VNU JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, so c , SCI . HUMAN . N03E, 2004

APPROACHES TO AMERICAN STUDIES - SOME ISSUES
TO BE RAISED
V u D u o n g N in h <#)

Quoc, later called P resid en t Ho Chi M inh,
who had been a teach er before going
abroad to find th e w ay to liberate h is
country. T h ese lectu res w ere th en collected
and w as first published in 1927 [1] under
the
title
“D uong
Kach
Menh"
(R evolutionary Road).

1. The First Vietnamese Lecturer on
American History
On w riting th is paper, one question
com es up to my mind: “Who w as the first
V ietn am ese lecturer on A m erican history?”
We all know th a t sin ce th e end o f the
20th century
backward,
V ietn am ese
education had been ex ten siv ely influenced
by C onfucianism and w as lim ited to
classical w orks o f C onfucianism , which
w ere

natu rally
not
concerned
with
international affairs. In th e early years of
the 20th century French colonial education
system w as esta b lish ed in V ietnam . New
know ledge and m ethods w ere introduced
and w ere tau gh t eith er by French teachers
or V ietn am ese teach ers who w ere trained
in
French
ed u ation al
in stitu tion s.
Kowledge o f H istory w as tau gh t so that
colonial stu d en ts could understand French
history a s a resp ectab le “M other C ountry.”

S tartin g from the point o f view th at
V ietnam is part o f th e world and the
V ietn am ese revolution is part o f th e world
revolution.
Ho
Chi
M inh
explained
carefully to h is stu d en ts som e o f the
rep resen tative revolu tion s in th e world.
One o f the aim s o f h is book is "to take other


nations revolutionary histories as example
for us to look at, an d to fam iliarize our
people with the world movements" [1].
Thus, an im portant part o f th e book is
devoted to introducing and a n a ly zin g three
big revolutions: the A m erican R evolution,
the French R evolution, and th e R ussian
R evolution am ong which the first lesson is

It is su rp risin g th at th e first lecture on the
history of the A m erican revolution w as
tau gh t to V ietn a m ese stu d en ts by a
V ietn am ese teach er in V ietn am ese. T hat
class w as not an officially recognized one
in the French colonial education system , it
w as
a
train in g
course
for
young
V ietn am ese revolu tion aries w ho started
their cau se of th e stru ggle for national
liberation.
It w as held
secretly
in
G uangzhou (China) by the V ietn am ese
R evolutionary Youth L eagu e from 1925 to
1927. The first lecturer w as N guyen Ai


on the A m erican R evolution.
In th e lecture on th e A m erican
R evolution, Ho Chi M inh p u ts forward 4
issu e s w hich are su bsu m ed under the
follow ing headings:
- W hat is A m erica history?
- W hy
revolution?

did

• W hat
revolution?

were

the

A m ericans

m ake

th e con seq u en ces of the

• How w as th e sign ifican ce of the
A m erican R evolution for th e V ietn a m ese
revolution?

n


Professor, Department of International Studies.
College of Social Sciences & Humanities. VNU.

9


Vu Duong Ninh

10

W ith n early 700 w ords in 3 m edium '
* form atted p ages, th e w ritin g sk etch es the
b ases of th e stru g g le o f the Am erican
people
a g a in st
the
B ritish
for the
in d ep en d en ce o f N orth of A m erica during
the second h a lf o f the 18,h century. It is
possible to recognize th ree m ain id eas in
the writing:

First,

th e people in th e N orth o f
A m erica
fou gh t
a g a in st

the
B ritish
colon ialists. In V ietn am , the French
co lo n ia lists w ere more draconian but “the

Vietnamese has not yet learned from the
A m ericans the w ay to m ake a revolution ”
[1]. T he sta te m e n t show ed Ho Chi M inh’s
h igh
app reciation
o f the
Am erican
ch aracter and sp irit, seein g them as an
exam ple for the V ietn am ese revolutionaries.

Secondly , it em p h a sizes th e Am erican
th in k in g
rep resen ted
in
A m erica’s
D eclaration o f In depend en ce on “the right
to freedom , the right to work, and the right

to h a p p in ess ...” [1]

and it assumes that the

people h ave th e right to abolish any
govern m en ttion s such as:
C h a p te r

S ystem

III:

W ash in gton -V ersailles

C h a p te r V II: In tern ation al R elation s
leading to W orld W ar II (1929*1939)
C h a p te r V III: World War II (1939 1945)
C h a p te r EX: In tern ation al R elation s
from 1945 to th e F irst H a lf o f th e 1970s
C h a p te r X IV : In tern a tio n a l relation s
from the Second H a lf o f th e 1970s to 1995.
From w h a t h a s b een m entioned in
th ose ch ap ters, it is p ossible to m ake the
follow ing judgm ents:

