Nghe Tinh Soviets/panels and research
Dear Colleagues,
2005 is the 75th anniversary of the start of the Nghe-Tinh Soviets in
French colonial Indochina. I would like to start a conversation with
scholars who might be interested in working together on a series of
panels, research projects, and publications leading up to and beyond
this anniversary. In particular, I am interested in presenting a panel
at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in 2004,
seeking funds for individual or group research projects in Vietnam for
2005, and then trying to present the results of this work (at the AAS?)
in 2006. The theme of the 2004 AHA is "War and Peace: History and
the Dynamics of Human Conflict and Cooperation," and more information
about it can be found at www.theaha.org/annual/2004.
My preference is to present papers that concern the history of war,
violence, and peace in modern Vietnam, particularly the connections
between the colonial and the contemporary. I am open to discussing a
broader rubric under which those scholars associated with this project
might include other Southeast Asian nations for which similar connections
between the colonial and the contemporary are pertinent.
A note to those who are unfamiliar with the Nghe-Tinh Soviets. From
April 1930 - Summer 1931, many of the people of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and
parts of neighboring provinces rose up in revolt against the French
and others they associated with colonialism. In some cases, under the
influence of communists and those with related sympathies, villagers
declared "Soviets" in "liberated" areas. In retaliation,
the French visited incredible violence on the affected provinces and
used the event, along with the strikes at the rubber plantations of
southern Indochina, as an excuse for a general crackdown that left thousands
of Vietnamese dead and tens of thousands more imprisoned. The Nghe-Tinh
Soviets proved inspirational to many other oppressed groups around the
world, and forced France to reexamine its overseas policy. Its leaders
entered the hagiography of the Vietnamese Communist Party, and the event
serves as a foundational myth for the Party. Although widely known,
this event has not received, in my opinion, the attention it deserves
by scholars outside of Vietnam, and Vietnamese scholarship on the topic
has not received much attention outside of Vietnam. My own work focuses
in part on railroad workers who, depending on one's interpretation,
either did not sympathize with or were restrained from participating
in the uprising.
I look forward to hearing from those seriously interested in joining
me in this effort by e-mail at deltesta@clunet.edu.
Naturally, the panel is small, so if there are many people interested,
I will have to make some choices on best fit. The deadline for submitting
a panel to the AHA is 15 February 2003. I would like to work out the
structure of the panel and its members by mid-January.
Thank you, David Del Testa
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David W. Del Testa, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of History #3900
California Lutheran University
60 West Olsen Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360-2700
(805) 493-3318 work
(805) 493-3013 fax
(805) 427-6429 mobile
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 22:52:51 -0500
From: David W. Del Testa <deltesta@clunet.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Nghe-Tinh Soviets panels in Paris
Dear colleagues,
In Paris for the EUROSEAS conference 1-4 September 2003, Tobias Rettig, Dr. Sophie Quinn-Judge, and I will co-organize what I feel is a very impressive and important series of panels concerning the Nghe-Tinh Soviets and issues surrounding them. I have pasted the names of the committed participants below as well as the introductory paragraphs of the conference prospectus.
We seek a few additional participants.
The papers emanating from these panels will undoubtedly fill at least one edited volume sponsored by a major press (under negotiation presently), and a reader of newly-available translated primary source documents from Vietnamese and American scholars may accompany this/these edited volumes. I feel that these panels will both fill out and add new dimensions to a very important event in Vietnamese, French colonial, and world history. I would like to ask if anyone would still like to join Mr. Rettig, Dr. Quinn-Judge, and myself with these panels in Paris.
Although I invite all thoughtful contributions, we are looking in particular for papers concerning the attitude/relationship of the Constitutionalists to the Nghe-Tinh Soviets, the place of the press, women, and Catholics in the Nghe-Ting Soviets, and most especially a paper on the Trotskyists.
I look forward to hearing from interested parties at deltesta@clunet.edu.
Cordially yours, David Del Testa
Proposed Panel Proposals and Participants
1. Nadine André-Pallois (Dr, CREOPS, University Paris 4 / Sorbonne),
Title TBA
2. Boi Tran Huynh (Ph.D. student, University of Sydney): Art for the
Nghe Tinh Movement: Socialist Realism and More Questions to Ask
3. Pascal Bourdeaux (Ph.D., Chercheur associé au laboratoire
EPHE-EFEO Péninsule Indochinoise :)! La crise des années
1930-1931 considérée sous l'angle des valeurs religieuses
: Bouddhiste, cultes populaires et réaction coloniale française
dans le delta du Mékong.
