Making of the Civilized Subject in Colonial French Vietnamese Curriculum: Ontopolitics of Knowledge

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  In Roundtable Session: 58.083-15 - Resisting Neoliberalism and Reconceptualizing Golbal Education

Abstract

This paper examined how the discourse of ‘civilization’ was embedded in curriculum during the French Colonial period in Vietnam. It employed the framework of Foucauldian genealogy and Said’s method of colonial discourse analysis to explore how the will to exercise dominant control in a colonial society was disguised in the language of truth, rationality and knowledge. Franco-Vietnamese textbooks were the major source of data for this research. Findings showed various manifestations of ‘civilization’ in the curriculum, which reinforced the concept of ‘the civilized Westerners’ as those in charge of the ‘uncivilized natives’ because Westerners were cleaner, more generous, and more intelligent. The study showcased how power holders constructed the language of the knowledge beneficial for their own existence through education.

Author

• Chau Bao Vu, Louisiana State University