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Episode 2773 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about modern Vietnam historian, Van Nguyen-Marshall and her new book “Between war and the state: civil society in South Vietnam, 1954-1975”.
Andy Pham, a good friend of this podcast, joins this episode with his guests Van Nguyen-Marshall and Cody Billock. They will be discussing Van Nguyen-Marshall’s new book. Billock will be asking the author about her book.
Van Nguyen-Marshall is an Associate Professor at Trent University in Ontario, Canada. She has published on both colonial and post-colonial Vietnam, exploring discourses and practices relating to charity, volunteerism, civic work, political activism, and wartime experiences of civilians. Her forthcoming book, Between War and the State: Civil Society in South Vietnam (Cornell), examines the dynamic associational life of South Vietnam’s residents as they coped with warfare, national division, government repression, and foreign intervention.
In her book In Between War and the State, Van Nguyen-Marshall examines an array of voluntary activities, including mutual-help, professional, charitable, community development, student, women’s, and rights organizations active in South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. By bringing focus to the public lives of South Vietnamese people, Between War and the State challenges persistent stereotypes of South Vietnam as a place without society or agency. Such robust associational life underscores how an active civil society survived despite difficulties imposed by the war, government restrictions, economic hardship, and external political forces. These competing political forces, which included the United States, Western aid agencies, and Vietnamese communist agents, created a highly competitive arena wherein the South Vietnamese state did not have a monopoly on persuasive or coercive power.
The book can be purchased at Cornell Press or by calling 800-848-6224.
Use the code 09exp40 and receive a 40% discount on your purchase.
Listen to episode 2773 and discover more about modern Vietnam historian, Van Nguyen-Marshall and her new book “Between war and the state: civil society in South Vietnam, 1954-1975”.