Documentary film memorialisation of Vietnamese indentured labour in France and New Caledonia: sighting history

Alexandra Kurmann, Tess Do*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

A suite of unexamined historical documentaries exposes colonial non-dits (what is left unsaid) of Vietnamese indentured labour in New Caledonia and France from the late 1900s to World War II. They build memorial structures connecting subjects in contemporary Vietnam with forgotten sites of trauma. Les hommes des 3 Ky (The Men of the 3 Ky) attaches memories of lính thợ (working soldiers) to French penal sites; Công binh, la longue nuit indochinoise (Indentured Workers: The Long Indochinese Night), set in Vietnam, artistically re-enacts French indenture. Chân Đăng, Vietnamese workers in New Caledonia, are memorialised in Ký Sự Tân Đảo (The Vanuatu Chronicles) and Biết Đâu Nguồn Cội (The Roots), which render cemeteries touristic discovery sites and anticolonial places of memory, respectively.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRoutledge handbook of the Vietnamese diaspora
EditorsNathalie Huỳnh Châu Nguyễn
Place of PublicationLondon ; New York
PublisherRoutledge, Taylor and Francis Group
Chapter2
Pages29-45
Number of pages17
ISBN (Electronic)9781003036104, 9781040004012
ISBN (Print)9780367463960, 9781032537344
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Publication series

NameRoutledge Handbooks
PublisherRoutledge

Keywords

  • Vietnamese diaspora
  • Documentary
  • Colonial history

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