i Mi, Education and Identity Formation

Published on November 2016 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 27 | Comments: 0 | Views: 131
of 20
Download PDF   Embed   Report

Education and Identity Formation

Comments

Content

This article was downloaded by: [University of Southampton Highfield] On: 06 February 2014, At: 06:48 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ccom20

i mi, education and identity formation in contemporary Vietnam
Matthieu Salomon & Vu Doan Kêt
a a b

Center for International Studies and Research (CERI/Sciences‐Po) Paris , France
b

Institute for International Relations (IIR) , Hanoi, Vietnam Published online: 10 Jul 2007.

To cite this article: Matthieu Salomon & Vu Doan Kêt (2007) i mi, education and identity formation in contemporary Vietnam, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 37:3, 345-363, DOI: 10.1080/03057920701330222 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057920701330222

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/termsand-conditions

Compare Vol. 37, No. 3, June 2007, pp. 345–363

Ð i m i, education and identity formation in contemporary Vietnam
Matthieu Salomona* and Vu Doan Ke ˆ tb
a

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

b

Center for International Studies and Research (CERI/Sciences-Po) Paris, France; Institute for International Relations (IIR), Hanoi, Vietnam

The views in this paper are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of CERI and IIR.
In 2006 Vietnam had experienced more than two decades of reform. However, while the reforms have transformed the entire Vietnamese economy and opened the country to globalization, the education system is still very much under the Vietnamese Communist Party’s control. The schoolbooks are published under close supervision of the authorities. The national autobiography in which children are instructed has not changed much since the first conceptions of the Vietnamese revolutionaries and nationalists: as in many young nations, myths and legends have a fundamental place in the national history. Moreover the historical narrative youngsters are educated in serves the purpose of justifying communist rule and the leading role of the VCP in this process: the VCP is pictured as the midwife of the Vietnamese modern nation. Since the start of the reform process, the pressures and challenges on this system of history education have been growing. However, even if some voices have now started to call for a more subdued national autobiography, the national story is clearly not to be ‘de-nationalized’ any time soon. Keywords: History education; National identity; Political system; Sino-Vietnamese relations; Vietnam

The triumph of the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) in 1975 can be seen as an extraordinarily nationalist achievement and may be said to symbolize the birth of modern Vietnam as a nation-state.1 In Vietnam, as in many communist and former communist states, the theoretical dichotomy that may be supposed to exist between communism and nationalism is not reflected in practice (see also the article on China in this special issue). Communism and nationalism in VCP ideology are two sides of the same coin—even if the balance between these different elements has changed over time. The VCP derives its legitimacy first and foremost from its central role in the struggle for independence and for the reunification of North and South Vietnam, which are portrayed in official historiography as the culmination of centuries of heroic struggle.2 Alongside this nationalist discourse, we find the official
* Corresponding author. Institute of Political Studies, 27, rue Saint-Guillaume, 75337, Paris, France. Email: [email protected] ISSN 0305-7925 (print)/ISSN 1469-3623 (online)/07/030345-19 # 2007 British Association for International and Comparative Education DOI: 10.1080/03057920701330222

346 M. Salomon & D. K. Vu communist ideology of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), one of the last members of the communist club. The idea that nationalism and communism are not necessarily at odds with one another is central to understanding the issue of ´,i (Renovation) Vietnam. education and identity formation in Ð i mo Vietnam is a young country in two different ways: on the one hand, Vietnamese political autonomy and unification within the borders of the national territory are new; on the other, the majority of citizens today have been born since 1975. However, Vietnam and ‘Vietnamese-ness’ are also old ideas and realities. According to official and popular conceptions, Vietnam and its inhabitants have a quasi-eternal history. The history of external influences on this unaltered 4000-year-old Vietnamese civilisation is systematically downplayed. The definition of the Vietnamese identity mainly relies on primordial/eternal ethnic characteristics and is defined in opposition to neighbouring China.3 Education is, in this context, perhaps the main challenge for the Vietnamese authorities in their efforts to build— and control—the future of the country: economically, politically, but also culturally. The ability to shape and influence popular perceptions of national identity and national history are crucial to maintaining the VCP’s monopoly of power. Along with a very strong national culture which glorifies the notion of resistance, and the realities of a one-party state and a relatively youthful population, the strength of nationalism and national identity are among the most significant parameters of Vietnamese politics and society. A strong nationalist discourse is a feature of many societies, but arguably takes on particular significance for regime legitimacy and political stability in a country where the political system is closed and a party-state claims a monopoly on the truth of the national autobiography. What is Vietnam? What does being Vietnamese mean? Whence does the regime derive its legitimacy? From a political and social point of view, these questions must receive clear and unquestionable answers. The Vietnamese regime therefore closely controls the definition of national identity formation through different channels of political socialisation, of which education (i.e. schooling) is only one, albeit a key one.4 The function performed by the school as a site for ‘political dressage’ (or ‘ideological grooming’) is one reason why Communist regimes have typically attached such importance to provision of basic education; some 90% of Vietnamese children become literate. This analysis of the state’s efforts to shape national consciousness through control of historiography will therefore focus on the study of schoolbooks (primary, secondary and high-school levels where the mass of the people is educated). It will also consider how the historical narrative approved by the state has evolved in new directions since the advent of Ð i m i (Renovation), the programme of reforms officially launched in 1986 by the sixth Congress of the VCP. However, the Vietnamese case study has to be considered within a broader perspective, both geographically and theoretically. One might for instance postulate that the Vietnamese identity project is the perfect example of the unrestrained kind of nationalism found in contexts where interstate forms of cooperation are weakly developed or absent. According to Hein and Selden, this lack of regional integration helps to explain why nationalisms in East Asia are much more vigorous than in

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

Education and identity in contemporary Vietnam 347 Europe.5 As in China and Japan, the Vietnamese politicization of history education is part of the long East-Asian history of conflicts and competitions among neighbours. This international dimension, which in the Vietnamese case relates particularly to the tortuous history of relations with China, needs to be considered alongside the domestic concerns of regime legitimacy, and adaptations to party ideology to accommodate shifts in what Communists are fond of calling ‘objective conditions’. The cases of the Chinese Communist Party and the Japanese Liberal Democrat Party have been extensively analysed.6 Given its importance in defining the history of relations with and images of ‘others’, this analysis of history education will focus particularly on Vietnam’s regional environment and relations with its neighbours, while also incorporating a comparative perspective. Vietnam, as we shall see, is in many respects typical of new states which tend to prioritize nationbuilding.7 In order to question the issue of how and on what national identity is built in Ð i m i Vietnam, this paper will be divided into three sections. First, the contemporary structure and the traditional conception of education will be described to cover the necessary background. In the second part we will discuss in more detail the history of the Vietnamese nation as narrated in official textbooks and embodied in the main regime symbols. Finally, the third part will address the question of the changes that Ð i m i has brought about, and the successes, limits and challenges to this official construction of the Vietnamese mindset. I. Education in contemporary Vietnam Today, in Vietnam, the teaching of national identity is conducted through various channels: schools, but also mass organizations, media, oral transmission via adults and so on. However, school remains the first and most fundamental site for ideological education/indoctrination. Before the institutionalization of the communist universal school, the transmission of national identity took place primarily orally via legends, even if the small literate mandarin class were already producing official histories (modeled on those of dynastic China) written to glorify the reigning dynasty. In order to understand the reality of the power of education in the process of teaching national identity, we have to emphasize the power of the tradition of education. Vietnamese society, influenced both by Confucian traditions and communist ideology, greatly values academic success. These traditions share an insistence on the importance of assimilating a body received knowledge contained ´c in a few reference books. However, historically, it is only with the diffusion of quo ˆ , ngu ˜ during the huge mass literacy campaigns championed by the communists during the twentieth century that the school has gained the enormous power it currently possesses in the teaching of the national autobiography.8 The communist political system is based on a very strong control over schooling in general and over national identity construction in particular. This very rigid system aims to mould students spiritually through mass propaganda, for which the

