The American War in Contemporary Vietnam: Transnational Remembrance and Representation

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The American War in Contemporary Vietnam Christina Schwenkel Transnational Remembrance and Representation Schwenkel indiana The American War in Contemporary Vietnam ✫ Asia Cultural Studies Front cover illustrations: top: Female militia member leading captured U.S. pilot in 1965. Photograph by PhanThoan.© Vietnam News Agency. Used by permission. bottom: Engraving from war monument outside the former Air Defense Museum, Hanoi. Photograph by Christina Schwenkel. “A significant achievement, and one that does much to demonstrate the complexity of sites of war memory. . . . Offers insights that have an eerie resonance for today’s political debates over the purpose and legitimacy of U.S. actions in the Middle East.” —Geoffrey White, University of Hawaii “Christina Schwenkel’s insightful and brilliantly written ethnography of the visual, political, and semiotic processes that shape memory in Vietnam offers a new and transnational dimension to the field. Her study of the commemorative concerns of both Americans and Vietnamese reveals the deep ambivalence over their ‘shared history’ and offers a window onto the present contemporary Vietnamese reality.” —Nora A.Taylor, Alsdorf Professor of South and Southeast Asian Art, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Christina Schwenkel’s absorbing study explores how the “American War” is remembered and commemorated in Vietnam today—in official and unofficial histories and in everyday life. Schwenkel analyzes visual representations found in monuments and martyrs’ cemeteries, museums, photography and art exhibits, battlefield tours, and related sites of “trauma tourism. ” In these transnational spaces, American and Vietnamese memories of the war intersect in ways profoundly shaped by global economic liberalization and the return of American citizens as tourists, pilgrims, and philanthropists. Christina Schwenkel is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside. Trac king G lob alization Robert J. Foster, editor Transnational politics of war and remembrance INDIANA University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis www.iupress.indiana.edu 1-800-842-6796 ConWarVietcvrmech.indd 1 5/27/09 9:10:16 AM THE AMERICAN WAR IN CONTEMPORARY VIETNAM Tracking Globalization robert j. foster, editor editorial advisory board: Mohammed Bamyeh Lisa Cartwright Randall Halle Christina Schwenkel INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS BLOOMINGTON & INDIANAPOLIS THE AMERICAN WAR IN CONTEMPORARY VIETNAM Transnational Remembrance and Representation Published with the generous support of the Association for Asian Studies, Inc. This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail iuporder@indiana.edu© 2009 by Christina L. Schwenkel All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition . The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Schwenkel, Christina. The American war in contemporary Vietnam : transnational remembrance and representation / Christina Schwenkel. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-35306-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-22076-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Foreign public opinion, Vietnamese. 2. Vietnam War, 1961– 1975—Influence. 3. Vietnam—Foreign relations—United States. 4. United States— Foreign relations—Vietnam. 5. Public opinion— Vietnam. I. Title. DS559.62.V5S39 2009 959.704′3—dc22 2008054488 1 2 3 4 5 14 13 12 11 10 09 ...