Abstract
This essay focuses on the work of the New Caledonian-born writer Jean Vanmai. His first two novels, Chan Dang and Fils de Chan Dang, describe the working conditions and exilic existence of the little known Chan Dang, the voluntary workers from Tonkin (North Vietnam) who moved to New Caledonia many decades ago. Descended himself from a Chan Dang family, Vanmai wishes to preserve the memory of the Chan DangDang’s past. In writing the story of the Chan Dang, Vanmai sees himself as the guardian of the Chan Dang’s collective memory, a keeper and defender of their common past. The paper argues that Vanmai's depictions of the Chan Dang have two important effects. First, by sharing with other Vietnamese migrants/refugees the life and experiences of the Tonkinese voluntary workers in New Caledonia, Vanmai breaks the silence surrounding colonial exile and exploitation and provides a full account of the Chan Dang’s exile that can be integrated into the contemporary history of Vietnamese migration. Second, by using different narrative resolutions for each of his protagonists, Vanmai stresses the need to fulfil one’s filial duty among the young Vietnamese generations. With this symbolic filial act, Vanmai pays homage to his Vietnamese ancestors and earns himself a honourable title, that of a true dutiful "son of Chan Dang".
Highlights
Unlike the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees who have settled in many Western countries, most of them having fled their country to avoid persecution after the communist take-over in 1975, the few thousand Vietnamese migrants who live in New Caledonia today did not leave their homeland for political reasons
Most of them left as voluntary workers in the 1920s and 1930s when Vietnam was still a French colony, and signed a five-year contract with the French Ministry of Indigenous Affairs, which recruited them for the mining companies and landowners of New Caledonia
In 1980, when Chan Dang was published and when the descendants of the migrant workers were well integrated in New Caledonian society, it was still very delicate to publicly touch upon such a controversial and sensitive topic that could open old wounds and rekindle old conflicts among members of both the Vietnamese and the French sides
Summary
Unlike the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees who have settled in many Western countries, most of them having fled their country to avoid persecution after the communist take-over in 1975, the few thousand Vietnamese migrants who live in New Caledonia today did not leave their homeland for political reasons. With his descriptions of this highly righteous and self-respected Chan Dang, Vanmai shows us a different aspect of filial devotion that goes beyond sending money home or taking care of ageing parents.
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More From: PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies
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