V N U . Journal o f Science. Silt'.. S i t . Human.. N , J E . 2004

regional superpowers.
Secondly,

glorious
p a g es
o f the
A m erican people in th e figh t ag a in st
colonialism for liberation to esta b lish the
U n ited S ta tes a s w ell as th e stru g g le to
abolish sla v ery play an im p ortan t part in
the curriculum w ith w ell-k n ow n nam es

such a s W ashington, Jefferson , and
L in coln ... “N ew d e a r of Fr. R oosevelt in
the 1930s and the role of A m erica in the
a n ti-fa scist w ar in European and Pacific
b a ttles are a lw a y s high ly ap p reciated as a
crucial contribution to th e victory o f the
Allied Forces in the world.

Thirdly , in the con d ition s o f the Cold
War w orldw ide, V ietnam w a s a h ot spot in
th e early years o f th e 1950s. T he presen ce
of the A m erican forces in V ietn am and the
lon g-lastin g and sev ere w ar (1954-1975)
had resu lted in h o stility b etw een the two
countries. The textbooks and th e lectu res
on th is period focus largely on th e global
policy o f the A m erican g overn m en t, its
in terferen ce into th e w orld’s
its exp an sion of pow er a n d
m any peop le’s righ ts, in
V ietn a m ese can recognize
n eg a tiv e sides.

ev en ts, and
violation of
w hich the
d irectly its

Fourthly, in such d ifficult situ a tio n ,
th e lectu res, esp ecia lly th e grad u ation

papers by stu d en ts of th e F acu lty of
In tern ation al S tu d ies still tried to exp loit
th e p ositive sid es o f th e V ietn am -A m erica
relations. T h ese w ere th e topics o f the
m eetin gs, th e d em o n stra tio n s held by
stu d en ts, in tellectu a ls and all w a lk s o f life
in A m erica, d em an d in g th e A m erican
A dm in istration
to stop
th e w ar in


Vu Duong Ninh

1 2

V ietn am . In P articu lar, th e period of 19441946 w a s m ost freq u en tly m en tion ed . T he
V iet M inh led by P re sid en t Ho Chi M inh
w ith A m erican officers from T he O ffice o f
S tra teg ic S erv ices (O SS) in Kun*M ing
(C hina), joined to fig h t th e J a p a n e se in
Indochina. L ivin g in difficult con d ition s in
th e forestry and m o u n ta in o u s a rea s o f th e
N orth ern m ost B a se o f V ietn a m , officers of
th e O SS w ere th e o n ly foreign ers w ho
trained V ietn a m ese rev o lu tio n a ry arm ed
forces. T h ey w ere also a m o n g th e e a r lie st
m en to ap p ear in H anoi so m e d a y s after
the genera] u p risin g and th e victory o f th e
A u gu st R evolu tion . On th o se d ays, m any

letters w ere se n t by P re sid en t Ho Chi
M inh w ith goodw ill and frien d sh ip to th e
A m erican
P resid en t,
th e
A m erican
C ongress, and th e A m erican people.
U n fortu n ately,
th e
T rum an
A d m in istration and its su ccesso rs had
chosen a d ifferen t approach to foreign
policy th a t en ded up w ith th e Paris
A greem en ts in 1973 and th e A m erican
bitter d efeat in V ietn a m in 1975 after
yea rs o f sev ere war.
T h ese sk e tc h e s sh ow th a t th e tea ch in g
of A m erican h isto ry is s till con d u cted in
V ietn a m ese U n iv e r sitie s w ith both p ositive
and
n eg a tiv e
sid e s
co n cern in g
the
A m erican foreign policy and its relation
w ith V ietn am . So, how sh o u ld A m erican
S tu d ies be run in th e n ew co n tex t o f th e
history?
The first con feren ce on th e A m erican
L iteratu re w a s h eld in th e C ollege o f Social

S cien ce
and
H u m a n itie s,
V ietn am
N ation al U n iv ersity ,
H anoi in
1998.
T w en ty th ree y ea rs a fter th e V ietn am
War, 3 y ea rs after th e e s ta b lish m e n t o f
V ietn am -A m erica
d ip lo m a tic
relation ,
sch olars o f litera tu re o f th e tw o co u n tries
gath ered tog eth er to d isc u ss th e in flu en ce
of th e
V ietn am
W ar on
A m erican

literatu re,
cu ltu re
and
the
critical
approach to non -literary d o cu m en ts... [4].
The e sta b lish m e n t of A m erican S tu d ies as
a d iscip lin e w as a lso raised for discu ssion
in th e C onference.

