Indians in Indochina

On Sun, 10 Oct 2004, NATASHA PAIRAUDEAU wrote:

Dear list,

I am hoping this request may be timely given the discussion currently running on Muslims in Hanoi.

I am in my second year of my PhD at SOAS, conducting research on the Indian (and more specifically Tamil) presence in Colonial Indochina. I have read in the French colonial archive in Aix and am currently reading in the Pondicherry archive and interviewing families with connections to Indochina. I have spoken to a number of Muslim merchants here who were based in Hanoi pre-1954.

I would be interested to hear from list members who might have come across references to Indians in the Vietnamese language sources (reportage, newspaper articles, novels, short stories, etc.). I am looking for anything which might demonstrate Vietnamese attitudes towards the Indian presence, or ways in which they engaged with Indians. I am concentrating on the colonial period but anything post-independence would also be of interest. Any advice on good (or obscure) sources of Vietnamese material on the wide variety of Indians who found their way to Indochina (Chettiars, French Indians, Muslim traders, Indian landowners, revenue farmers, milkmen, carters etc. would be most welcome.

Kind regards,

Natasha Pairaudeau
PhD candidate, School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London

Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 16:19:29 -0400
From: Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: request re: indians in indochina

Natasha:

There are two kinds of South Asians involved in colonial Vietnam. Those who settled in Saigon and Hanoi, and those who were brought in at election times to cast their ballots. I read a report on the latter group some 30 years ago. The author--a Frenchman discussing electoral corruption-- reported that the Indians were from Pondicherry and Chandernagore and enjoyed full French citizenship (unlike the Vietnamese who had been colonized later). They were imported by the boatloads to cast their votes in local elections and rewarded for doing so with money which they spent, apparently, at cake shops. They were taken back to India within days of the elections.

When I was growing up in Saigon, the streets leading to Ben Thanh market were still full of textile stores/pawnshops owned by South Asians. They were referred to by Vietnamese either as Chet Ty (Chetty) or as Cha Va Chet Ty (Cha Va is probably a corruption of Java, but was used indiscriminately to refer to anyone with dark skin, so that Africans were also Cha Va). In her dissertation on cloth and clothing merchants in Ben Thanh markets (Harvard), Ann Marie Leshkowich mentionsd such shops.

Hope this helps.

Hue-Tam

From: "Erica Peters"
<e-peters-9@alumni.uchicago.edu
To: "Vietnam Studies Group" <vsg@u.washington.edu
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: request re: indians in indochina

Natasha,

The AN in Paris has many notarial records from Indochina, coded as SOM-NOT. These were on microfilm (or was it microfiche? it has been many years since I looked at them), and quite tiring to decipher. But as I was going through early records (1890s) I remember noticing that a number of the real property transfers in both Hanoi and Saigon involved people with South Asian names. If you're interested at all in working with statistics, this source could provide some access into the neighborhoods where some South Asians were living (or at least investing), and what their occupations were.

Regards,
Erica

Erica J. Peters
Visiting Scholar '04-'05
Stanford History Department

Return to top of page




	« Return to discusion archieves 2004 Indians in Indochina On Sun, 10 Oct 2004, NATASHA PAIRAUDEAU wrote: Dear list, I am hoping this request may be timely given the discussion currently running on Muslims in Hanoi. I am in my second year of my PhD at SOAS, conducting research on the Indian (and more specifically Tamil) presence in Colonial Indochina. I have read in the French colonial archive in Aix and am currently reading in the Pondicherry archive and interviewing families with connections to Indochina. I have spoken to a number of Muslim merchants here who were based in Hanoi pre-1954. I would be interested to hear from list members who might have come across references to Indians in the Vietnamese language sources (reportage, newspaper articles, novels, short stories, etc.). I am looking for anything which might demonstrate Vietnamese attitudes towards the Indian presence, or ways in which they engaged with Indians. I am concentrating on the colonial period but anything post-independence would also be of interest. Any advice on good (or obscure) sources of Vietnamese material on the wide variety of Indians who found their way to Indochina (Chettiars, French Indians, Muslim traders, Indian landowners, revenue farmers, milkmen, carters etc. would be most welcome. Kind regards, Natasha Pairaudeau PhD candidate, School of Oriental and African Studies University of London Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 16:19:29 -0400 From: Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu Subject: Re: request re: indians in indochina Natasha: There are two kinds of South Asians involved in colonial Vietnam. Those who settled in Saigon and Hanoi, and those who were brought in at election times to cast their ballots. I read a report on the latter group some 30 years ago. The author--a Frenchman discussing electoral corruption-- reported that the Indians were from Pondicherry and Chandernagore and enjoyed full French citizenship (unlike the Vietnamese who had been colonized later). They were imported by the boatloads to cast their votes in local elections and rewarded for doing so with money which they spent, apparently, at cake shops. They were taken back to India within days of the elections. When I was growing up in Saigon, the streets leading to Ben Thanh market were still full of textile stores/pawnshops owned by South Asians. They were referred to by Vietnamese either as Chet Ty (Chetty) or as Cha Va Chet Ty (Cha Va is probably a corruption of Java, but was used indiscriminately to refer to anyone with dark skin, so that Africans were also Cha Va). In her dissertation on cloth and clothing merchants in Ben Thanh markets (Harvard), Ann Marie Leshkowich mentionsd such shops. Hope this helps. Hue-Tam From: "Erica Peters" <e-peters-9@alumni.uchicago.edu To: "Vietnam Studies Group" <vsg@u.washington.edu Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 2:52 PM Subject: Re: request re: indians in indochina Natasha, The AN in Paris has many notarial records from Indochina, coded as SOM-NOT. These were on microfilm (or was it microfiche? it has been many years since I looked at them), and quite tiring to decipher. But as I was going through early records (1890s) I remember noticing that a number of the real property transfers in both Hanoi and Saigon involved people with South Asian names. If you're interested at all in working with statistics, this source could provide some access into the neighborhoods where some South Asians were living (or at least investing), and what their occupations were. Regards, Erica Erica J. Peters Visiting Scholar '04-'05 Stanford History Department Return to top of page