April 27, 2023

Luncheon talk with Dr. Christian Lentz on “Arduous but Romantic”: Gender, Ethnicity, and Territory in Vietnam

April 27, 2023, 11:30 – 13:00, Classroom 501, Level 5, Fulbright University Vietnam

In the next episode of ‘Fulbright Speakers’ Series: The World Beyond a Book’, Fulbright University Vietnam cordially invites you to a luncheon talk with Dr. Christian Lentz on his paper, “Arduous but Romantic”: Gender, Ethnicity, and Territory in Vietnam.

⏰Time: 11:30 AM – 01:00 PM on Thursday, April 27, 2023 (Vietnam time, GMT +7)

📌Location: Classroom 501, Level 5, Fulbright University Vietnam

👉 Register at: https://forms.office.com/r/w4jJfNfKex

🙌Lunch will be provided at the venue based on your registration

“Arduous but Romantic”: Gender, Ethnicity, and Territory in Vietnam examines the familial relationships, gendered representations, and cultural differences that spring from the ongoing construction of Vietnamese territory in and around Điện Biên Phủ. Its title, “Arduous but Romantic,” borrows from a cadre who mobilized local women during the Điện Biên Phủ Campaign of 1953-54. His memoir recalls a moment when hundreds of thousands of soldiers, workers, and officials embarked from historic centers of Kinh/Viet civilization to contest imperial France’s hold over the culturally diverse borderlands with Laos and China. Far from one-way domination, the relations these Kinh pioneers forged with local Tai, Khmu, Hmong, Dao, and other ethnolinguistic groups were and remain shaped by local processes. Connecting across space tied peoples together intimately, nationally, and lastingly.

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Fulbright Speakers’ Series is a quest for knowledge and understanding with diverse incisive viewpoints of prominent authors, both in Vietnam and globally, venturing into a myriad of topics ranging from development history and current Vietnam in the context of globalization, to the importance of mental health in being a compassionate community member.

About the speaker:

Christian C. Lentz is the author of Contested Territory: Điện Biên Phủ and the Making of Northwest Vietnam, winner of the 2021 AAS Benda Prize for outstanding first book in Southeast Asian studies. While at ARI in spring 2023, he is studying frontier politics in highland Vietnam as well as relations between Vietnam and Indonesia during an era of anti-colonial internationalism.