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

348 M. Salomon & D. K. Vu school curriculum is a key vehicle. In school textbooks, the VCP is presented as the midwife of the modern Vietnamese nation. Learning their national history lessons by heart is seen as a very important part of the process of becoming a ‘good Vietnamese’. The Vietnamese education structure consists of primary school (grade 1–5), secondary school (grade 6–9) and high school (grade 10–12).9 The teaching of national identity is mainly conducted through four different school subjects: history ´ ), civic education (Gia ´ o du ˆ ng da ˆ n) and literature (Li .a ly . c co .ch s ), geography (Ði and Vietnamese language (Ng va ˘ n). These subjects are only taught in secondary school, though the latter two are foreshadowed in the primary school curriculum for ´ng Vie ´,c). In primary school there are also Vietnamese (Tie ˆ ˆ . o Ku . t) and morals (Ða , ˆ n va ` Xa ˜ ho ˆ ‘nature and society’ (Tu . nhie . i) classes and a supplementary class named Li ch s ). ‘historical accounts’ (Truye ˆ n k . . The VCP maintains total control over the process of textbook production.10 Although debate over the state’s monopoly has begun in recent years, Vietnam has yet to introduce the kinds of reforms implemented since the late 1990s in China, where responsibility for designing curricula and vetting textbooks, and for actually writing and publishing them, has been divided, thus undermining the monopoly previously enjoyed by the People’s Education Press (PEP) in Beijing. All school´t books in Vietnam are still published by the Education Publishing House (Nha ` Xua ˆ ´ o Du B n Gia . c—NXBGD), under the control of the Ministry of Education and Training—MOET (Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o—BGDÐT)—the NXBGD thus . Gia . c va enjoying a status identical to that of China’s PEP up to the 1990s. The NXBGD’s books are obligatory in all schools, public or semi-public ones, from first to twelfth grades. At university level, there are different books, but there are still official ones which are used for reference;11 and, moreover, alternative books are also controlled or vetted by the authorities through a University Committee and published by the University publishing houses or the NXBCTQG.12 The same holds true for ` Chı Marxist-Leninist philosophy and Ho ˆ ´ Minh Thought.13 With respect to textbooks for use in schools, during the 2005 debates on the Education Law, some deputies questioned the maintenance of the official monopoly over the production of schoolbooks. However, even if it had been adopted, this reform would merely have allowed schools to choose between two different textbooks, both published by MOET. In the end, the National Assembly adopted a Law that confirms the monopoly over production of textbooks (one main series for each school subject) under the leadership of MOET. In 2006 there were more calls for an end to this monopoly,14 but these have not challenged the substance of curriculum content and are motivated by a desire to promote better textbook quality through competition, or to cater better for diverse student needs (or perceived abilities), rather than by any recognition of the value of acknowledging a diversity of historical or ideological viewpoints. Who writes these history schoolbooks? As with textbooks for all school subjects, the MOET officially establishes a Drafting board including specialists from the Ministry, from institutions affiliated with the Ministry such as the NXBGD and

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

Education and identity in contemporary Vietnam 349 from academics. There have been many debates on the selection of the members of these successive Committees, and these have intensified lately. There have also been debates in the media over the editing of the schoolbooks themselves.15 However, the subject being particularly sensitive, behind MOET and other institutions who take part in the process, the direct influence of the highest spheres within the VCP is predominent. As an official from MOET says: ‘… the political orientation line, overall organisation and policy in the education field are under the responsibility of the VCP’s Central Committee. On these issues, MOET is only one of the institutions which play a consultative role’.16 Since 2001, in accordance with the Government ‘Strategy for Educational Development, 2001–2010’, MOET has been leading a programme of re-writing all schoolbooks. The aim is to overhaul all school textbooks by 2008.17 MOET has benefited from foreign loans to aid in this project, but this has emphatically not meant any foreign interference in the writing process. Nevertheless, during the debates about the principles to be followed in the compilation and editing of the new books, the authors have referred to the universal recommendations of UNESCO.18 The resulting history curriculum, totally controlled by the authorities, aims to transmit a Vietnamese national identity consisting of three cultural substrata: local Vietnamese culture (civilisation) prior to the Chinese invasions, external ChineseIndian cultural influences and modern western-socialist culture. Officially, this contemporary Vietnamese national identity is seen as the result of a hybridizing process of ‘cultural dialogue’.19 Before considering the accuracy of this characterization, however, we need examine the history schoolbooks and analyse the nature of the national autobiography that is really taught to the Vietnamese youth. II. National history as it is taught in public schools The most striking point in official and popular national identity education in Vietnam is the fact that ‘Vietnamese-ness’ is always presented in essentialized and eternal terms, and portrayed as based on a specific and homogenous ethnic identity.20 Myths and legends have a fundamental place in the national autobiography, and the picture of the Chinese ‘Other’ is repeatedly drawn through use of explicitly antagonistic terminology. Vietnamese national autobiography contains in fact a series of myths typical of young nations.21 According to primary and secondary schoolbooks, the first evidence of ‘Vietnamese’ life is much as 3000–4000 years old. These Vietnamese lived in the northern part of the country, which is the so called cradle of ‘Vietnamese-ness’. The History of the country really started around 800 BC with the Va ˘ n Lang kingship. Children learn about the legends of the nation’s birth, which feature heroic figures ˆ u Co, —La ˆ n, So, n Tinh—Th y Tinh, such as Kinh Du, o, ng Vu, o, ng, A . c Long Qua 22 Tha ´ nh Gio ´ ng… The distinction between what is legend and what is scientific history is unclear. In official rhetoric, as in schoolbooks, references to a 4000-yearold ‘Vietnamese’ civilisation predominate. As in many young nations, these legends

