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Commodified Memories and Embodied Experiences of War IntheearlydawnhoursofApril30,2000,Iquicklymademywaythroughthestreets of Ho Chi Minh City. The city was beginning to stir as street vendors heated large pots of phở broth and residents slowly jogged through the nearly empty streets. I hurried past the neighborhood park, already filled with badminton players, on my way to the official demonstration that would take place at the Reunification Palace . This is also the site where tanks from the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) came crashing through the gates on April 30, 1975, signaling the liberation or, depending on one’s point of view, the fall of Saigon. The roads were barricaded, but I managed to convince a policeman to let me through to join the various onlookers gathering outside. At seven o’clock in the morning the gates opened and the parade began. Although thousands of participants had been bused in from neighboring provinces and outlying city districts, spectators were rather sparse at this early morning hour—mostly journalists, photographers, and curious tourists who had come to Vietnam for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the end of the war. The armed forces led the procession, with men and women segregated into different military units. The army first marched past in unison, followed by the air force, the navy, and then a women’s militia unit with troops dressed in conventional “guerrilla” uniforms composed of loose-fitting black garments, checkered scarves, and wide-brimmed, floppy green hats. A group of young male cadets carrying the flag of the National Liberation Front (NLF) followed in step. After displaying the nation’s military might, the parade shifted to a more jovial civilian-centered phase, represented by members of various Fatherland Front organizations and other soC H A P T E R T H R E E 80 MEMORIAL L ANDSCAPES cial groups. The Women’s Union, youth pioneers, gymnasts, farmers, postal workers , Buddhist and Catholic organizations, and even children dressed as bumblebees marched past smiling and waving to the growing crowd. Ethnic minority performers from the Central Highlands region elicited excited reactions from onlookers when they appeared on stilts dressed in “traditional” garb. The celebration culminated with a festive unicorn dance (similar to the dragon dance in Chinese culture), which wound its way through the city streets, accompanied by the loud, rhythmic beating of drums and the clashing of cymbals. Finally, a convoy of floats began to emerge through the palace gates, the primary function of which was to advertise and represent local business interests. This capitalist addition to a celebration symbolizing twenty-five years of liberation, reunification , and socialist transformation is emblematic of current reform policies to develop a “market economy with socialist orientation” [kinh tế thị tru ̛ờng với định hu ̛ớng xã hội chủ nghĩa]. Several of the floats were advertisements for Vietnam’s nascent tourism industry, including one for Ho Chi Minh City Tourism, driven by young men dressed to resemble NLF guerrillas. Another float promoting a popular theme park, Suối Tiên, adopted a similar motif and designed its vehicle in the shape of an armored tank. Young women sporting rubber “Ho Chi Minh sandals” and checkered scarves associated with the NLF rode on its sides waving yellow flowers at the spectators. These presentations exemplified a symbolic and visual mode of commemorating a momentous occasion in Vietnam’s history and also clearly indicated the expanding role that tourism and capitalism have assumed in Vietnamese society since economic reforms began in the late 1980s. Moreover, the appropriation of war-era signs and symbols for present-day tourist displays signified an important trend explored in this chapter: the commodification, representation, and consumption of war memories at public sites of history in southern Vietnam. Transnationalizing History and Memory through Tourism Like many nations that are expanding their involvement in the global market economy, Vietnam has adopted tourism as a prime development strategy to produce economic growth.1 Yet travel to Vietnam is not only about romantic encounters with “natives” or nostalgic colonial fantasies.2 The icons of war found on the parade floats demonstrate a marketing awareness that Vietnam has more than just the image of the culturally exotic to offer. It has, in addition, the American War. Thisrecognitionhasspurredin Vietnamagenreof travelthatsellsmemory,history, tragedy,andentertainmentbundledintocompellingtourstoformerbattlegrounds. Unlike the traveler who seeks the peace, tranquillity, and imagined authenticity of a “premodern” world (MacCannell 1999 [1976]), the battlefield tourist is driven by [3.15.46.13] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 08:47 GMT...

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