Mai Thảo (1927–1998) was a fiction-writer, poet, and editor who, after rising to prominence in South Vietnam under the Southern Republic, became, for two decades, a central figure in the literary life of Vietnamese exiles in southern California. He was notable for the spartan simplicity with which he lived, his idealistic devotion to artistic excellence, and his high-minded refusal to take part in literary quarrels. Unlike most of the other subjects of Dr. Vinh’s studies, he was not imprisoned in a labor reform camp after the downfall of the South, but instead remained in strict hiding—a sort of subterranean living death—in a private residence in Saigon before escaping from Vietnam by boat in 1977. – Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFThe subject of this study, Nghiêu Đề, was a visual artist and book illustrator who won prizes, did work for many of his contemporaries, and often worked in tandem with Dr. Ngô Thế Vinh to create covers for books and journals. He was a man who prized freedom and spontaneity above all other things. He left no systematic record of his activities and showed through his actions an apparent determination to evade anything that could be interpreted as a routine or an identity. At one point, he ventured into the realm of literature, publishing a collection including vignettes that he had written, but insisted later that he had made a mistake in doing so. Like so many artistic colleagues, he became a refugee in Southern California after the fall of the Southern Vietnamese republic, so we may presume that he suffered some degree of mistreatment in Communist labor reform camps in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and then risked his and his family’s lives crossing the ocean. None of these details, however, appear in the present article. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFNhật Tiến (1936–2020) was a varied, enterprising, and prolific author. A remarkable feature of his career, perhaps unparalleled in the life of any major western literary figure, was his life-long reliance on the principles of scouting, and the scouting movement, as a source of inspiration and guidance. It often happens that the Vietnamese will adopt some western institution or ideology (in this case scouting) and endow it with an entirely new significance through the intensity of devotion that they invest in it. The present study has two episodes that might appear to interrupt the narrative, but both are highly relevant to the literary history of South Vietnam. The first is an account of the history of the Southern Republic’s National Prize for Literature, and the second concerns the public reaction to the 1963 protest suicide of a literary mentor of Nhật Tiến, the novelist and political activist Nhất Linh. After the downfall of the South, Nhật Tiến was not subjected to “reeducation” for as long a period as many other writers, but did undergo harrowing experiences as a “boat person,” experiences that were the subject of a book he wrote that helped to draw international attention to the plight of boat people. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFThe fame of Cao Xuân Huy (1947–2010) in the Vietnamese expatriate community stems from a uniquely vivid book he wrote concerning his experiences as a combat marine prior to the fall of the Southern Vietnamese Republic. His distinctive quality resided in the fierce positivity with which he embraced the ethos of a combat soldier, and the gaiety and resilience with which he faced all of life’s situations, including the illness that at length killed him. This article begins with a long quotation from Mr. Huy’s preface to his war memoir, proceeds to an appreciation of his work by Nguyễn-Xuân Hoàng, a colleague, continues with an account by Dr. Vinh concerning the nature and stages of his final illness, and concludes with a valedictory poem by Huy’s friend Trịnh Y Thư. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFThis item is excerpted from a longer article in which the author discusses the war poems of three women, Trần Mộng Tú and two others. TMT did work in many literary genres but is best known as a prolific and many-faceted poet. Still productive at the age of eighty-two, she lives currently in Seattle, Washington, having resided in the United States, chiefly California, since 1975. This article describes how she began as a journalist employed by the Associated Press in Saigon in the late 1960s. Her adult life was overshadowed from the beginning by the death of her husband in a military encounter in the third month of their marriage. He was a French teacher who had been inducted into the South Vietnamese army. