Readings: Nguyen Huy Thiep, "The General Retires" in The General Retires and Other Stories
Leshkowich, Dissertation selections

1. A primary theme of "The General Retires" involves the emergence of an urbanized elite focused on acquiring money and spending it on consumer goods and other forms of consumption, such as lavish funerals. What roles do men and women play in these activities? What attitudes and moral values do they seem to represent?

2. Leshkowich characterizes Ben Thanh market as having two faces. What does she mean by this? What roles do kinship, gender, religion, politics, and economics play in shaping these two faces?

3. What role does religion play in market life? How does Leshkowich's account of the contemporary religious revival differ from that of Kleinen, Malarney, or Le Hong Ly? Why are traders "superstitious"?

4. What has been the legacy of war for Ben Thanh market traders and officials? How does war shape current relationships and attitudes in the marketplace?

5. What does Leshkowich mean by "secret agency"? How does this concept incorporate notions of independent choice, strategizing, and constraint? How does her account of market traders' secret agency compare to Gammeltoft's description of the benefits women may get from putting up with IUD-imposed suffering? What are the strengths and weaknesses to the concept of secret agency?

6. Based on this week's readings, how would you assess the positive and negative effects of Vietnam's doi moi policies? Who seems to be benefiting, and who is not? What accounts for these differences?

 

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu