The Unimagined Community : Imperialism and Culture in South Vietnam

__The__ __unimagined community__ presents a wide-ranging study of South Vietnemese culture, from political philosophy and psychological warfare to popular culture and film. The book pursues the provocative claim that in its early phase the conflict was not an anti-communist crusade, but a struggle between two different forms of anticolonial communism. The unimagined community proposes a reexamination of the Vietnam War from a perspective that has been largely excluded from historical accounts of the conflict, that of the South Vietnamese. Challenging the conventional view that the war was a struggle between the Vietnamese people and US imperialism, the study presents a wide-ranging investigation of South Vietnamese culture, from political philosophy and psychological warfare to popular culture and film. Beginning with a genealogy of the concept of a Vietnamese "culture, " as the latter emerged during the colonial period, the book concludes with a reflection on the rise of popular culture during the American intervention. Reexamining the war from the South Vietnamese perspective, The unimagined community pursues the provocative thesis that the conflict, in this early stage, was not an anti-communist crusade, but a struggle between two competingversions of anticolonial communism. -- Provided by publisher. The unimagined community proposes a reexamination of the Vietnam War from a perspective that has been largely excluded from historical accounts of the conflict, that of the South Vietnamese. Challenging the conventional view that the war was a struggle between the Vietnamese people and US imperialism, the study presents a wide-ranging investigation of South Vietnamese culture, from political philosophy and psychological warfare to popular culture and film. Beginning with a genealogy of the concept of a Vietnamese "culture," as the latter emerged during the colonial period, the book concludes with a reflection on the rise of popular culture during the American intervention. Reexamining the war from the South Vietnamese perspective, The unimagined community pursues the provocative thesis that the conflict, in this early stage, was not an anti-communist crusade, but a struggle between two competing versions of anticolonial communism. -- Provided by publisher Front matter Dedication Contents List of figures Acknowledgments Introduction Colonialism and national culture Vietnamese anti-colonialism and the Personalist critique of capitalism and liberal democracy The other Vietnamese revolution: The Strategic Hamlet Campaign and US imperialism Psychological warfare, counterinsurgency and the society of spectacle in South Vietnam Mass culture in the later Republic Surveillance and spectacle in Bùi Anh Tuấn’s Z.28 novels Image-making and US imperialism: Sovereignty, surveillance and spectacle in the Vietnam War Conclusion Index