Rethinking “Early Vietnam”: The Need for a

New History

Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference,

Philadelphia, PA, 28 March 2014

Liam C. KelleyUniversity of Hawai’i at

Manoa

few vs. many

“The Biography of the Hồng Bàng Clan as a Medieval Vietnamese Invented Tradition,” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 7.2 (2012): 87-130;

“Tai Words and the Place of the Tai in the Vietnamese Past,” Journal of the Siam Society 101 (2013): 55-84;

“Spirits and Stories in the Medieval Red River Delta,” in Forging the Fiery Frontier, James Anderson and John K. Whitmore, eds. (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming 2014);

“Inventing Traditions in Fifteenth-Century Vietnam,” in Imperial China and Its Southern Neighbours, edited by Victor Mair and Liam C. Kelley, eds. (Singapore: ISEAS, forthcoming 2015).

Haydon Cherry, “Digging up the Past: Prehistory and the Weight of the Present in Vietnam,” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 4, no. 1 (2009): 84-144.

Record of the Outer Territory of Jiao Region (Jiaozhou waiyu ji), late third or early fourth century C.E. cited in the sixth-century Annotated Classic of Waterways (Shuijing zhu)

Outline of Việt History (Việt sử lược) – 14th century

Arrayed Tales of Selected Oddities from South of the Passes (Lĩnh Nam chích quái liệt truyện) – 15th century

Lạc/Hùng Kings – Văn Lang

“The Hùng kings made a contribution in

establishing the country, so now you and I must work together to preserve the

country.”

In mentioning those early days of the country’s establishment, we all know that there were no written records. But the myths and legends that remain for us today, reflecting from a social reality, can still help us see the essence of a story that sheds light on some aspect of reality. – Trần Huy Liệu

myths(thần thoại)

legends (truyền thuyết)

Archaeology

1967

• History

• Archaeology

• War

struggle (đấu tranh) against the pack of aristocrats and clan leaders (bọn quí tộc thị tộc)

outward conquest (chinh phục đối ngoại)

small (nhỏ bé) and lacking (thấp kém)

1969 – Nguyễn Khánh Toàn

unity4,000 yearsnational consciousnessstrength/vitality(sức mạnh/sức sống)

struggle against natureand outsiders

archaeology + “legends” & “myths”

“the period” of the Hùng Kings

“the paradigm”

archaeological evidence & “the period of the Hùng kings”“myths” and “legends” – methodology/oral tradition/folkloregenre – anomaly account (zhiguai), tales

of wonder (quanqi)larger context of the medieval periodthe centrality of the nation

A New (Old) History

Archaeology & History

Thank you.