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

350 M. Salomon & D. K. Vu occupy a huge place in thinking about Vietnamese nationhood, and are still widely diffused. They encompass an essentialized vision of the links between geography, climate, ethnic groups, the birth of the nation and the spirit of eternal resistance against the northern ‘Big Brother’, China. To take one example that is a hot topic in contemporary Vietnam: brotherhood between Kinh—the ethnic majority—and ethnic minorities is explained by one of these primordial creation legends: the tale of the 100 ‘eggs’ of the extraordinary ˆ u Co, —La couple A ˆ n, which show the foetal link between the Vietnamese . c Long Qua `ng ba brothers. All Vietnamese are described as ‘Ko ˆ ` o’ (from the same fœtus). The ` `ng ba official terminology used for overseas Vietnamese (‘Vie ˆ ˆ u’) is telling: ‘Ko ˆ `o . t Kie , , , ´ c ngoa ta K. inh cu va ` i’ [compatriots who live and work abroad]. It is ` la ` m vie ˆ . c nu o `ng ba worth noting, though that the expression ‘Ko ˆ ` o’ is an example of unacknowledged borrowing from Chinese terminology—the Mandarin is tong bao. Likewise, ` ‘Vie ˆ ˆ u’ is identical to (and doubtless derived from) the term used in China for . t Kie ‘overseas Chinese’ (hua qiao in Mandarin—or Wah Kiu in Cantonese);23 both the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist Kuomintang have held a similarly ambivalent attitude to the status of ‘overseas Chinese’, seeing them as essentially forever ‘Chinese’ because of their biological link with the ‘motherland’. The strong tradition of veneration for ancestors that Chinese and Vietnamese share is a key element in this biological/familial metaphor of nationhood.24 In Vietnam, national legends draw the image of an elected/chosen people, incarnated in a specific territory. ‘Minority’ histories are unified and incorporated into the central narrative of Kinh history in various chapters.25 Reading between the lines, however, the past history, culture and ‘blood-line’ of Vietnamese-ness are implicitly identified as Kinh;26 which leads to a double standard citizenship. In reality the relations with the minorities have been and are based on domination and inequality (Vickers notes an identical contradiction in official conceptions of Chinese national identity, and the place of ethnic minorities within this—see the China chapter in this special issue). The official history clearly demonstrates that someone is Vietnamese because he or she is born Vietnamese—the idea that anyone could become Vietnamese would seem outlandish. De facto, Vietnam is not a country of immigration. Moreover, reflecting deeply-ingrained Vietnamese conceptions of nationhood is the belief that it is impossible to lose one’s ‘Vietnamese-ness’, and, legally speaking, one’s ` Vietnamese citizenship. Vie ˆ ˆ u, who are foreign citizens, are considered and . t Kie treated as Vietnamese when they come back to Vietnam, and national law applies to ` them in a way it does not to ‘bona fide’ foreigners.27 Vie ˆ ˆ u have also been given . t Kie rights under the constitution which are denied to ‘foreigners’.28 A 1993 VCP ` resolution officially considers Vie ˆ ˆ u as an ‘inextricable part of the Vietnamese . t Kie 29 `ng da ˆ ˆ ˆ n to ˆ ˆ nationhood’ [mo ˆ ˆ ˆ n kho ˆ ng ta ´ ch ro ` , i c a co . ng Ko . c Vie . t Nam]. . t bo . pha . Again, a very similar ambivalence (both conceptual and legal) is evident in Chinese attitudes towards hua qiao, both in mainland China and on Taiwan. Returning to the official national autobiography, the legends relating to the origins of the nation are complemented by other legends of heroes in order to constitute the ` ´ Thu, o ˆ ˆ n Hu, ng Ða Vietnamese nation’s pantheon: Hai Ba ` Tru, ng, Ly ` , ng Kie . o, etc. . t, Tra

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

Education and identity in contemporary Vietnam 351 Among these heroes the great majority won their reputation through victories against the Chinese. All these legends are published in popular collections, including comics for children. The main objective is to stress the independence of ‘Vietnamese-ness’ vis-a ` -vis the Chinese civilization: underlining the idea that Vietnamese culture did exist before any contacts with its dangerous northern neighbour. Accounts of the more distant past, inextricably intertwined with legends and myths, are fundamental to contemporary Vietnamese official histories of the nation, ` Chı and are referred to frequently in official speeches: Ho ˆ ´ Minh himself explained: ‘The Hu ` ng kings have created the country. We must, all together, defend it’.30 The Vietnamese nation is considered as an everlasting organism conceived in the distant ˆ u La past during the kingships of Va ˘ n Lang and A . c:
ˆ u La To sum up, the Va ˘ n Lang—A . c period has given us:

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

N N N

motherhood; (…); specific traditions, customs; the first experience of fighting for our country’31

This eternal/primordial ethnic dimension of Vietnamese national identity has nourished an ethnic or racial and mythical nationalism which can be found in nearly all Vietnamese official speeches during the modern era, including those by ` dissidents. The contemporary anti-Communist Vie ˆ ˆ u groups based abroad . t Kie follow the official line as much if not more than the regime. Any counter-history will have to be achieved through a process of denationalization and critical re-evaluation of these ancient periods. It will have to take contacts with outsiders—the ‘impure’— more seriously. The school-books that are currently used are not so different from those written by the first nationalists from Ðo ˆ ng Kinh Nghı a Thu . c [ÐKNT— Tonkin Free School],32 in 1907, which defined national pride like this:
,

National pride, (…) Our country was established as a nation more than 4000 years ago and its inhabitants are deeply grateful for their nationhood. They had respect for each other, loved each other, and so they managed to survive till now (…). The strongest solidarity is the solidarity which comes from blood relations (…). At the bottom is the family, at the top, is the nation: this solidarity, defined this way, is really totally natural (…). Here stands the national pride of our Vietnam, and this explains how it has managed to survive through time…33

The communist label of the regime should not hide us from the reality: nationalist references based on eternal/primordial ethnic dimensions and a mythical account of national history have always been at the heart of the VCP’s political didacticism— excepting some intellectual ICP members in the 1930s who clearly rejected such traditions. For example: during the war against the French colonialists, the Vie ˆ .t Minh sought to mobilize peasants by using nationalist slogans referring to legendary heroes from the pantheon of Vietnamese history (and even more often referring to local or regional heroes and legends).

352 M. Salomon & D. K. Vu The eternal and ethnic nation that is depicted in the school history books also has a geographic dimension. The Vietnamese ‘dragon’ territory has indeed been ´n (the Southern idealized by the official history as the achievement of the Nam Tie ˆ Advance). The dragon form is proof of the natural and unquestionable character of the contemporary territory. The Dragon (‘Long’—a term borrowed from the Cantonese pronunciation of the Chinese term for ‘dragon’) has a very important place in the national imagination; it is associated with ancestors and nationhood, and `ng cha all the Vietnamese are its children (Con ro ˆ ´ u tie ˆ n!). Again, however, the derivative nature of this symbolism (in relation to China) hardly needs to be pointed out—although, for example, tour guides in the old imperial city of Hue (whose old imperial palace was closely modelled on that in Beijing) take pains to underline the ‘Vietnamese’ variants on dragons and other originally Chinese decorative motifs. Indeed, it cannot be sufficiently emphasized that the vision of the unquestionable and unchanging nature of the Vietnamese nation is intimately linked with that fundamental parameter of the Vietnamese identity: the Chinese presence. ‘Vietnamese-ness’ is defined in opposition to China. The national history is deeply influenced by the Chinese Empire’s recurrent attempts to dominate Vietnam: the country was occupied, if not colonized, by the Chinese for more than ten centuries (from 111 BC to 939 AD); later it became semi-independent and remained under China’s suzerainty as a vassal State (offering tribute to the Chinese emperor) until the arrival of the French.34 In schoolbooks, chapters on these ten centuries of Chinese domination are mainly characterized by blanket condemnations of Chinese rule. It is argued, for instance, that the tax burden was such that the Vietnamese people nearly died from starvation. The Chinese cultural influences (Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism…!) are said not to have altered primordial ‘Vietnamese-ness’. The evolution of the Vietnamese language and the Chinese elements it absorbed are clearly downplayed. In fact, the official story focusses on Vietnamese resistance movements against the invaders; and the pantheon of heroes already mentioned: Hai Ba ` Tru, ng, Ba ` Trie ˆ ´ c Loan…35 Among . u, Mai Thu the terms most often used in these textbooks are ‘to resist’, ‘to revolt’: ‘kh i nghı a’.36 Ten centuries of domination by the Chinese are thus presented essentially as a mere ‘parenthesis’ (and the contacts afterwards with the Cham and Khmer civilisations—associated with modern Cambodia—during the Southern Advance are almost ignored):
,

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

During 1000 years under Northern [i.e. Chinese] domination, the national characters ˆ u La and traditions of this civilisation (Va ˘ n Lang—A . c) had been hidden or concealed, but absolutely not assimilated or erased. After the 10th century (…) the traditional civilisational values managed to be restored and were able to develop again…37

The crucial date for symbolizing the renaissance of the Vietnamese nation is 939. From this date on, the main issue is seen as being unity and modernization. However, the basic conception of Vietnamese national identity is that of an eternal culture of a homogenous chosen people fighting against the Northern enemy. All the ingredients of essentialist and xenophobic ethno-cultural nationalism are here. The origins of the nation are found in legends and tales of mythical heroes and no

