The theme of week 7 is the Ancient History of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos; including all three countries was intentional, since the point of discussion for this week's reading, is in regard to the Third Indochina War. It is important to note, especially since the histories of the three following countries are very much intertwined and impacted as a consequence of proxy wars, at the expense of the countries' people, more than anything. Nayan Chanda expands upon this narrative in Brother Enemy: The War After the War, especially since in the book, Chanda details the events leading up and during to the Third Indochina War. The book provides insight as to how hidden diplomacy within Communist governments actually operated, and how very little is actually known. Understanding this era of international politics, particularly the 1970s, it is interesting to see how much has developed within the past few decades. It is crucial to recognize how history has been oversimplified in textbooks and how the oversimplification of historical events can often undermine the degree and extent of suffering that the people who were victims of war experienced. Politics, culture, and the economy were all impacted during this historical time period; this text is remarkable, because of its usage of personal accounts, in order to counter the mainstream narrative.
War narratives are important, in order to briefly understand the outcomes and direct issues that caused war in the first place. However, personal accounts shed a light on the differing perspectives, and brings readers a better understanding, especially since our curriculum is lacking… I personally would have never learned this history if I had not signed up for this class in college, and that just shows how little is actually understood about historical events outside of U.S. history in our educational system. For example, most people probably don’t even know the distinction between the Vietnam War and the Indochina War.
Anyway, this begs the following series of questions: how can we avoid butchering the portrayal of these personal accounts when we retell it on a larger scale? How can we select stories that will evoke a sense of emotion from an audience with little to no understanding about the complexities of these conflicts?
I would like to show this following video, because the simplified way they talk about the history of Vietnam is reminiscent to me of the limited information that is provided in history classes. I would watch these types of videos as a teen, because this information was more accessible online than in the classroom. That, to me, speaks volumes.
[Polish Taco]. (2018, Sep. 15). History of Vietnam in COUNTRYBALLS [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ8CrVMgP6w
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