History 111C
Political and Cultural History of Vietnam
Tu/Th 9:30-11A, 103 Moffit
Spring 2013
Instructor: Peter Zinoman
pzinoman@berkeley.edu
Office Phone: 642-2234
Course Description
This course provides an introduction to Vietnamese history from the mythic and archeological origins if
the Vietnamese people to the end of the Vietnam War. Special emphasis will be placed on “modern”
developments from the 18th century. Topics include early Sino-Vietnamese relations, the rise and fall of
the Ly, Tran, Ho and Le dynasties, the status of women in Vietnamese society, the Nguyen/Trinh wars
and the origins of southern Vietnam, the Tay Son Rebellion, the encounter between the Nguyen Dynasty
and French imperialism, the consolidation of the French colonial state, economic change and colonial
capitalism, anti-colonialism and the rise of political radicalism and nationalism, the development of
Vietnamese communism, World War II and Japanese occupation, the August Revolution, the first
Indochina War, the battle of Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Accords, the development of separate states
in North and South Vietnam and the American intervention and the Second Indochina War.
Assignments and Grading
The final grade will be based on an assessment of performance on (1) a mid-term exam (2) a final exam
(3) two short papers and (4) participation in section. Attendance in lecture will be noted but not
formally graded. Students are advised, however, that exams will be based on material drawn from both
readings and lectures and that neither review sheets nor the professor’s lecture notes will be made
available to students. Exams will include a combination of essay questions and identification questions.
Assigned papers will analyze two of the three major works of literature assigned in class. Instructions
for completing the papers may be found on the final page of this syllabus. Late papers will be marked
down one full letter grade for each day late.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Mid-term – 20%
Paper#1 – 20%
Paper#2 – 20%
Section Performance – 10%
Final Exam – 30% (Final Exam Group 10:WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2013, 11:30-2:30)
Office Hours
Office hours for Peter Zinoman will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11-12 in 2313 Dwinelle or
by appointment. Office hours for Eloise Wright will be held Wednesdays from 2-4.
Readings
There are seven required books and one required course-reader available for purchase. The coursereader – History 111C: Political and Cultural History of Vietnam – is available at Copy Central located at
48 Shattuck Square (at Shattuck and University). The books may be bought at the Campus Store or
ordered on-line. They all also available at Moffit’s reserve desk.
1. Li Tana, Nguyen Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,
(Ithaca, 1998).
2. Nguyen Du, The Tale of Kieu, (New Haven, 1983).
3. Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858-1954 (Berkeley: 2009).
4. Peter Zinoman (ed). Dumb Luck: A Novel by Vu Trong Phung (Ann Arbor: 2001).
5. Jeffrey Race, War Comes to Long An: Revolutionary Conflict in a Vietnamese Province (Berkeley,
2010).
6. Mark Lawrence, The Vietnam War: A Concise International History (Oxford, 2008).
7. Duong Thu Huong, Paradise of the Blind (New York, 2002).
Schedule of Lectures/Readings
(items marked with an asterisk * may be found in the course reader)
1. Introduction,1/22
- * John Whitmore, “An Outline of Vietnamese History before the French Conquest.”
2. Vietnamese Identity and China, 1/24
- * David Marr, “The Nature of Vietnamese Identity.”
- *Keith Taylor, “An Evaluation of the Chinese Period in Vietnamese History.”
- *John Whitmore, “Foreign Influences and the Vietnamese Cultural Core: A
Discussion of the Pre-Modern Period.”
- *Liam Kelly, “Vietnam as a Realm of Manifest Civility.”
3. Religion and Politics during the Ly (1010-1225) and Tran (1225-1400) Dynasties, 1/24
- *Keith Taylor, “The Early Kingdoms”
- *Nguyen The Anh, “From Indra to Maitreya: Buddhist Influence in Vietnamese
Political Thought.”
- Victor Lieberman, “The Least Coherent Territory in the World.” 338-366.
4. Women in Traditional Vietnam, 1/29
- *Tran My Van, “Come on Girls. Let’s go Bail Water: Eroticism in Ho Xuan Huong’s
Poetry.”
- *Nhung Tuyet Tran, “Beyond the Myth of Equality: Daughters’ Inheritance Rights in
the Le Code.”
5. Ho Qui Ly and the Ming Occupation, 1400-1427, 1/31
- *A.B. Woodside, “Early Ming Expansionism (1407-1427): China’s Abortive Conquest
of Vietnam.”
- *Victor Lieberman, “The Least Coherent Country in the World.” 367-377.
6. Le Loi, Nguyen Trai and the Le Dynasty: 1427-1527, 2/5
- *Thomas Hodgkin, “The Le: Unity and Division.”
- *Victor Lieberman, “The Least Coherent Country in the World,” 377-393.