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFThe principal subject of the first half of this article is not the writer Dương Nghiễm Mậu, but the various kinds of social decay that took place in Saigon in the years following the fall of the southern republican government in 1975. This sets the stage for a depiction of the writer, one of the few who chose not to brave the ocean to escape Vietnam after the northern conquest. His literary activity, though greatly restricted, did not cease altogether. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFPhạm Duy (1921–2013) was Vietnam’s most prolific and varied songwriter, and as such is known to all Vietnamese. He was also a song lyricist, memoirist, and musicologist. Most of his countrymen express deep admiration for his music and deep disapproval of his personal conduct. The disapproval stems from his refusal to identify with any particular political group or set of doctrines, which was an aspect of his more general refusal to submit to any form of external control. In his memoirs he said that it is impossible for the word “patriotism” to refer loyalty to any person, group, faction, or philosophy. The only thing the word can possibly mean, he says, is loyalty to the language and customs of the people with whom you grew up. In the present article, Ngô Thế Vinh does full justice both to the huge musical legacy he created and to his troubling personal characteristics. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFVõ Phiến (1925–2015), a fiction-writer, poet, and essayist, was the only writer among the Vietnamese expatriates who undertook the task of writing a history of the literature of South Vietnam. As a refugee in south California, he knew and welcomed to his house virtually all of the Vietnamese writers and artists who had settled in the vicinity, and did much, through his hospitality to hold the community together. He is the subject of a study in English by John Shafer entitled Võ Phiến and the Sadness of Exile. The present article discusses the beginnings of his career, when, in addition to fiction, he wrote a monograph concerning the communist project of kidnapping Southern children, so as to use them to infiltrate the South later on. The article goes on to describe his work on the literary history of the South, and concludes with an account of his life in old age. Võ Phiến was unusual in that, in addition to writing, he held down a job as a public functionary in Los Angeles until he reached retirement age in 2003. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFĐinh Cường (1939–2016) was a visual artist who also published two poetry collections and a two-volume work on painting. The latter discusses the history of the Fine Arts Academy of Vietnam, established by the French in 1930, and examines the work of sixteen artists. The present article, though focused primarily on Đinh Cường, takes note also of the work of two other artists, Mai Thứ and Tạ Tỵ, and of the formation and activities of The Association of Young Vietnamese Artists. It also includes a poem and an article written in French by Đinh Cường’s contemporary, Bùi Giáng. It provides an account of the stages of Đinh Cường’s artistic production, and concludes with an account of his final illness. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFThanh Tâm Tuyền (1936–2006) was a poet and fiction writer notable for his iconoclastic approach to art and life. He was the first practitioner of vers libre in Vietnam, but in his later poetry returned to traditional verse forms. The present article contains many examples of his poetry and includes generous excerpts from his correspondence with the author. Thanh Tâm Tuyên endured unusually harsh conditions for seven years as a prisoner in North Vietnamese internment camps and also lost a son who apparently died in the course of his own attempt to escape Vietnam by sea. On resettling in the United States he chose to live in virtual isolation in St. Paul, Minnesota rather than joining any preexisting Vietnamese community. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFProfessor Phạm Hoàng Hộ (1929–2017), a botanical researcher who grew up in the Mekong River delta area and received his scientific training in Paris, devoted much of his life to a monumentally comprehensive work filled with his own line drawings on the trees and plants of Vietnam. He also did work on oceanic seaweed while at the Institute of Oceanography at Nha Trang. He was the founder and first president of the University of Cần Thơ. He remained in Vietnam after the fall of the South in 1975, but finally in 1984, accepted an academic position in France to escape the impediments to his work that existed in his own country. Though trained and eventually employed in France, he used Vietnamese rather than French as the language of all his scientific work, feeling that this would ultimately prove to be more beneficial for Vietnam. This study details the many difficulties he faced and overcame in the accomplishment of his life’s work. — Eric Henry.
