In search of moral authority the discourse on poverty, poor relief, and charity in French colonial Vietnam

191 Pages·2008·1.102 MB·English

by  Nguyen-Marshall, Van

In Search of
Moral Authority
PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt am Main (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Van Nguyen-Marshall

In Search of
Moral Authority

The Discourse on Poverty,
Poor Relief, and Charity
in French Colonial Vietnam

PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt am Main (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nguyen-Marshall, Van.
In search of moral authority: the discourse on poverty, poor relief, and charity in French
colonial Vietnam / Van Nguyen-Marshall.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Poverty—Vietnam—History. 2. Public welfare—
Vietnam—History. 3. Charities—Vietnam—History.
4. France—Colonies—Indochina—History. I. Title.
HC444.Z9P6665 362.509597’09041–dc22 2008002872
ISBN 978-1-4331-0215-8

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de/.

Cover photo: “Women at the Trung Sisters’ Pagoda”
by Tran Manh Dat

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.

© 2008 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
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Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
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Printed in Germany
For Richard and Xuan with love

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Chapter1: Introduction 1
Chapter2: PovertyandPoorReliefin
Nineteenth-CenturyVietnam 9
VillageLifeinNorthernVietnam 10
TheRoleoftheState 13
LandandWelfarePolicies 15
CultivatingNewLand 21
Short-TermRelief 23
Mutual-AidSocieties 27
Chapter3: TheFrenchAdministrationandFamineRelief 31
“MissionCivilisatrice”andPoorRelief 32
LaGrandeFamine1906 34
TheSubsistenceCrisisof1915–17 41
TheCommissiononFaminePrevention 46
TheCommission’sRecommendations 52
Chapter4: Philanthropy,Patriotism,
andtheVietnameseElite(1920–32) 57
NewspaperSources 60
NationandSociety:NewConceptualizations 62
ViewsonChronicPoverty 67
TheDiscourseonNationalSurvival 73
Chapter5: EngenderingCharity 77
TheDebateonWomen’sRole 78
Women’sNewspapers 82
Fund-RaisingandBenevolentFairs 83
CharitableChild-CareCenters 88
CharityandEmancipation 93
viii Contents
Chapter6: RepresentingPoverty,Gender,andNation
inVietnameseLiterature 97
ProseFiction inTwentieth-CenturyVietnam 98
ImagesofPovertyintheWritingsofthe
Self-RelianceLiteraryGroup 101
Class, Poverty,andSocialRealism 110
Chapter7: ThePopularFrontandtheProblemof
ColonialPoverty(1936–39) 119
ThePopularFront1936–39 120
FamineandL’Officedel’AlimentationIndigène 121
TheCommissionofInquiryinIndochina 126
Chapter8: Conclusion 133
Notes 137
Bibliography 165
Index 177
Acknowledgments
Many people and organizations helped me along the journey of writing this
book. First of all, I would like to thank the various institutions for their fi-
nancialsupportduringmy years as aPhDstudentwhen the core ofthis book
was researched and written. I benefited greatly from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada’s doctoral fellowship, the Univer-
sity of British Columbia’s graduate fellowship, the University of British Co-
lumbia’s Simons Foundation award, the Canadian Association of University
Teachers’ J.H. Stewart Reid Memorial Scholarship, and the Western Asso-
ciation of Women Historians Graduate Student Fellowship. The Ford Foun-
dation’s and the Asia-Pacific Foundation’s ASEAN-Canada graduate travel
grants funded my research trips to Hanoiin 1995 and in 1996–7. Trent Uni-
versity’s internal SSHRC grant provided funds for further research in 2003–
4.
Withoutthe support and guidance of my dissertation supervisor, Profes-
sor Alexander Woodside, this book would not have seen the light of day. I
am grateful that he accepted me as his graduate student. Without a doubt,
I’ve been deeply influenced and inspired by his scholarship, but also by his
integrity and kindness. Diana Lary played a critical role in my career devel-
opment and I owe hera great deal. Her arrival at UBC greatly improved the
social and intellectual atmosphere, particularly for graduate students whom
she mentored with generosity. I would also like to thank my other teachers
and mentors at UBC, especially Dianne Newell, Steven Lee, Terry McGee,
and Geoffrey Hainsworth. I am particularly grateful to Dianne for her sage
advice and friendship. As my dissertation examiner, Hue-Tam Ho Tai pro-
vided valuable suggestions to help revise my dissertation into this book. My
peers at UBCwere also a blessing: Joanne Poon, Susan Neylan, Laura Cam-
eron,andSteffanieScottprovidedthemuchneededcompanionship.
Ialsooweadebtofgratitudetothosewhohelpedmewithandfacilitated
my research in Vietnam. I would like to thank the Vietnamese Academy of
Social Sciences (previously the National Center for Social Sciences and Hu-
manities) for sponsoring my research. In particular, I would like to thank,
Mr. Nguyen Van Ku and Ms. Dang Anh Phuong for their help and support.
Mr. Ku and his familyhave become a surrogate family for my husband and