Education and identity in contemporary Vietnam 353 attempt is made to separate these from more factual accounts of history. In this mix the crucial theme is the eternal struggle against the Chinese. Meanwhile, overlaying this fundamental reference to ethnic nationalism, is the second dimension of Vietnamese national identity: contemporary socialism. Indeed, the official narrative seeks to demonstrate that the ‘Red dimension’ of the Vietnamese national identity is the natural end of the Vietnamese history. It clearly wants to reconcile national history with a teleology that justifies and celebrates the leadership and legitimacy of the VCP. The VCP is thus pictured as the midwife of the Vietnamese modern nation. Returning to primary-secondary schoolbooks, the national autobiography conse` `…) who quently honours the famous founding dynasties (Ðinh, Le ˆ , Ly ´ , Tra ˆ n, Ho ˆ built Vietnam as an independent nation after 939. It relies largely, through numerous quotes, on the books written by official dynastic historians of those times who were appointed by the Kings to witness their reigns, in imitation of the practices ˆ ´ toa ` n thu, [The Complete History of Chinese dynastic chroniclers (the Ða . i Vie . t S Ky ˆ ´ [The of the Ða ˆ . i Vie . i Vie . t s kı . t] from 1697, which repeat comments from the Ða History of Ða i Vie ˆ t] from 1272, is the most famous of these). The textbooks . . particularly emphasize these dynasties’ military victories against all invaders: ` ng’s famous victory in principally the Chinese, but also the Mongols (Ba ˘ . ch Ða 1288). They also underline the importance of the South’s conquest of Champa and the Khmer empire, the Southern Advance (eleventh to seventeenth/eighteenth centuries—the use of the term ‘Advance’ rather than ‘invasion’ or ‘colonization’ implicitly lends legitimacy to this process). New heroes enter the national pantheon, , ˜n Tra ˆ ˜ i who defeated the Chinese in first of all King Le ˆ Lo . i and the cultured Nguye 1427. Apart from the military battles which litter the national autobiography, the cultural achievements and monuments of these dynasties also have a very important place in the story. The best symbol of Vietnam is now, without doubt, the Temple of ´u, whose construction was begun in 1070. These dynasties have Literature, Va ˘ n Mie ˆ an unquestionable importance in the official history of the nation. What is more interesting about the ‘red dimension’ of identity formation is the way those reigns are ideologically instrumentalized, by drawing on an image of a Golden Age of the Vietnamese village community, and its famous communal lands. If these dynasties are condemned for exploitation of peasants it is because they ‘sold’ this natural tradition of the Vietnamese people.38 The aim is to give an image of a traditional Vietnam which was close to the idealistic vision of ‘primitive communism’; and which was betrayed by the ‘old regime’. The influence of Marxist theory is clear, and the idea is also to portray contemporary communist rule as in some sense an effort to restore this lost Golden Age.39 Apart from the economic aspect, the way Vietnamese national history is taught also stresses the division of the country, especially during the 1627–1788 period when the territory was cut into two, the North under the Tri .nh family’s authority ˜ and the South under the Nguye ˆ n’s. The danger of a divided nation is illustrated by the terrible consequences of this disunity: famines, exploitation of the peasants by the Princes, cultural decadence… The fight for unity is thus portrayed as a

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

354 M. Salomon & D. K. Vu fundamental responsibility of leaders. The VCP is explicitly presented as the rightful heir, the last and the most successful exponent of this longstanding national struggle. The Ta ˆ y So, n brothers’ revolt has, for all these reasons, a specific place in the national autobiography.40 Indeed, in the national imaginary, this movement, launched in 1788, managed to reunify the country—although in reality separate domains were maintained. Moreover this revolt is portrayed as the first so-called ‘peasant’s revolt’: kh i nghı a no ˆ ng da ˆ n; the word is used here to show the entry of the Vietnamese people onto the stage of modern politics. This prelude to communist revolution is a nationalist revolution; which demonstrates, once again, the Vietnamese syncretism of nationalism and communism:
,

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

If this victory was made possible, it is, above all, because the will to fight against oppression and exploitation and the extraordinary patriotism of our people were so strong41

In line with this idea, the idealized image of the Ta ˆ y So, n’s short reign is very positive: the regime was popular because, after defeated foreign invaders, it promoted reform policies, and reunified the country. The message is clear: the Vietnamese nation had to be freed twice, from foreigners’ invasions and from the ‘old regime’. In order to achieve real liberation, the nation has to be guided by a real chief; the VCP’s historical role. Returning to the chronology, the Ta ˆ y So, n’s fall ushered in a very dark time for ˜ Vietnam. The Nguye ˆ n dynasty, which defeated the Ta ˆ y So, n, is presented as an ` , da ˆn usurpation. As the schoolbooks say, during this reign: ‘Quan coi da ˆ n nhu, k thu , , so quan nhu co p…’ [The mandarin was looking at the people as at an enemy, the . . people was as afraid of the mandarin as of the tiger]. The official history stresses the numerous popular revolts against this dynasty during the nineteenth century: Phan ˜n towards Western powers is Ba ´ Va ` nh, Cao Ba ´ Qua ´ t… The attitude of the Nguye ˆ roundly condemned. Because of their weakness, they are held responsible for the ˜n asked colonization of the country by the French. Moreover, the fact that the Nguye ˆ , for foreign counsellors and mercenaries to help defeat the Ta ˆ y So n is presented as the original sin of the dynasty. Colonization is seen as nothing more than the natural conclusion of the decadence of the ‘old regime’: the authorities had lost their ‘heavenly mandate’. In the pages of the schoolbooks dedicated to the colonial period, which is unsurprisingly condemned in all its aspects, the official national autobiography focuses on the history of the VCP. The destiny of other forces which fought the imperialists is very quickly recalled (nationalists, democrats, trotskyists). The contemporary history is presented in a completely teleological way which ends (but this end is also the beginning of a new stage) with the triumph of 1975. The communist power, after having defeated the French and the Americans, reunified the nation and fought China once again in 1979. Moreover, since Ð i mo ´,i (Renovation), the VCP have succeeded in developing the economy of the country. In order to support the VCP’s legitimacy, the history of the communist camp—the USSR and its allies—is still the subject of numerous chapters.

Education and identity in contemporary Vietnam 355 Moreover, the fall of USSR is interpreted, with reference to the Vietnamese policy ´,i, as a failure triggered by a socialist model that ignored reality, and was too of Ð i mo slow to adapt to global transformations and unable to respond to the challenging ´n ho ˜n bie ‘peaceful evolution’ [Die ˆ ˆ `a bı `nh] strategy of the capitalist camp.42 But the disappearance of the USSR does not represent the defeat of (real) socialism. These events are used to justify Renovation, which is not presented as a rupture, but as a ` Chı continuity. The figure of Ho ˆ ´ Minh, extensively popularized since the 1980s, is presented as the role model, the key actor symbolizing the mix of nationalism and ` is the glue of the official ideology and of the teaching reformed socialism. Uncle Ho ˆ ` Chı of national identity. Ho ˆ ´ Minh’s life and action incarnates the history of eternal resistance against foreigners, and the strength of the alliance of a traditional culture ` Chı ` Chı ˆ ´ Minh] has been and a modern thought. ‘Ho ˆ ´ Minh thought’ [Tu, tu, ng Ho officially promoted since the 1980s as the supreme exposition of the national ideology. To conclude, the Vietnamese authorities are still referring to socialism as a fundamental part of the national identity they are building in schools. They are still affirming the idea of promoting a Vietnamese, socialist and modern, ‘new man’ [con ´,i]; who will represent the accomplishment of the primordial-ethnic ngu, o ` , i mo national identity. Slogans of the communist regime have always been a mix of nationalist and communist references. However, even if it is perhaps not as clear as in China’s case because communist Vietnam’s history has been shorter and influenced by more recent wars of liberation, nationalist references seem to have been more and more highly valued since the 1980s and Renovation. If we go back to the three official components mentioned at the beginning of this section, we can see that two of them are clearly over-played in the textbooks: the ‘purity’ of native Vietnamese culture and the socialist dimension. Diversity, cultural dialogue and hybridization are systematically neglected, if not negated. III. The limits of Renovation If there is clearly a division between ‘before’ and ‘after’ 1986 in Vietnamese economic and social life, in terms of politics and culture, Renovation offered generally only a veneer of change, not a change of substance. There have been two new editions of schoolbooks for primary and secondary schools since Renovation (the first one completed during the 1982–1994 period; and the second to be accomplished during the 2002–2007 period): and even if there have been changes in some aspects of the teaching of national history, the fundamental conception of national identity has not been overtly questioned. Moreover the main changes we will mention are above all tactical and diplomatic ones, whose sincerity is doubtful. The portrayal of China is without doubt the best example. After 1979, China was explicitly named as the ‘enemy of the Vietnamese people and nation’. After 1954, , ` ´ c Vu, o with a new generation of modern Vietnamese historians (Tra ˆ n Quo ˆ . ng, Phan Huy Le ˆ …), ‘Vietnamese-ness’ was clearly considered as having no relation with Chinese influences. The vocabulary used was extremely harsh. Even during the

