The (Unacknowledged) Decline of Asian Studies
For the past decade or more I’ve observed a clear decline in interest on the part of students at my university in “Asian Studies” (by which I mean here broadly…
Who Were the Ancient Yue/Việt?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXKkw8l87wE The above video is meant to introduce a new book - Erica Fox Brindley’s Ancient China and the Yue: Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier, c. 400 BCE-50…
Large (Chinese) Rats, the Father of Modern Anthropology, and Vietnam’s Greatest (unknown/unrecognized) Historian
Last summer I wrote a blog post on the South Vietnamese philosopher, Lương Kim Định, that I entitled “Vietnam’s Greatest (unknown/unrecognized) Historian.” Although a philosopher by training, Kim Định wrote…
Tạ Chí Đại Trường on the Tale of the Hồng Bàng Clan (Hồng Bàng thị truyện)
I was saddened to learn yesterday that South Vietnamese historian Tạ Chí Đại Trường has passed away. I never had the good fortune of meeting Tạ Chí Đại Trường, but…
Trần Trọng Dương: In His Own Words (Part 1)
Last summer (2015) at the Engaging With Vietnam conference that was held in Hanoi, scholar Trần Trọng Dương gave a keynote presentation on “The Utility of History: The Case of…
Trần Trọng Kim, Hu Shi (Hồ Thích) and the Yijing
I’ve long wondered why the Yijing (the Classic/Book of Changes) is so important for ultra-nationalist ideas in Vietnam. Extreme nationalists in Vietnam today regard the Yijing and its ideas as…
An Audiovisual Critique of Essentialized/Racialized Vietnamese History (Part 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGHzv7Ur2Y8&feature=youtu.be UPDATE: If you cannot see the above video, either click where it says “Watch on YouTube” or click here. This is an audiovisual version of the first part (see…
Repeated Words: Giao Chỉ (The Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ld9vN5iq1Y For an explanation of this video, see the post below.
Repeated Words: Giao Chỉ
By the time medieval Việt scholars first started to compile historical records, Chinese scholars had already produced a considerable amount of historical information about the Red River Delta region. Medieval…
John Pershing and the Myth of Bullets Dipped in Pig’s Blood
A few days ago, Donald Trump made an incendiary comment in public about the supposed actions of an American military officer in the Philippines more than a century ago. In particular, he repeated a myth that an American officer by the name of John Pershing had ordered that Muslims be executed with bullets that had been dipped in pig’s blood.
I had never heard of this myth, and I’m not sure where it came from, but in looking at some information about John Pershing one can get a sense of how such a myth could have been created.