Vietnamese studies

Vietnamese studies
TUBS · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	Vietnamese studies
Focus	Vietnamese language, history, culture, society
Related	Southeast Asian studies, Asian studies, Indochina

Vietnamese studies. Vietnamese studies is an interdisciplinary field focused on the peoples, languages, societies, histories, cultures, and material heritages associated with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the former Republic of Vietnam, the historical polities of Đại Việt and Champa, and diasporic communities in regions such as the United States, Australia, France, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It intersects with research on neighboring polities and entities including China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, France, United States and engages with primary sources housed in archives such as the National Archives of Vietnam, the French National Archives, and the US National Archives and Records Administration.

Definition and Scope

The field covers linguistic study of Vietnamese language and its varieties, textual and epigraphic work on inscriptions like those associated with Champa, literary analysis of texts such as The Tale of Kieu and works by Nguyen Du, historiography of polities including Đại Việt and the Nguyen dynasty, and study of modern political events including the First Indochina War, the Vietnam War, and the Fall of Saigon. It also examines diasporic communities linked to events like the Boat people exodus and treaties such as the Geneva Accords (1954), and engages with institutions such as the Hanoi National University, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, and foreign centers like the SOAS University of London, Harvard University, Cornell University, and Australian National University.

History and Development

Early European engagement involved missionaries such as Alexandre de Rhodes and colonial administrators in French Indochina, with archival records in the Archives nationales d'outre-mer and scholarly monographs produced by figures linked to the École française d'Extrême-Orient. Twentieth-century scholarship expanded through work on nationalist movements tied to organizations like the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng and leaders such as Ho Chi Minh, Nguyễn Ái Quốc, and Trần Huy Liệu. During the Cold War scholars in the United States and Soviet Union produced studies influenced by events including the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Paris Peace Accords (1973), while Vietnamese scholars at institutions such as the Institute of History (Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences) and Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences developed new archives. Post-Đổi Mới scholarship has been shaped by scholars at the Asia Research Institute (NUS), Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, and projects funded by bodies like the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the European Research Council.

Disciplines and Subfields

Vietnamese studies incorporates linguistics focused on Chữ Nôm and Quốc Ngữ, literary studies of poets such as Nguyễn Trãi and novelists like Phạm Duy Tốn, and religious studies examining Buddhism in Vietnam, Caodaism, Catholic Church in Vietnam, and Taoism. It includes art history addressing objects associated with the Nguyễn dynasty and the art of Hanoi Opera House, musicology with forms like ca trù and nhạc tài tử, anthropology of ethnic groups including the Hmong people and the Montagnards, archaeology of sites such as Óc Eo and My Son, and legal history engaging with codes like the Hồng Đức legal code. Subfields examine urban studies of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, economic histories involving the Đổi Mới economic reforms, and diplomatic history covering relations with France, China, Soviet Union, United States, and Japan.

Institutions and Academic Programs

Major Vietnamese and international institutions include Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi University, Hue University, Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences, the École française d'Extrême-Orient, SOAS University of London, University of California, Berkeley, Yale University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, Cornell University, University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, Australian National University, National University of Singapore, Kyoto University, Seoul National University, and Peking University. Key research centers and projects include the Vietnamese Studies Program at Cornell University, the Vietnam Studies Initiative at Harvard University, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies monographs series, museum collections at the Vietnam National Museum of History, and archival holdings at the British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, National Archives of Australia, and the Library of Congress. Academic journals publishing relevant work include Journal of Vietnamese Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, and regionally focused outlets at Journal of Asian Studies-affiliated platforms.

Research Methods and Sources

Methods include philological analysis of Chữ Nôm manuscripts, epigraphy from Cham inscriptions, oral history interviews with veterans of the Vietnam War and participants in the Land Reform in North Vietnam (1953–1956), ethnographic fieldwork among groups such as the Tày people and Khmer Krom, and archaeological excavation at sites like Đông Sơn and Thanh Hóa. Researchers draw on primary documents from the French National Archives, military records in the US National Archives and Records Administration, land registers in provincial archives of Thanh Hóa and Quảng Nam, and photographic collections from the Imperial War Museums and the Vietnam War photography archive. Digital methods leverage corpora of Quốc Ngữ newspapers such as Thanh Niên and Cứu quốc, GIS mapping of battles like the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, and oral history projects housed at the Vietnam Center and Archive (Texas Tech University).

Major Scholars and Schools of Thought

Prominent scholars associated with the field include historians and intellectuals such as Ngô Thì Sĩ (historical chronicling traditions), modernizers like Phan Bội Châu, literary figures such as Nguyễn Du, and contemporary academics including William J. Duiker, Marilyn B. Young, Dominique Garnier, Neil L. Jamieson, William Southworth, Hue-Tam Ho Tai, David G. Marr, Christopher Goscha, Oscar Chapuis, Keith Taylor (historian), Mark S. McLeod, Pierre Brocheux, Sénécal (historian) and K. W. Taylor. Schools of thought encompass nationalist historiography exemplified by early 20th-century writers tied to Vietnamese Nationalist Party, Marxist interpretations produced within the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences and Soviet academia, revisionist perspectives from scholars at SOAS and University of California, and transnational and diasporic frameworks developed by researchers at University of California, Los Angeles, University of Toronto, Monash University, and University of Oxford. Awards and fellowships shaping careers include grants from the MacArthur Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and prizes administered by the Association for Asian Studies.

Category:Area studies