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

356 M. Salomon & D. K. Vu happy days of the strategic alliance against the American imperialists, the vision of China was very negative. This was a real political issue between the two countries. Nowadays, in historical texts, the Chinese are referred to as northern feudalists ` ´n phu, o, ng Ba ´ c), northern dynasty (Ba ´ c Trie ˘ ˘ ˆ u) or other terms; but rarely (phong kie ˆ as China. Official statements have been significantly softened, and not only in schoolbooks. A de facto alliance has been re-built with China after the fall of USSR, and bilateral relations have been normalized. However, this new official political line towards the eternal enemy (the Other) is not as clear as it is supposed to be,43 and is ` questioned by a lot of Vietnamese scholars such as Professor Tra ˆ n Ngo ˆ m.44 .c The Another example: before Renovation, the schoolbooks spoke very little of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the rare mentions this received were very negative (as Vietnam was then in the opposing camp). After 1989, Vietnam had to change its world vision and its partnerships. Vietnam joined ASEAN in 1995 and since the 1990s ASEAN has therefore been presented much more positively. Now the official statements define Vietnam as part of Southeast Asian culture, and ASEAN members are considered to share the same cultural base.45 The fact that the teaching of national history and identity now insists on a Southeast Asian cultural reference (though not a political one), is also linked to the desire to downplay Chinese power and influence, or at least balance it out. Finally, regarding the changes Renovation brought about in the teaching of the national autobiography, we can look at the references to the reform policies of the ‘old regime’ and non-communist historical figures. It is here that we can argue that the Vietnamese regime is re-evaluating nationalist references in order to bridge the legitimacy gap triggered by the failure of communist policy. For example, even if reforms had always had a positive image in official account of the ‘golden age’, the ˜n dynasty had been ignored because it was more reforms initiated under the Nguye ˆ important to show the negative sides of the ‘old regime’ that allowed colonization. However, communist orthodoxy has been softened by Renovation. The official historians’ conception of history has also ‘improved’. Reform proposals launched ˜n have been re-evaluated, such as those of Nguye ˜n Tru, o ˆ under the Nguye ˆ ˆ ` , ng To ., ˜n Lo Nguye ˆ ˆ Tra ch. However, the official narrative continues to focus primarily on the . . peasant revolts and nationalist rebellions during this period. As for ‘old’ nationalist figures, the VCP has always considered itself as the only heir of all the nationalist `ng Tha ˜n Tha movements. Nguye ˆ ´ i Ho ˆ ´ i for example have in fact always . m Ho .c and Pha been praised. However, taboos still exist: to take the most obvious example, the authorities are clearly not willing to reevaluate Ngo ˆ Ð` ınh Die ˆ . m’s place, though the leader of the former Republic of South Vietnam was considered as a real nationalist by ` Chı Ho ˆ ´ Minh himself. It is also possible to find some newspaper or magazine articles about the positive role of the patriotic bourgeoisie during the wars of the twentieth century, but official schoolbooks are still far from incorporating these ideas. The objective is to demonstrate that without the modern communist organization and ideology, independence and liberation could not be won. In the end, transformations can seem marginal because nationalism has always been so strong in Vietnam. If we compare the changes brought by Renovation in Vietnam and

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

Education and identity in contemporary Vietnam 357 similar changes in China which have been analysed by Vickers,46 the process in Vietnam appears less clear and radical. In Vietnam, it is perhaps more `, the ‘traditionalism’ which has been re-evaluated. Following the path of Uncle Ho ˆ leaders of the VCP now officially attend famous traditional festivals or commem˜n ´,c Ma ` ng’s temple, Nguye ˆ orations which glorify popular heroes (No ˆ ng Ðu . nh to Hu ` Va ˘ n An to Tra ˆ n’s Temple in Nam Ði .nh…). Before the 1990s, the communist leaders rarely appeared in public in these kinds of (religious and traditional) festivals. Vietnam is a small country whose independence and reunification in 1975 are more like a second birth than anything else. This is why Renovation—once again not speaking of its economic dimensions!—arguably represents a less radical change than it is sometimes held to be: an essentializing nationalism remains the key constant in official representations of the nation. The official national identity, which has been very much confirmed by Renovation, is concretely very strong. The school system, as a vehicle for mass propaganda, plays its role in a very efficient way. The two dimensions of national identity appear to have been broadly accepted by the Vietnamese people, although the first nationalist/cultural dimension based on primordial/ethnic references is stronger than the socialist one, to the point of being accepted as the unquestionable truth. The cultural dimension is the result of what is claimed to be an eternal popular vision of national culture and identity, even if it is in fact derived more from a modern Vietnamese nationalism born at the end of the nineteenth century. The communist authorities have confirmed and strengthened the popular images and legends about the birth of Vietnamese nation. The contemporary schoolbooks are not so different from the pre-communist or contemporary nationalist literature. The national autobiography is, in a way, pure and hagiographic, as is the case in many young nations. This is also why the place of ethnic minorities is such an issue in contemporary history and in portrayals of the ‘Vietnamese national family’. If the authorities focus on this nationalist dimension in their teaching of nation, they also do everything they can to control it. They are clearly afraid that these feelings on which they are playing may become uncontrollable or disrespectful (on the international scene) (similar concerns exercise the Chinese Communist regime in relation to portrayals of Japan). That is why the condemnation of China has been notably softened in schoolbooks. Despite what has been said above, schoolbooks clearly take a softer line than popular literature and certain branches of the media in expressions of Vietnamese nationalist sentiment. They try to moderate and ‘civilize’ them, while many changes are due, above all, to strategic considerations related to the end of the Cold War. If the Chinese remain the eternal cultural ‘other’ and the main threat, China is also now the last communist ally of Hanoi. This represents the main tension in Vietnam’s contemporary foreign policy. As for the second dimension (socialism), its main success and strength comes from the fact that it has served as a vehicle for realizing nationalist aspirations. These ` Chı are linked together by the historical figure of Ho ˆ ´ Minh. This symbol is ` is really the key figure of the modern pantheon and the sine qua omnipresent: Ho ˆ