3. The Establishment of American

Studies in Vietnam: Some Issues to
be Raised
T he above section only m entioned the
tea ch in g o f A m erican history. W ith the
m u lti-d iscip lin ary stru ctu re o f V ietnam
N ation al
U n iv ersity ,
H anoi,
m any
d ep a rtm en ts and fa cu lties also teach
A m erican S tu d ies d ep en d in g on their
particular sp ecia lity (literatu re, econom ics,
la w ...). T he F acu lty of In tern ation al
S tu d ies w a s founded and it considers
A m erican S tu d ies a s centra] part of
research on th e A m erican con tin en t. The
f a c u l t y IS r e s p o n s i b l e for t e a c h i n g a b o u t
th e U n ited S ta tes, its history, culture,
econom y, law , p olitical sy stem , society, and
foreign
policy. T h is orien tation
has
im portant and lo n g -la stin g sign ifican ce for
the fo u n d ation o f A m erican S tu d ies in
V ietn am .
At

p resen t,

th e


e sta b lish m e n t

of

A m erican S tu d ies in V ietn am is raised in a
favorable condition: th e V ietnam -A m erica
diplom atic rela tio n h a s been norm alized
and sch o la rs h a v e b een exch an ged , and it
su its th e a sp ira tio n s o f th e two countries:
for a stro n g er friendly relation and an
effective co-operation.
H ow ever, in order to im p lem en t the
d iscip lin e su ccessfu lly , th e first issu e
raised is to s e t up a “Program on A m erican
S tu d ies,” m ob ilizin g research ers in this
field th rou gh ou t th e country to follow a
general program w ith concrete assignm ents.
At th e sa m e tim e, in tern a tio n a l relation s
in A m erican S tu d ies netw ork should be
esta b lish ed reg io n a lly a s w ell a s w orld­

V N U , Jo u rn a l o f Science, Soc.. Set.. Hitman.'

2004


Approaches to American

stu d ies


- some issues lo be raised

wide so a s to prom ote the d evelop m en t of
Am erican S tudies.
The second issu e is to train a sta ff of
lecturers on A m erican stu d ies. T h is sta ff
should con sist of young, com p eten t, and
prospective academ ics. T h ey w ill either
learn
Am erican
S tu d ies
in
cla sses
organized in V ietnam from both Am erican
and V ietn am ese sch olars or w ill be sen t to
study in the U n ited S ta te s or m ay a tten d a
com bined mode o f training. T h is is the
m ost fu n dam en tal step so th a t we w ill
have enough hum an resou rces to run
Am erican S tu d ies in V ietn am . A long w ith
building
hum an
resources,
building
physical
facilities
is
also
o f vital

im portance. There should be an Am erican
S tu d ies R esource C enter w hich includes
new spapers, m a teria ls, and m edia relating
to A m erican S tu d ies.
T he
third
issu e
is
to
prom ote
exch an ges am ong stu d en ts o f th e two

13

co u n tries th rou gh su m m er c la sse s or som e
other k in d s of m eetin g so th a t young
people w ill h a v e m ore op p o rtu n ities to
u n d erstan d each o th er and su b seq u en tly
to u n d ersta n d a sp e c ts o f each o th e r s
country. T here is a rea lity th a t due to the
lo n g -la stin g w ar in V ietn a m , p oin ts o f view
about each country m ay be more or less
refracted w hich w ould m ake it im p ossib le
to h a v e a full u n d e rsta n d in g o f each other.
As sc ie n tists, w e sh ou ld n ot avoid th is
reality b u t to rem ed y the problem we
should esta b lish a p ictu re o f each nation
exa ctly a s it is th rou gh ed u cation al
a ctiv ities or cu ltu ral ex ch a n g es.
A lth ou gh it m ig h t be a b it late, th e

e sta b lish m e n t o f th e A m erican S tu d ies in
V ietn am is o f n ecessity . T he d iscip lin e not
only
provides
b asic
and
sy stem a tic
k n ow led ge on a scien tific field but also
con trib u tes efficien tly to th e prom otion of
the relation b etw een th e tw o cou n tries.

REFERENCES
1.

Hồ Chí Minh, Đường Kách mệnh, trong “Tuyên tập”, T. 1. NXB Sự Thật, Hà Nội, 1980.
trang 240-243.

2.

Vù Dương Ninh, Nguyền Văn Hồng, Lịch sử th ế giới cận đại, NXB Giáo dục, Hà Nội, 1996.

3.

Nguyễn Anh Thái (chủ biên), Lịch sử th ế giới hiện đ ạ i , NXB Giáo dục, Hà Nội, 1996.

4.

Nguyễn Liên, Johathan Auerbach (đồng chủ biên), Tiếp cận đương đại văn hóa M ì (Tiếng
V iệt và tiếng Anh), NXB Văn hóa Thông tin, Hà Nội, 2001.


VN U , Journal o f Science. Soc.. Sri.. Human , N,fSE, 2004