Customer Reviews

Customs and Culture of Vietnam

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The 1966 quote by Hubert Humphrey referenced in my review title succinctly typifies the rather ambivalent American attitude towards Asia--particularly Southeast Asia and Vietnam--prevalent at the time, an attitude that likewise on a somewhat different register finds its way into this unassuming little 1966 book as well. On the one hand, "Customs and Culture of Vietnam" is a heartwarming and delightful little comprehensive intro written with loving care in a dreary age when few to no such titles otherwise existed by an author who inadvertently found herself in Vietnam and so made an commendable and relatively rare effort to get to know the place and its people better and then share that knowledge with her fellow Americans. On the other hand, the primary batch of "fellow Americans" intended are clearly members of the American military, and this book has something of the character of a crash course for them so that they'll learn at least something about their erstwhile allies and hopefully not make complete idiots of themselves. She herself wound up in Vietnam because she was married to a U.S. Army officer stationed there, and brief references and asides to the "terrorist" activities of North Vietnamese "insurgents" glaringly intrude into even the most innocuous of subjects with telling regularity (not to mention a surreal deja vu familiarity to someone reading in 2008). In any case, the spectre of war hovers uncomfortably about this seemingly innocent monument to intercultural understanding. Typically ambivalent.

All of which makes this book an excellent time capsule, freeze-framing a particular moment in history and articulating its often unspoken and forgotten attitudes, assumptions, and impressions. It's also a fine time capsule in that within these pages is a detailed description of a Vietnam that for better or worse is by now long gone. Everyday habits and customs of average Vietnamese folks along with minute and fascinating details of their festivals and special occasions are outlined with warm familiarity. The tall tales and legends that held their attention are retold with relish so that they hold ours as well. The figures from history that meant something to the average guy on the street (and after whom such streets were named) are identified, their outstanding exploits described.

The author even takes such supposedly dry subjects as economy, industry, social networks and education systems (all the bread-and-butter of everyday life) and makes them interesting and accessible. For me though the main interest is religion and literature, and the author paints a very fair and vivid picture of Vietnamese religiosity and the different religions practiced--Buddhism, Confucianism, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Taoism, and Christianity, along with several flash-in-the-pan new religions never and I mean never mentioned elsewhere. All of these are discussed mostly in terms of their real role in Vietnamese society, too, making for some wonderfully unexpected twists here and there. In comparison, the section on art and literature seems a bit sparse in spots but serves well as a decent overview, and I was utterly unfamiliar with many of the forms of traditional Vietnamese theater she mentions. Which is to say that this book is far more than a quaint relic. It even yet fulfills its intended purpose of being informative, even though the conflict such cultural diplomacy was meant to inform is now a bygone chapter in both Vietnam and America's ongoing history.

This book is a concise history of Vietnam and its relation to the US. There is a lot of geography and maps. The different Motagnard tribes are explained from the begging to their individual customs. The book also contains descriptions of other religions and cultural information from French colonialism.

Included are theater, painting, architecture, sculpture, music, and Ligature. Some legends are retold.

Even thought Ann Crawford is also a freelance photographer, there are no photographs in the book just a few crude sketches.

The author Ann Crawford spent two years in Vietnam with her army officer husband.

This book is a concise history of Vietnam and its relation to the US. There is a lot of geography and maps. The different Motagnard tribes are explained from the begging to their individual customs. The book also contains descriptions of other religions and cultural information from French colonialism.

Included are theater, painting, architecture, sculpture, music, and Ligature. Some legends are retold.

Even thought Ann Crawford is also a freelance photographer, there are no photographs in the book just a few crude sketches.

The author Ann Crawford spent two years in Vietnam with her army officer husband.

This book is a concise history of Vietnam and its relation to the US. There is a lot of geography and maps. The different Motagnard tribes are explained from the begging to their individual customs. The book also contains descriptions of other religions and cultural information from French colonialism.

Included are theater, painting, architecture, sculpture, music, and Ligature. Some legends are retold.

Even thought Ann Crawford is also a freelance photographer, there are no photographs in the book just a few crude sketches.

The author Ann Crawford spent two years in Vietnam with her army officer husband.