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

358 M. Salomon & D. K. Vu non of regime coherence, not only politically but also culturally. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Vietnamese official national autobiography can be ` Chı ˜n Tra ˆ ˜ i + Ho ˆ ´ Minh summed up by the following equation: Hu ` ng Vu, o, ng + Nguye (identity/culture+resistance/State building+independance/socialism). In the current context, in a nation where about 80% of the population is still living in the countryside, schools and mass organizations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam appear to be very efficient in the building of the official national identity. Nationalism is vibrant and socialism, understood as the VCP’s monopoly of power, has not yet been seriously questioned. However, the official teaching of national identity also encounters some strong challenges. The first one is a consequence of the proliferation of the mass media. Television and newspapers are under strict state control. However, critics are emerging who write (or speak) in the name of nationalism, as well as (less frequently) communism. The Tu i Tr popular newspaper is an excellent example of this phenomenon. This is one of the main reasons why the control of the internet is a huge challenge for the authorities. Stirring up nationalism is a classic and efficient political strategy but it is also a dangerous one. The authorities have been criticized for not being ‘strong’ enough towards external enemies. Some spontaneous nationalist demonstrations have occurred in the country. If the authorities appear to be aware of this risk, they have also recently been extensively playing on these feelings (especially since 2004). In January 2005, after a fishing dispute, the Vietnamese press mobilized the youth in the streets to demonstrate against the Chinese. In this case, the authorities managed to control the movement—but what of the future? There are also very strong and recurrent criticisms of the Vietnamese education system. Many observers have vigorously criticized the Ministry of Education and Training. The quality of teaching and its relevance to the current environment are the main issues. The contents of many classes are questioned. Teaching methods are also strongly criticized, and in particular the method of learning ‘by heart’ is often condemned (through the term: ho .c ve .t, to learn like a parrot). However, these critics gain great support from arguments regarding the ‘economic efficiency’ of education. It is argued that globalization requires young, well-educated people who can think by themselves, and this is why the education system has to encourage critical thinking and independent judgement.47 The criticisms are not directly addressed to the teaching of history or national identity, and especially not to the cultural dimension of it. On this point the nationalist consensus remains overwhelming. Critics tend instead to target the link between the two dimensions of the official national identity. The hot question is not ‘What being Vietnamese is/means’? but ‘which policies can best further Vietnam’s interests’. These criticicisms are, once again, made in the name of a homogenizing and totalizing nationalism.48 Meanwhile, another fundamental challenge for the regime is emerging: the generation gap between those who lived through the Vietnam War, and the younger generation who did not. More than half of Vietnamese have been born since 1975 and do not remember the hard times. This youth has been extensively fed with very

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

Education and identity in contemporary Vietnam 359 strong nationalist sentiments, but appears also to be tired of this propaganda, and especially the omnipresent military-historical commemorations linked with the independence wars. This youth, and especially the urban elite, also wants to ‘belong to the world’ via the internet. To take just one example: in March 2005, during an ˜n Phi Thanh, triggered a mini-controversy in exam, a grade 11 student, Miss Nguye ˆ public opinion by rejecting the proposed dissertation subject. This subject was very ` n Giuo ´ nghı a sı Ca ˆ ˆ classical: ‘Present the beauty of the work Va ˘ n te ˆ . c», a funeral oration written in no ˆ m—old Vietnamese—by a famous nationalist blind poet at the end of ` ˆ n Vu, o, ng [Fidelity to the King] resistance the 19th century in memorial of the Ca movement against the French. She explained that she could not speak about the beauty of the book because this book ‘does not talk to her’, ‘because I did not live during the war…’. Newspapers and public opinion were divided on the mark she should have received.49 This story symbolized a clear (though often silent) ´ c has written: ‘The history ˆ generation gap. The famous historian Du, o, ng Trung Quo that we are teaching to our children is a non-personalized history which mainly ˜n ˆ consists of symbols and concepts but not of human beings’;50 and Professor Nguye ` ng has said: ‘They (the students) don’t like history because we are not telling Va ˘ n Ða ˘ them the truth. The way history is taught and explained has to be questioned’.51 People regularly complain that the young generation is not passionate about the ´ c, a survey showed at the ˆ history of their country (according to Du, o, ng Trung Quo end of the 1990s that only 39% of the students had a good knowledge of the origins ˜n Phi Thanh was taken up by critics of ˆ of Hu ` ng Vu, o, ng…). The affair of Miss Nguye the predominant teaching methods: shouldn’t the school teach the children to think by themselves? In this affair it is once again much more these technical methods of teaching which have been questioned and not the substance of national identity and its ‘glorious history’. However, one may wonder whether it is possible to question or reform the former without undermining belief in the latter.
, ,

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

Conclusion The strength of Vietnamese nationalism, as reflected not only in schoolbooks but also in contemporary popular culture, makes it unlikely that the official history of periods prior to the twentieth century (Braudel’s ‘longue dure ´ e’ perspective) would change significantly, even if the Vietnamese communist regime were to radically change or crumble. What would notably change is the twentieth century national autobiography and the identities of the latter figures in the Pantheon of national heroes. To put it clearly: Vietnamese nationalism is not dependent on any political ` regime. The views of the Vie ˆ ˆ u anticommunist groups and the ideology of the . t Kie late Republic of South Vietnam are perfect proofs of that. According to the historian ´t, the basic rule in writing history school-books in Vietnam is the rule of Bu ` i Thie ˆ , , , ´ c va ´,c’ [build and defend the nation]. Vietnamese national ` giu ‘du ˜ , nu, o . ng nu o identity is built on the history of the battles against the invaders (particularly the Chinese, but also the French, Americans and others).

360 M. Salomon & D. K. Vu If the approach to teaching national identity, and the contents of history schoolbooks, are political products generated by political regimes, their ideology and a specific context, they are also (and perhaps firstly) historical products. And Vietnam is first of all an archetype of a young Asian country. Vietnam may still be a member of the declining ‘communist club’, but Vietnamese see themselves first and foremost in primordialist, ethno-cultural terms, as descendants of the Dragon and the Fairy. Even if some marginal historians and intellectuals have now started to argue for a more detached and ‘objective’ approach to constructing the national autobiography, the national story is clearly unlikely to be ‘de-nationalized’ any time soon. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Germ Janmaat and Ed Vickers for their help, comments and editing. Notes
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. ˜n Duy Trinh (1975). cf. Nguye ˆ cf. Nguye ˆ n The ˆ Anh (2001), Be ´ nichou (1990) and Mus (1952). A more recent work which shows the concrete nationalist dimension of Vietnamese communism is Tre ´ glode ´ (2001). ` cf. Tra ˆ n Tro ng Kim (1940), p. 11. . cf. Ferro (2004). cf. Lua ˆ t Gia ´ o du ˆ t Gia ´ o du . . c [Education Law], 1998, article 3 and Lua . .c [Education Law], 2005, article 2. cf. Hein and Selden (2000). See also Vickers (2005a). cf. Jones (2002) and Nosaki (2002). cf. Coulby (1997). ´ ˜ , (the term literally means ‘national language’) is the transliteration of spoken Quo ˆ c ngu Vietnamese using the Roman alphabet. It was created by the Catholic missionary Alexander ´ ˜ , was really adopted at the beginning of the 20th of Rhodes in the 17th century. Quo ˆ c ngu century under the shared will of French colonizers and Vietnamese nationalist opponents who wanted to modernize their country through mass literacy campaigns and, at the same time, to diminish Chinese influence. Before that Vietnamese mandarins wrote in Chinese and ˜ , No ˆ m). Chinese characters to translate the Vietnamese (chu Lua ˆ t Gia ´ o du c [ Education law ], 2005, ch. II. . . Lua ˆ t Gia ´ o du ch. VII, article 99. . . c [Education law], 2005, , ` ´ ng. Li ˆ t Nam [Vietnam history]. The first edition was cf. Phan Huy Le ˆ , Tra ˆ n Quo ˆ c Vu, o . .ch s Vie . , ` ` ´ ` Va ˘ n Ta ˆ n, Lu, o, ng Ninh, Li ˆt published in 1971; Phan Huy Le ˆ , Tra ˆ n Quo ˆ c Vu, o . ng, Ha .ch s Vie . Nam [Vietnam History], 4 volumes, the first edition was published in 1983. National Politics Editions, the official editions of the Vietnamese Communist Party. See, for example, National Committee for Redaction of Textbooks on Marxist-Leninist and Ho Chi Minh’s Thought (1999). ´ ` ´ i…’ [Education Publishing House Director Ngo ´ m Ko ˆ c NXBGD Ngo ˆ Tra ˆn A ˆ cf. ‘T ng Gia ` ´ Tra ˆ n Ai…], 31 March 2006. Available online at: http://sggp.org.vn/thoisu/nam2006/thang3/ 113249/. ´t (2000). See also the file ‘Lich s : Theo trang sa cf. historian Bu ` i Thie ˆ ´ ch ho `’ . c tro . [History through students textbooks], available online at: http://www.laodong.com.vn/pls/ bld/display$.htnoidung(39,140833) (accessed 25 October 2005). ` , i Ka cf. Gia ´ o du ` Tho . i, [Education and Contemporary newspaper] (2006). . c va

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

9. 10. 11.

