Nation-Building in War: The Experience of Republican Vietnam, 1955-1975

Nation-Building in War: The Experience of Republican Vietnam, 1955-1975

October 17-18, 2016

Location: 180 Doe Library, University of California, Berkeley

DAY 1, October 17

Introductory Panel, 8:30-9:00 am

Peter Zinoman, University of California, Berkeley
Nu-Anh Tran, University of Connecticut
Tuong Vu, University of Oregon

Panel 1:Pluralist Politics, 9:00 am-10:30 am

Chair and moderator: Peter Zinoman
Lâm Lễ Trinh, “President Ngô Đình Diệm & the First Republic of Việt Nam (1954-1963)” [speaking in Vietnamese via Skype].
Huỳnh Văn Lang, “The Cần Lao Party” [speaking in Vietnamese via Skype]
Hoàng Đức Nhã, “Striving toward a Lasting Peace to Continue Building the Nation: The Vietnam Peace Accords and Aftermath” [speaking in English].

Coffee break, 10:30 am-10:45 am

Panel 2: Economy and Development, 10:45 am-12:45 pm

Chair and moderator: Tuong Vu
Vũ Quốc Thúc, “The Birth of Central Banking” [greetings in English via Skype] Paper delivered by Trần Quang Minh.
Cao Văn Thân, “Land Reform, Rural and Agricultural Development” [greetings in English via Skype], Paper delivered by Trần Quang Minh in English.
Phạm Kim Ngọc, “Reform or Collapse” [speaking in English]
Nguyễn Đức Cường, “Foundation for Self-Sufficiency and Growth” [speaking in English]

Lunch break, 12:45 pm-1:45 pm

Panel 3 (scholarly): Politics and Economy, 1:45 pm-3:45 pm

Chair and moderator: Nu-Anh Tran
Kevin Li, “Patriots or Collaborators: Reappraising the Bình Xuyên during Decolonization”
Ryan Nelson, “Losing Hearts and Minds: A Look at Four South Vietnamese Non-Combat Related Urban Social Problems, 1965 to 1966”
Simon Toner, “Stumbling Towards the Fall: The RVN’s Economic Crisis, 1969-1975”
Sean Fear, “Reflections on the State and Civil Society in the Second Republic”

Coffee break, 3:45 pm-4 pm

Panel 4: Education and Media, 4-6:00 pm

Chair and moderator: Alex-Thai Dinh Vo
Võ Kim Sơn, “The Administration of the Public Education System in South Vietnam” [speaking in English]
Nguyễn Hữu Phước, “The Philosophy and the Development of New School Types under the RVN” [speaking in English]
Phạm Trần, “Living and Working as a Journalist in the Republic of Vietnam” [speaking in English via Skype]
Vũ Thanh Thủy, “The Vietnam War in the Eyes of Vietnamese War Correspondents” [speaking in English]

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DAY 2, October 18

Panel 5:Security and Military, 8:30 am-9:30 am

Chair and moderator: Tuong Vu
Trần Minh Công, “Policing in a Country At War” [speaking in English]
Bùi Quyền, “Reflections of a Frontline Soldier” [speaking in English]

Coffee break, 9:30 am-9:45 am

Panel 6: Society, Culture and the Arts, 9:45 am-11:15 am

Chair and moderator: Van Nguyen-Marshall
Huỳnh Văn Lang, “Society of the Perennial Self-Exiles” [speaking in VNmese via Skype].
Nhã Ca,“Writers in the Republic of Vietnam” [speaking in VNmese]
Kiều Chinh, “Cinematic Arts in the Republic of Vietnam, 1954-1975” [speaking in English]

Coffee break, 11:15 am-11:30 am

Panel 7 (scholarly), Civic Life amidst War, 11:30 am-1:00 pm

Chair and moderator: Peter Zinoman
Van Nguyen-Marshall, “Appeasing the Spirits along the ‘Highway of Horror’: Civic Life in Wartime South Vietnam”
John Schafer, “Ngô Kha”
Huong Nguyen, “Hidden Currents, Roiled Lives: Social Life in the City of Hue in 1963”

Special Luncheon Event, 1 pm-2 pm

Introduction: Nguyen Duc Cuong
Book Launch: South Vietnamese Soldiers: Memories of the Vietnam War and After (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2016) by Nathalie Huynh Chau Nguyen

Concluding Remarks, 2 pm: Peter Zinoman, Tuong Vu, Nu-Anh Tran

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Participants and Affiliations

Republic of Vietnam Figures (alphabetical list by first name)

Col. Trần Minh Công, Commandant of RVN Police Academy

Nguyễn Đức Cường, Minister of Trade and Industry

Kiều Chinh, Actress

Huỳnh Văn Lang, Director of Foreign Exchange Agency and secretary of the Can Lao Party’s Joint North-South branch, founder of Bách Khoa Review and the Association for the Development of Popular Culture

Phạm Kim Ngọc, Minister of Economy

Hoàng Đức Nhã, Presidential Advisor and Minister of Mass Mobilization and Open Arms

Nhã Ca, Writer

Dr. Nguyễn Hữu Phước, National Director of Elementary Teacher Training & In-Service Training, Ministry of Education

Lt. Col. Bùi Quyền, Deputy Commander, Third Airborne Brigade

Dr. Võ Kim Sơn, Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Saigon

Cao Văn Thân, Minister of Land Reform and Agricultural Development

Vũ Quốc Thúc, Central Bank Governor and Minister of Reconstruction and Development

Vũ Thanh Thủy, War Correspondent

Phạm Trần, Journalist

Lâm Lễ Trinh, Minister of Interior and Ambassador

Academics (alphabetical list by last name)