Full Text PDFOur study explores the attitudes of Tani youth toward language and tribal solidarity preservation in the Northeastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, a culturally and linguistically diverse region. As popular languages like Hindi and English exert mounting pressure, the Tani language (with many dialects) faces endangerment, especially among the youth. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach, using online questionnaires and field-based interactions, and feedback from Tani youth, in order to assess their attitudes toward language preservation. Principal conclusions were that 63.2 percent of the respondents strongly support the unification of Tani language, and 61.2 percent support the creation of an independent writing system. Aside from this, 85.4 percent are convinced that a unified language would be helpful in preserving culture. The findings are significant in recommending effective strategies for the preservation of the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Tani people in the face of prevailing challenges.
Full Text PDFParasite (2019), directed by South Korean Director Bong Joon-ho, serves as a provocative exploration of inequality, deceit, and the human condition, as it follows the intertwined lives of two families from vastly different socioeconomic backgrounds. Drawing inspiration from Kim Ki-young’s The Housemaid (1960), this iconoclastic film dissects the complexities of privilege and exploitation, shedding light on the hidden struggles beneath the façade of prosperity. Through a qualitative analysis of narrative structure, character development, and visual symbolism, this study seeks to uncover the underlying messages and implications of Parasite within the context of broader social discourse, drawing on structuralism, Marxist, and postmodern frameworks to analyze the film’s critique of capitalism, social mobility, and the inherent struggles within a rigid class system. By unraveling these underlying themes, the study contributes to the academic discourse on inequality, examining how Parasite mirrors the precariousness of upward mobility in today’s hyper-competitive, capitalist society.
Full Text PDFYasheng Huang, The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2023, 436 pages, INR 3,571.
Full Text PDFRising Asia is a scholarly publication and journal of record with a multidisciplinary orientation. It serves as a resource for the study, investigation, and teaching of Asian societies. Each volume of the journal contains interpretive essays on all aspects of Asian history, economy, diplomacy, literature, health, science, military affairs (war, peace and society or WPS) and culture.
Its coverage spans the humanities and social sciences, incorporating various thematic approaches—historical, economic, foreign policy, military, literary and theoretical that explore issues of grand strategy, ideology, ethnicity, race and gender, diasporic and indigenous communities, and colonialism and postcolonialism. The journal also publishes research articles in the field of Film Studies, as well as commentaries on museum exhibits and resource guides, provided all of them are scholarly in nature.
| Title: | Rising Asia Journal |
|---|---|
| Frequency: | Three times a year |
| ISSN: | ISSN 2583-1038 |
| Publisher: | Rising Asia Foundation |
| Chief Editor: | Harish C. Mehta |
| Copyright: | Rising Asia Foundation |
| Starting year: | January 2021 |
| Subject: | Multidisciplinary subjects |
| Language: | English |
| Publication Format: | Online |
| Phone No: | 91-9830721954 |
| Email id: | harishcmehta1968@gmail.com |
| Website: | www.rajraf.org |
| Address: | 32 T, New Road, Alipore, Kolkata 700 027, West Bengal, India |
HARISH C. MEHTA
PhD, McMaster University, Canada;
former Lecturer at University of Toronto, McMaster,
and Trent University;
and former Senior Indochina Correspondent,
The Business Times of Singapore.
harishcmehta1968@gmail.com
harish.mehta@utoronto.ca
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ANIRUDDHA LAHIRI
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras;
Wharton (Senior Leadership Program);
former positions: Senior Vice-President, Unilever;
Director, Hindustan Lever;
Managing Director ABP Ltd (publisher of The Telegraph),
President, The Chatterjee Group.