12. 13. 14.

15.

16.

Education and identity in contemporary Vietnam 361
˜n Xua 17. According to Nguye ˆ ˆ n Ha ˜ n, the real budget for this programme would be around , ´n Ke ` ˆ ng US$2 billion just for the period 2002–2007, quoted in ‘Va ˆ ˆ to ˆ i ne ˆ u, Bo ˆ . tru ng kho , , ´ quye ˆ t Ku o . c…’ [The Ministry is not competent to answer the question I raised…]. Available online at: http://vietnamnet.vn/giaoduc/2006/04/565415 (accessed 28 April 2006). 18. Since renovation, UNESCO, UNDP and other UN institutions have produced many reports on the situation of Vietnamese education system and suggested reforms. cf. MOET, UNDP and UNESCO (1989, 1992). ˜ ,u Ngo 19. cf. Hu . c (2003). ´ c Vie ˜n Kha 20. Even Prof. Nguye ˆ ˘ ˆ . n (1993) encouraged these images and ideas. 21. For a broader perspective on political mythology see the fundamental Girardet (1986). For a more precise typology of myths in national historiography see Wilson (1998). Many of the myths Wilson identified can also be found in the Vietnamese autobiography. 22. cf. Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004a), pp. 35–36. . Gia . c va 23. Indeed, even the name of the country, Vietnam, is borrowed from Chinese—Yuenan in Mandarin or Yuetnam in Cantonese, meaning ‘Southern Yue’. The Cantonese were the ‘Northern Yue’ (or ‘Yuet’) and the term ‘Yue’ is still used as shorthand for the culture of China’s Guangdong Province. 24. See Vickers (2005a) and also the China article in this special issue. 25. cf. Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004b). . Gia . c va 26. Historically, remote areas and ethnic minorities have been incorporated into the Vietnamese nation only during the 20th century. cf. Papin (2003). 27. In Vietnam any person who has two Vietnamese parents (even adopted children) is considered de facto Vietnamese. This situation has triggered a number of diplomatic situations between the Vietnamese authorities and foreign embassies. ` 28. Economic rights, but the authorities have proposed that the Vie ˆ ˆ u elect MPs to represent . t Kie them and have invited them to send their comments on the VCP 10th Congress political report and so on. 29. Definition confirmed in resolution no. 36 of the Politburo (26 March 2004). 30. cf. Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004a), p. 37. . Gia . c va 31. cf. Bo ˆ Gia ´ o Du c va ` Ð a ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004a), p. 46. . . 32. Phan Bo ˆ i Cha ˆ u took the name from Keio University (Keio Gijuku) in Japan because he was . deeply inspired by Keio’s mission. This school is also called: the Free School of Eastern Capital or the Eastern Capital School for the Just Cause. 33. cf. Papin, Vu Van Sach and Vu Thi Minh Huong (1997), p. 181. 34. Between 1407 and 1427 there was a second, violent Chinese military occupation. The French signed a treaty with the Chinese in 1885 (Tie ˆ n-tsin) to transfer Chinese authority over Vietnam to the French Republic. 35. cf. Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004a), p. 70. . Gia . c va 36. For instance, Patricia Pelley (2002) has analysed this tradition of resistance to foreign aggression, but also the hierarchical relationship between ethnic Vietnamese and ethnic minorities, the ‘cult of antiquity’, attempts to ‘de-Chinese’ the Vietnamese past and so on. 37. cf. Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004b), p. 99. . Gia . c va 38. cf. Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004c), p. 32. . Gia . c va 39. The same idea can be noted for China. cf. Jones (2005). 40. Patricia Pelley (2002) has analysed the conversion of the Ta ˆ y So, n rebellion into an archetype of revolution. 41. cf. Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004c), p. 131. . Gia . c va ˜n Phu 42. Nguye ˆ ´ Tro . ng (2005). 43. cf. Matthieu Salomon and Vu Doan Ke ˆ t (2006). This pervasive fear of the northern neighbour seems a permanent fixture in Hanoi’s ideology. ` 44. See Tra ˆ n Ngo ˆ m’s polemic book (2001). This book is used as a texbook in many . c The universities in Vietnam to teach Vietnamese culture.

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

362 M. Salomon & D. K. Vu
` 45. cf. Tra ˆ n Ngo ˆ m op. cit. . c The 46. Edward Vickers showed that since the late 1970s, when China launched its reform policy, and particularly after the 1989 Tienanmen events, the patriotism dimension has been more and more valorized. cf. Vickers (2005b). 47. See the files on education issues from the two revues Chu ´ ng ta (www.chungta.com.vn) and Tia sa ´ ng (www.tiasang.com.vn); (accessed March 2006). ` 48. See the articles on education issues on the Internet forum created by Vie ˆ ˆ u, available . t Kie online at: www.talawas.org (accessed March 2006). 49. On this story, see the Tu i Tr [The Youth] articles (www.tuoitre.com.vn), 13–15 May 2005. 50. cf. Lao Ðo ˆ . ng [Labour], 22 January 2005. ´t c a o ` 51. cf. «Trao K i nha ˆ n ca ´ c ba ` i vie ˆ ˆ ng Ha ` Va ˘ n Thi ˆ sa ´ ch gia ´ o khoa li ˆ ng…» .nh ve .ch s ph tho [Discussions of Ha ` Va ˘ n Thi nh’s articles on the secondary school history textbooks], Gia ´ o du . .c ` , i Ka va ` tho . i, available online at: www.gdtd.com.vn/gdtdroot/2005-141/bai10.htm (accessed 26 July 2005).

