The Politics of Memory in Socialist Vietnam

This book offers an analysis of the inner workings of the Vietnamese "memory machine." In four case studies it shows which tools the Vietnamese one-party state uses to disseminate a "correct" outlook on history, manage the representation of the past and suppress dissenting historical views. While emphasizing the role of the Vietnamese Communist Party in memory-making the study also highlights that in the last two decades non-state "agents of remembrance" have increasingly managed to shape the commemoration of the past. The book is based on ten years of research including a close reading of Party documents, history textbooks, official histories and memories of cadres, and visits to numerous sites of memories in Vietnam such as museums, monuments, and war cemeteries.