lahiriani@googlemail.com
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GURJIT SINGH
Former Ambassador of India to Germany, Indonesia, ASEAN, Ethiopia and the African Union;
currently honorary Professor of Humanities, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore (Japan, Indonesia, ASEAN, Africa and Europe),
ambassadorgurjitsingh@gmail.com
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ANG CHENG GUAN
Professor, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore. (International History and Politics of Southeast Asia),
iscgang@ntu.edu.sg
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JANGKHONGAM DOUNGEL
Professor, Department of Political Science, Mizoram University, Aizawl (Local/Regional Politics & Socio-Economic Development of Mizoram, and Autonomy Movements in the North East),
jdoungel@gmail.com
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Julie Banerjee Mehta
Former Lecturer, University of Toronto and York University, currently Guest Faculty Professor, Loreto College, Calcutta (Postcolonial and Gender Theory, World Literatures, Diaspora Studies and Southeast Asian Culture),
juliemehta57@gmail.com
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Suchorita Chattopadhyay
Professor, Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University (Comparative Literature, Japan, and Asian Diasporas),
suchoritachattopadhyay@yahoo.com
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Craig Etcheson
PhD (International Relations), University of Southern California; former Visiting Scientist at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 2017 through June 2022 (Transitional Justice, Genocide Studies, and Cambodia),
etcheson@ix.netcom.com
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Lalnundika Hnamte
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Pachhunga University College, A Constituent College of Mizoram University (Peace and Conflict Resolution; Northeast Indian politics; Sixth Schedule and Tribal Autonomy; Migration and Citizenship;
Look East/Act East Policy),
lalnundika@jbc.edu.in
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Tuan Hoang
Associate Professor of Great Books, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California (Modern Vietnamese Intellectual and Religious History, Vietnamese American History,
and Vietnamese Catholicism),
tuan.hoang@pepperdine.edu
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Sanjay Kathuria
PhD (Economics), University of Oxford; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, and Ashoka University, Sonipat, India; Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research and former Lead Economist, World Bank (South Asian Trade and Investment, India's North East, Global Economy, Economic Growth, and Competitiveness),
sanjay@cprindia.org
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Veronica Khangchian
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhanamanjuri University, Imphal, Manipur;
she formerly taught in the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, and at Maitreyi College, University of Delhi (Ethnicity & Conflict, Migration, and Peace Processes in Northeast India),
verokarujiliu@gmail.com
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Vimal Khawas
Professor, the Special Centre for the Study of North East India, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (the Himalayan region, Sikkim, Nepal, Environmental Studies/Security, Development Studies, Urban and Regional Planning),
vimalkhawas@mail.jnu.ac.in
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Siddharth Mallavarapu
Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University (Disciplinary histories of International Relations, Theories of IR in the Global South, Asia in World Affairs, Comparative Political Thought, and Critical Security Studies),
siddharth.m@snu.edu.in
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Medha
Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University (South Asian Historical International Relations, Postcolonial and Decolonial approaches, Identities, Ideologies and Religion, and Discourse Theory),
medha@snu.edu.in
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Biswajit Mohapatra
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong (Politics, International Relations and Foreign Policy; and India's North East),
biswajitm1@gmail.com
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Nguyet Nguyen
Assistant Professor of History, Department of Social Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Alaska, Southeast, Juneau, Alaska (Vietnam War, U.S. Foreign Relations, Imperialism and Decolonization, and Gender Politics),
ntnguyen2@alaska.edu
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Por Heong Hong
Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang (Malaysia's healthcare policy, biopolitics, politics of memory, politics of heritage),
porheonghong@usm.my
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Vu Duong Luan
Senior Lecturer, Department of Heritage Studies, and Head of Office of Research Affairs and International Cooperation, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (Transnational History of Sino-Vietnamese Early Modern Borderlands, Comparative Studies of Social and Economic Institutions of Imperial China and Vietnam, and the Politics of Heritage in Chinese and Vietnamese societies).
luanvuduong@gmail.com
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BOOKS
Mohini Maureen Pradhan
mohinipcal53@gmail.com
FILM STUDIES
Raka Mukherjee
rakamukherjeeofficial@gmail.com.
RESEARCH
Hemalatha Sridhar
tatsugarde@gmail.com
Hussena Calcuttawala
hussenacal@gmail.com
COLUMNS
Valentina Notts
valentinanotts@gmail.com
PUBLISHING EXECUTIVE
Roshni Subramani
sales.risingasia@gmail.com
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