7. Political Division and the Origins of Southern Vietnam: 1527-1770, 2/7
- Li Tana, Nguyen Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Century (pp.11-118)
- *Victor Lieberman, “The Least Coherent Country in the World,” 394-419.
8. The Tay Son Rebellion: 1770-1802, 2/12
- Li Tana, Nguyen Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Century (pp.119-158)
- * George Dutton, The Tayson Uprising: Society and Rebellion in Eighteenth Century
Vietnam, 18-56
- *Victor Lieberman, “The Least Coherent Country in the World,” 419-456.
9. The Tale of Kieu, 2/14
- Nguyen Du, The Tale of Kieu
10. The Nguyen Dynasty and the Challenge of French Imperialism, 2/19
- *Mark Mcleod, “The Vietnamese Response to French Intervention.”
- Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1-70.
11. Mid Term 2/21
12. The Colonial State and Anti-colonial Resistance, 2/26
Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 70-116.
- *Truong Buu Lam, “Colonialism Experienced: Vietnamese Writings on Colonialism,
1900-1931.”
- *Truong Buu Lam, “Patterns of Vietnamese Response to Foreign Intervention,”
1858-1900.
13. Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh and Vietnamese Nationalism, 2/28
- *Vinh Sinh & Nicholas Wickenden, “Phan Boi Chau and his Autobiography.”
- *Vu Duc Bang, “The Dong Kinh Free School Movement, 1907-1908.”
14. Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese Communism, 3/5
- Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 281-336.
15. Colonial Capitalism and the Nghe Tinh Soviet Movement, 3/7
- Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 116-181.
- *Martin Bernal, “The Nghe Tinh Soviet Movement, 1930-31.”
16. Collaboration, Society and Politics, 3/12
- Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 181-217.
- Peter Zinoman (ed.), Dumb Luck, 1-72.
17. Dumb Luck, 3/14
Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 217-250.
- Peter Zinoman (ed.), Dumb Luck, 73-189.
18. Indochina during WWII, 3/19
- *David Marr, “World War II and the Vietnamese Revolution.”
19. The August Revolution and End of the Colonial Era, 3/21 (1st Paper Due)
- Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 336-355.
SPRING BREAK, 3/25-3/29
20. The First Indochina War, 1946-1954, 4/2
- Mark Lawrence, The Vietnam War, 1-46.
- Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 355-381
21. The Republic of Vietnam and the Rise of Ngo Dinh Diem, 4/4
- Mark Lawrence, The Vietnam War, 47-91
- Jeffrey Race, War Comes to Long An, 1-141
- *Edward Miller, “Vision, Power, Agency: The Ascent of Ngo Dinh Diem.”
22. Insurgency, Counterinsurgency and the U.S. in Vietnam, 4/9
- Mark Lawrence, The Vietnam War, 91-115
- Jeffrey Race, War Comes to Long An, 141-277
23. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 4/11
- Duong Thu Huong, Paradise of the Blind (first half)
24. Paradise of the Blind, 4/16
- Duong Thu Huong, Paradise of the Blind (second half)
25. The Tet Offensive and After, 4/18
- Mark Lawrence, The Vietnam War, 115-137
26. From Vietnamization to the Fall of Saigon, 4/23
- Mark Lawrence, The Vietnam War, 137-187
27. Post-war Vietnam, 4/25
- * Nguyen Huy Thiep, “Fired Gold,” and “The General Retires.”
28. Review, 4/30
29. Wrap-up, 5/2 (2nd Paper Due: last day of class)
Paper Assignments
All students must write two 4-6 page (double-spaced) papers during the course of the semester. Each
paper will analyze the historical significance of one of the three book-length works of literature assigned
in the class: (1) Nguyen Du’s The Tale of Kieu (2) Vu Trong Phung’s Dumb Luck and Duong Thu Huong’s
Paradise of the Blind. The first paper is due in class on March 21 and the second paper is due in class onMay 2. Late papers will lose one letter grade for each day that they are late.
The papers must craft a thesis and support it with textual evidence drawn from the book. The use of
additional sources is permitted (but not required) but must be acknowledged through the use of
footnotes/endnotes and a bibliography. Papers that do not use outside sources should still use
footnotes/endnotes to reference relevant passages from the text, where appropriate. Students may
write about any aspect of the book that they choose or they can craft their papers in response to the
relevant question listed below. Grades will be based on an assessment of the form and content of the
paper as well as on the quality of its thesis and the evidence presented to support it.
Questions
1. What does Nguyen Du’s The Tale of Kieu reveal about the status of women and/or the
significance of Confucianism in pre-modern Vietnam?
2. What does Vu Trong Phung’s novel Dumb Luck reveal about the impact of French colonialism in
Vietnamese society?
3. What does Duong Thu Huong’s novel Paradise of the Blind reveal about the impact of
communism in northern Vietnam during the post-WWII era?