBINARS
“How to Teach the Vietnam War: Film, Music, Literature.” Online webinar for educators. Asian and Asian American Studies Institute, University of Connecticut, April 2023.
How can we better incorporate Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American perspectives in the teaching of the Vietnam War? This webinar is aimed at high school teachers who are looking for new teaching materials. Edward Miller (Dartmouth, History), Marguerite Nguyen (Wesleyan, English), and I introduce two movies and a book, and teachers’ guides are available for download. Watch…
Educational videos for Vietnam War Unit. Choices Program, Brown University, April 2023.
Short educational videos about the Vietnamese sides of the Vietnam War. For K-12 teachers and students. Watch…
“Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do: Expert Panel and Teacher’s Guide.” Make Us Visible CT, September 2021.
Panel presentation for middle and high school teachers about teaching an award-winning graphic memoir about a Vietnamese-American family through war, revolution, and migration. Watch…
PRIMARY SOURCE COLLECTIONS
“Nu-Anh Tran’s Collection on the First Republic, 1954-1963.” US-Vietnam Center, University of Oregon, April 2022.
A selection of Vietnamese-, French-, and English-language primary sources from my research for Disunion. The project is ongoing and will include more series in the future. Browse...
PODCASTS, INTERVIEWS, AND ROUNDTABLES
“Giáo Sư Trẻ Viết Sử Việt – Ts. Trần Anh Nữ – Tác Giả Quyển Sách Disunion – Đệ Nhất VNCH.” Saigon Broadcasting Network, Boston, March 2023.
Short interview in Vietnamese with a Vietnamese-American television network. The interview took place during a book event for Building a Republican Nation in Vietnam. Watch…
“Ai đang viết lịch sử cho chúng ta? Phỏng vấn Giáo sư Trần Nữ Anh, một trong hai chủ biên.” Nhật báo Cali Today, February 2023.
Email interview with Triều Giang in Vietnamese about Building a Republican Nation in Vietnam. Read…
“The History of Vietnam.” American Prestige Podcast, April 2022.
Guest appearance on a popular podcast about foreign affairs. Danny Bessner and Derek Davison host a discussion on the Vietnam War and research about the war. Other guests include Sean Fear (History, University of Leeds) and Fredrik Logevall (History, Harvard). Listen…
“Disunion: Anticommunist Nationalism and the Making of the Republic of Vietnam.” New Books Network, April 2022.
Long interview with Patrick Jory (University of Queensland) on a podcast about new academic books. Listen...
“A Discussion on the Landmark Documentary ‘The Vietnam War’ by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.” Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, September 2017.
Guest appearance on a roundtable discussion with Thomas Vallely, Lewis Sorley, Marc Selverstone, Jay Veith, Mark Moyar, about the documentary. Moderated by Erik Villard. Watch the roundtable…