tailieunhanh - The Formular of the National Discourse in Vietnam, 1940-1945 - Nguyễn Thế Anh

One of the literati having most actively participated in the strunggle for his country's emancipation, Huynh Thuc Khang could not help coplaining in th 1930s about the lot of Vietnam, in his. | The Formulation of the National Discourse in Vietnam, 1940-1945* Nguyễn Thế Anh One of the literati having most actively participated in the struggle for his country’s emancipation, Huỳnh Thúc Kháng could not help complaining in the 1930s about the lot of Vietnam, in his words ‘a nation forced for a long time to forget itself’,1 as it appeared to him that no scope was given for moderate nationalism to take root or build mass strength. He was far then from imagining that, after 1945, he was to become the vice-president of a nation freed almost overnight from the yoke of colonialism. Indeed, the war years and the period of Japanese occupation between 1940 and 1945 had fundamentally changed Vietnam’s political environment. During this period, mass nationalist organisations could take root; among the revolutionary movements, the Việt Minh was able to seize power and establish some form of governmental legitimacy. Therefore it would seem meaningful to endeavour to observe how, behind the historical actors’ deeds and words throughout those decisive years, the conception of the Vietnamese nation was formulated, and in particular how the Việt Minh could have succeeded in appropriating the national idea, at the expense of other nationalist * Originally published in the Journal of international and area studies 9-1 (2002) 57-75 and presented as a paper at the Colloquium Decolonisations, loyalties and nations. Perspectives on the wars of independence in Vietnam – Indonesia – France – The Netherlands, Amsterdam, November 30 – December 1, 2001. 1 Centre des Archives d’Outre-Mer (Aix-en-Provence), Indochine NF, 54/632. 2 For the succession of events of these years, see beside David G. Marr, Vietnam 1945: the quest for power (Berkeley 1995), Athur J. Dommen, The Indochinese experience of the French and the Americans. Nationalism and communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam (Bloomington & Indianapolis 2001) 47-118; Ellen J. Hammer, The struggle for Indochina 1940-1955 .