4. Pierre Brocheux (Professor emeritus, University of Paris 7): 1930/1
in the Mekong Delta and in Comparative Perspective
5. Sud Chonchirdsin (Dr, Department of the Languages and Cultures of
South East Asia and the Islands), 'The ICP movement in Cochin China
,1936-40'
6. Henri Copin (Nantes), 'L'Indochine en 1930/1 sous la plume critique
des journalistes et auteurs français'
7. David Del Testa (Dr, California Lutheran University), 'Vietnamese
Railroad Workers during the Revolutionary High Tide'
8. Thomas Engelbert (Professor, University of Hamburg), Upturn, Tide
and Decline of Chinese revolutionary activities in Southern Vietnam,
1924-1936
9. François Guillemot (Dr), 'La tragédie de Yen Bay: lessons
amères pour les futurs partisans du parti nationaliste révolutionaire
Dai
Viêt'
10. Gilles de Gantès (Dr, IRSEA, Marseille): French Metropolitan
Reactions to the Revolutionary Upsurge of 1930/1
11. Vladimir Kolotov (Dr, St Petersburg University), Reasons for the
Rise and Fall of the Revolutionary Hightide
12. Bruce Lockhart (Dr, National University of Singapore), 1930-1 in
Post-Colonial Vietnamese Historiography
13. Patrice Morlat (Dr, SEDES, Paris 7), Les grands commis de l'Indochine
française en crise
14. Ngo Dang Tri (Prof, Faculty of History, University of Social Sciences
and Humanities), The Memory of the Soviet Movements in Some
of Nghe Tinh's Red Villages
15. Nguyen The Anh (Professor, EPHE, Paris), The Impact of the 1930/1
Turbulences on the French Attitude towards the Vietnamese Monarchy
16. Pham Hong Tung (Dr, Director, Office of Scientific Affairs, University
of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi), Mobilisation of the Masses
in the Nghe-Tinh Soviets Seen from Different Perspectives
17. Pham Thi Thinh (National Political Publishing House), The unknown
documents of the ICP concerning the Soviet-Nghe-Tinh
18. Sophie Quinn-Judge (Dr, Cold War Studies Programme, LSE): Revolutionary
Ideology, Violence, and the Ideological Antecedents of
the 1930-31 Uprisings
19. Montira Rato (Dr, Chulalongkorn University): Nghe-Tinh and the Discovery
of Peasants in Vietnamese Literature
20. Tobias Rettig (Ph.D. Candidate, SOAS): A Neglected Variable / Dimension:
Local Troops and Militia Strength
21. Alain Ruscio (Dr, Independent Researcher), Le credo de l'homme blanc
et la répression des mouvements ruraux en 1930/1
22. Trinh Van Thao (Professor, Marseille University): France-based Vietnamese
and Their View of the 1930/1 Period
23. Vu Huy Phuc (Professor, Institute of Historical Studies, Hanoi),
The Agrarian Question in the Nghe Tinh Soviet Movement, 1930-31
FOURTH EUROSEAS CONFERENCE
PARIS, 1-4 SEPTEMBER 2004
General information
The Fourth Conference of the European Association for South-East Asian
Studies (EUROSEAS) will be held in Paris from Wednesday 1
September through Saturday 4 September 2001.
We expect at least 300-400 participants from European as well as from
Southeast Asian countries. Participation is open to both EUROSEAS
members and non-members.
In order to reflect the interdisciplinary character of EUROSEAS, the
programme is organized in parallel day sessions, with 36 panels,
which are listed below. The deadline for receiving paper abstracts (max.
200 words) is 1 March 2004. Abstracts must be sent directly to the panel
convenors.
Registration and accommodation The conference fee (excluding meals and accommodation) will be _100 for EUROSEAS members and _150 for non-members. For students there is a reduced fee of _50.
However, there will be an advanced registration between 1 March and 1 June 2004 at preferential rates: _80 for EUROSEAS members, _125 for non-members, and _ 40 for students.
If you are interested in attending or participating in the conference, you will be able to register and apply for university accommodation from 1 March 2004 onwards by sending an email or registration form to the conference organization in Paris. Further details will be announced soon on the EUROSEAS website.
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David W. Del Testa, Ph.D.
Research Associate (2003 - 4 academic year)
Department of Anthropology
Bryn Mawr College
101 N. Merion Drive
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
tel. (610) 642-8065
Assistant Professor
Department of History #3900
California Lutheran University
60 West Olsen Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360-2700
United States
tel. (805) 493-3318 work
(805) 493-3013 fax
(805) 427-6429 mobile
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