In search of moral authority the discourse on poverty, poor relief, and charity in French colonial Vietnam PDF
Preview In search of moral authority the discourse on poverty, poor relief, and charity in French colonial Vietnam
In Search of Moral Authority PETER LANG New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern Frankfurt am Main (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford Van Nguyen-Marshall In Search of Moral Authority The Discourse on Poverty, Poor Relief, and Charity in French Colonial Vietnam PETER LANG New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern Frankfurt am Main (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nguyen-Marshall, Van. In search of moral authority: the discourse on poverty, poor relief, and charity in French colonial Vietnam / Van Nguyen-Marshall. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Poverty—Vietnam—History. 2. Public welfare— Vietnam—History. 3. Charities—Vietnam—History. 4. France—Colonies—Indochina—History. I. Title. HC444.Z9P6665 362.509597’09041–dc22 2008002872 ISBN 978-1-4331-0215-8 Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek. Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de/. Cover photo: “Women at the Trung Sisters’ Pagoda” by Tran Manh Dat The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council of Library Resources. © 2008 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006 www.peterlang.com All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited. Printed in Germany For Richard and Xuan with love Contents Acknowledgments ix Chapter1: Introduction 1 Chapter2: PovertyandPoorReliefin Nineteenth-CenturyVietnam 9 VillageLifeinNorthernVietnam 10 TheRoleoftheState 13 LandandWelfarePolicies 15 CultivatingNewLand 21 Short-TermRelief 23 Mutual-AidSocieties 27 Chapter3: TheFrenchAdministrationandFamineRelief 31 “MissionCivilisatrice”andPoorRelief 32 LaGrandeFamine1906 34 TheSubsistenceCrisisof1915–17 41 TheCommissiononFaminePrevention 46 TheCommission’sRecommendations 52 Chapter4: Philanthropy,Patriotism, andtheVietnameseElite(1920–32) 57 NewspaperSources 60 NationandSociety:NewConceptualizations 62 ViewsonChronicPoverty 67 TheDiscourseonNationalSurvival 73 Chapter5: EngenderingCharity 77 TheDebateonWomen’sRole 78 Women’sNewspapers 82 Fund-RaisingandBenevolentFairs 83 CharitableChild-CareCenters 88 CharityandEmancipation 93 viii Contents Chapter6: RepresentingPoverty,Gender,andNation inVietnameseLiterature 97 ProseFiction inTwentieth-CenturyVietnam 98 ImagesofPovertyintheWritingsofthe Self-RelianceLiteraryGroup 101 Class, Poverty,andSocialRealism 110 Chapter7: ThePopularFrontandtheProblemof ColonialPoverty(1936–39) 119 ThePopularFront1936–39 120 FamineandL’Officedel’AlimentationIndigène 121 TheCommissionofInquiryinIndochina 126 Chapter8: Conclusion 133 Notes 137 Bibliography 165 Index 177 Acknowledgments Many people and organizations helped me along the journey of writing this book. First of all, I would like to thank the various institutions for their fi- nancialsupportduringmy years as aPhDstudentwhen the core ofthis book was researched and written. I benefited greatly from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s doctoral fellowship, the Univer- sity of British Columbia’s graduate fellowship, the University of British Co- lumbia’s Simons Foundation award, the Canadian Association of University Teachers’ J.H. Stewart Reid Memorial Scholarship, and the Western Asso- ciation of Women Historians Graduate Student Fellowship. The Ford Foun- dation’s and the Asia-Pacific Foundation’s ASEAN-Canada graduate travel grants funded my research trips to Hanoiin 1995 and in 1996–7. Trent Uni- versity’s internal SSHRC grant provided funds for further research in 2003– 4. Withoutthe support and guidance of my dissertation supervisor, Profes- sor Alexander Woodside, this book would not have seen the light of day. I am grateful that he accepted me as his graduate student. Without a doubt, I’ve been deeply influenced and inspired by his scholarship, but also by his integrity and kindness. Diana Lary played a critical role in my career devel- opment and I owe hera great deal. Her arrival at UBC greatly improved the social and intellectual atmosphere, particularly for graduate students whom she mentored with generosity. I would also like to thank my other teachers and mentors at UBC, especially Dianne Newell, Steven Lee, Terry McGee, and Geoffrey Hainsworth. I am particularly grateful to Dianne for her sage advice and friendship. As my dissertation examiner, Hue-Tam Ho Tai pro- vided valuable suggestions to help revise my dissertation into this book. My peers at UBCwere also a blessing: Joanne Poon, Susan Neylan, Laura Cam- eron,andSteffanieScottprovidedthemuchneededcompanionship. Ialsooweadebtofgratitudetothosewhohelpedmewithandfacilitated my research in Vietnam. I would like to thank the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences (previously the National Center for Social Sciences and Hu- manities) for sponsoring my research. In particular, I would like to thank, Mr. Nguyen Van Ku and Ms. Dang Anh Phuong for their help and support. Mr. Ku and his familyhave become a surrogate family for my husband and
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