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

References
Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004a) Li . Gia . c va .ch s 6 [History 6]. Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004b) Li . Gia . c va .ch s 11 [History 11]. Bo ˆ ´ o Du ` Ða ` o Ta . o [Ministry of Education and Formation] (2004c) Li . Gia . c va .ch s 7 [History 7]. , , ` ` ` Gia ´ o du c va ` Tho i i K a i (2006) Gia ´ o du c tho K i m i co ´ sai la ˆ m va ` su ´ t ke ´ m? [ Has education in the Ð i . . . m i era been mistaken and declining?]. Available online at: www.gdtd.com.vn (accessed January 2006). Be ´ nichou, M. (1990) Communisme et nationalisme, paper presented at the colloquium Ho ˆ Chi Minh, l’homme et son he ´ ritage, Paris, 25–26 May. Available online at: www.vninfos.com/ selection/histoire/communisme_et_nationalisme.html (accessed 28 May 2007). ´t (2000) Ðo ´i thoa Bu ` i Thie ˆ ˆ ˆ n). . i s ho . c [History dialogue] (Hanoi, Nxb Thanh nie Coulby, D. (1997) Educational responses to diversity within the state, in: D. Coulby, J. Gundara & C. Jones (Eds) World yearbook of education: intercultural education (London, Kogan Page). de Tre ´ glode ´ , B. (2001) He ´ ros et re ´volution au Vie ˆt Nam: 1948–1964 (Paris, l’Harmattan). Ferro, M. (2004) Comment on raconte l’histoire aux enfants (revised ed.) (Paris, Petite Bibliothe ` que Payot). ´t c a o ` `,i Ka Gia ´ o du ` tho ˆ n ca ´ c ba ` i vie ˆ ˆ ng Ha ` Va ˘ n Thi ˆ sa ´ ch gia ´ o khoa li . i (2005) Trao K i nha . c va .nh ve .ch s ph tho ˆ ng… [Discussions of Ha ` Va ˘ n Thi nh’s articles on the secondary school history textbooks ]. . Available online at: www.gdtd.com.vn/gdtdroot/2005-141/bai10.htm (accessed 26 November 2005). Girardet, R. (1986) Mythes et mythologies politiques (Paris, Ed. du Seuil). Hein, L. & Selden, M. (2000) The lessons of war, global power, and social change, in: L. Hein & M. Selden (Eds) Censoring history: citizenship and memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States (New York, M. E. Sharpe). ˜ ,u Ngo Hu . c (2003) Les dialogues interculturels du Vietnam [Vietnamese inter-cultural dialogues]. Available online at: http://confculture.francophonie.org/DocComplement/pdf/Vietnam.pdf (accessed 05 May 2006). Jones, A. (2002) Politics and history curriculum reform in post-Mao China, International Journal of Educational Research, 37, 545–566. Jones, A. (2005) Chapter 2: Changing the past to serve the present: history education in Mainland China, in: A. Jones & E. Vickers (Eds) History, education and national identity in East Asia (London, Routledge). MOET, UNDP and UNESCO (1989) Assessment of basic education needs in Vietnam VIE 89/3 (Hanoi, MOET–UNDP–UNESCO). MOET, UNDP and UNESCO (1992) Report of the Viet Nam education and human resources sector analysis, VIE 89/22 (Hanoi, MOET–UNDP–UNESCO).

Education and identity in contemporary Vietnam 363
Mus, P. (1952) Insertion du communisme dans le mouvement nationaliste vietnamien, Les Temps Modernes, April, 1795–1809. National Committee for Redaction of Textbooks on Marxist-Leninist and Ho Chi Minh’s ` ´ Thought (1999) [Ho ˆ ˆ ng trung u, o, ng ch Ka ˆ n soa ´ o trı `nh quo ˆ c gia ca ´ c bo ˆ ˆn . o bie . n gia . i Ko . mo , , ` ´ ´ khoa ho c Ma ´ c-Le ˆ nin, Tu tu ng Ho ˆ Chı ´ Minh] (Ha ` No ˆ i, Nha ` xua ˆ t b n Chı ´ nh tri Quo ˆ c gia). . . . , , ,, ´ ng lo ´i quo ´c te ´ c a Ð ng, pha ˜n Duy Trinh (1975) Kie Nguye ˆ ˆ n trı ` Ku` ˆ ˆ ˆ ong lo ´ t huy tha ˘ ˆ n to ˆ . i c ,a da . i vı Ka . c, ` m phuc vu co ´t nu, c va ´c K y ma ˆ ng ta ´ c ngoa ˘ ˆ ˆ y du ˆ ` la ` m nghı a vu ˆ . ,ng Ka . nh co . i giao nha . . ˆ ng cuo . c xa . quo ´ [Persevere in the Party’s international orientation, put forward the glorious victory of the nation, te ˆ strenghten the diplomatic activities, in order to better serve the cause of building the country and to ˜n Duy Trinh, Minister of fulfil the international duties]. Report for Vice Prime Minister Nguye ˆ Foreign Affairs, at the 1st session of the Vth National Assembly, Hanoi, 4 June 1975. ´ c Vie ´ Gio ˜n Kha ´,i). Nguye ˆ ˘ ˆ ` No ˆ ˆ . n (1993) Vietnam, a long history (Ha . i, The , , ` ´u tranh tu tu ng trong tı ˜n Phu Nguye ˆ ´ Tro ˆ cuo ˆ ˆ `nh hı `nh hie ˆ . ng (2005) Ve . c Ka . n nay [On the ideologies struggle in the actual context], Ta ´ Co ˆ ng s n no. 94, 3–8. . p chı . Nguye ˆ n The ˆ Anh (2001) The formulation of the national discourse in 1945 Vietnam, paper presented at the colloquium Decolonisations, Loyalties and Nations. Perspectives on the wars of independence in Vie ˆt-nam—Indonesia—France—Netherlands, Amsterdam, 30 November–1 December. Available online at: www.vninfos.com/selection/histoire/1945.html (accessed 28 May 2007). Nosaki, Y. (2002) Japanese politics and the history textbooks controversy, 1982–2001, International Journal of Educational Research, 37, 603–622. Papin, P. (2003) Le Vie ˆ t-Nam: parcours d’une nation (Paris, Belin la Documentation Franc ¸ aise). Papin, P., Vu Van Sach et Vu Thi Minh Huong (eds. and translation) (1997) Va ˘ n tho, ÐKNT [Prose and poems from the ÐKNT school], Vol. 2 (Hanoi, EFEO, Vietnamese National Archives and NXB Va ˘ n Hoa ´ ). Pelley, P. (2002) Postcolonial Vietnam: new histories of the national past (Durhan and London, Duke Unviversity Press). , ` ´ Phan Huy Le ˆ , Tra ˆ n Quo ˆ c Vu, o ˆ t Nam [Vietnamese History] (1st edn) (Ha ` No ˆ . ng (1971) Li .ch s Vie . . i, Ed. Ða ` Trung ho ˆ n nghie ˆ p). . i ho . c va . c chuye . , ` ´ ´n, Lu, o, ng Ninh (1983) Lich s Vie Phan Huy Le ˆ , Tra ˆ n Quo ˆ c Vu, o ` Va ˘ n Ta ˆ ˆ t Nam [Vietnamese . ng, Ha . . History] (1st edn) (Ha ` No ˆ i, Ed. Ð a i ho c va ` Trung ho c chuye ˆ n nghie ˆ p). . . . . . Salomon, M. & Vu Doan Ke ˆ t (2006) L’Empire du milieu perc ¸ u du Vie ˆ t-nam: grand fre ` re incontournable et inquie ´ tant, Outre-Terre. Revue Franc ¸aise de Ge ´ opolitique no. 15, 229–245. ´ c va ` ` Tra ˆ n Ngo ˆ m (2001) Tı `m ve ˆ b n sa ˘ ˘ n ho ´ a Vie ˆ t Nam [The quest for Vietnamese cultural . c The . ` ` identity] (Ho ˆ Chı ´ Minh City, Ed. Ho ˆ Chı ´ Minh City). , ` Tra ˆ n Tro ˆ t Nam s lu, o ˆ m Ho ˆ . c [History of Vietnam] (Saigon, Trung Ta . ng Kim (1971) Vie . c Lie . . u) (Original work published 1940). Vickers, E. (2005a) Introduction, in: E. Vickers & A. Jones (Eds) History education and national identity in East Asia (New York, Routledge). Vickers, E. (2005b) Chine versus Japon: histoire et nationalisme, Outre-Terre. Revue Franc ¸aise de Ge ´ opolitique, no. 12, 379–391. Wilson, A. (1998) National history and national identity in Ukraine and Belarus, in: G. Smith, A. Wilson, A. Bohr & E. Allworth (Eds) Nation building in the post-Soviet borderlands: the politics of national identities (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).

Downloaded by [University of Southampton Highfield] at 06:48 06 February 2014

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close