(De)Constructing the Vietnamese Archive

• In Event: 61. Whither the Southeast Asia Research Archive? Sponsored by the AAS Southeast Asia Council (SEAC)

Abstract

Though scholars of Southeast Asia have had to rely on a more fluid idea of “the archive” than historical method has permitted, there has been little engagement with how it serves as a site of knowledge production. Drawing from experience in historical and philological research on Vietnamese history in Vietnam, Europe, and the United States, this paper examines how collections of textual materials from government and educational archives shape the historical narrative of pre-modern Vietnamese history. It provides examples of how private collections from marginalized groups, along with a broadening idea of a “historical archive” can disrupt prevailing nation and ethnic-centered narratives.

Author

• Nhung Tuyet Tran, University of Toronto