Very few countries have been at war for as long as Việt Nam in the past centuries. Even fewer can claim to have defeated, on their territory, armies from France, Japan, China, Cambodia and the United States. This course is an introduction to Vietnamese contemporary history and will attempt to give students an explanation of how this came to be. It will focus on the past two centuries, starting with the Nguyễn restauration of 1802 ending up with a few impressions about the country's present situation. The course will examine the various regimes that ruled over Vietnamese territory and the different dynamics to which the country was subjected during that period. It will focus on the French colonial period, to move to the First (1945-1954), the Second (1954-1975) and Third (1978-1992) Indochina War. Emphasis will be put on Vietnamese perspectives and Vietnamese regimes. International relations, French and US foreign policy will only be secondary in this class. The instructor will also present a significant part of his own doctoral research to the students and will share with them reflections that emerged from a six-year stay in the country.
Main themes will be : colonialism and birth of nationalism ; imperial politics and colonizers' reactions ; Vietnamese communism ; anticolonial struggle ; Cold War dynamics in South East Asia.
Antoine LE
Séminaire
English
Spring 2024-2025
To validate the course, the student is expected to pass the following assignments (at least three grades):
1°) Participation grade: 1/6 of the final grade
2°) Midterm exam: 1/3 of the final grade
The mid-term exam will be a written essay or dissertation, on campus which will test the knowledge you have acquired from the lectures and the seminars. The student will be expected to show their own reflections upon class contents and their own capacity to connect the various themes studied in class.
Please note that the final exam will be of the same format.
3°) Final Exam : ½ of the final grade
At the end of the course, the student is expected to :
1°) Have a better knowledge of Vietnamese history
2°) Develop their learning skills through lectures
The Penguin History of modern Vietnam – Christopher GOSCHA – Penguin Books – 2016