Emulation, Differentiation, and Syncretizationin Colonial Vietnam’s Development of National Written Language, National Literature, and National Learning, 1900-1945.

Abstract

This dissertation attempts to answer the following question: how does a latecomer society that is profoundly influenced by a cultural hegemon transform into a nation? It argues that emulation of, differentiation from, and syncretization of cultural elements from different models are three important mechanisms in latecomer societies’ nation-formation process. It traces colonial Vietnam’s development of national written language, national literature, and national learning as a result of Vietnamese intellectuals’ effort to create a “marker” for a distinctive and văn minh/civilized Vietnamese nation by emulating, differentiating, and syncretizing cultural elements of the old Chinese and the new French cultural models. Amid Vietnamese intellectuals’ endeavor arose the cultural fields that included the vernacular literature field, the journalistic field, and the academic field. The cultural fields struggled for independence from the colonial state and the market economy that was brought to Vietnam by the colonial state. Intellectuals’ position within the fields was determined by their contribution to Vietnam’s progress toward văn minh/civilization. Intellectuals’ goals with regard to and understandings of the nation shifted, as did their perceptions of and relationships with the French and Chinese cultural models. Early in the colonial period, priority was placed on establishing Vietnam as a civilized nation, and the question of its uniqueness received less attention. Intellectuals sought to familiarize themselves with the French cultural model, using it to critically appraise the Chinese model and eliminate any elements that had rendered pre-colonial Vietnam uncivilized. Yet, the Chinese model continued to provide vocabulary about modernization, a frame of reference for understanding the Asian experience of emulating the Western model, and popular literature for the growing reading public. Gradually, the quest for uniqueness grew stronger after several decades of emulation, and Vietnamese intellectuals began to re-examine their past attitudes toward the two models. The French model retained its lofty aura, yet some intellectuals developed a critical eye toward it and began to emulate elements of it, using it, paradoxically, to resist it. Meanwhile, other intellectuals launched an iconoclastic assault on the Chinese model, even as it remained a key resource for Vietnamese intellectuals to claim distinctiveness vis-à-vis the French model.