South Vietnamese Identity, American Intervention, and the Newspaper Chíính Luan [Political Discussion], 1965––1969

Abstract

This paper explores representations of political and cultural identity within journalistic discourse about the American presence in the South Vietnamese newspaper Chíính Luun [Political Discussion] from 1965 to 1969. The encounter with Americans prompted Vietnamese writers to highlight the distinctive nature of their own culture, to define their national identity based on an imagined history and the image of proper Vietnamese womanhood, and to delineate normative boundaries of group membership. These constructions of identity represent certain continuities with the colonial era but were clearly modified by the dialogical relationship and unequal alliance between the United States and the Republic of Vietnam.