Going Indochinese

by Christopher E. Goscha

Why, Benedict Anderson once asked, did Javanese become Indonesian in 1945 whereas the Vietnamese balked at becoming Indochinese? In this classic study, Goscha shows that Vietnamese of all political colours came remarkably close to building a modern national identity based on the colonial model of Indochina while Lao and Cambodian nationalists rejected this precisely because it represented a Vietnamese entity. First published in 1995, the revised edition of this remarkable study is augmented with new material by the author and a foreword by Eric Jennings.

"Goscha’s analysis extends far beyond semantics and space. His range of sources is dazzling. He draws from travel literature to high politics, maps, bureaucratic bulletins, almanacs, the press, nationalist and communist texts, history and geography manuals and guides, amongst others. … [T]his book remains highly relevant to students of nationalism, Southeast Asia, French colonialism, Vietnam, geographers and historians alike." – Eric Jennings, University of Toronto

Christopher Goscha is Associate Professor of International Relations and Southeast Asian History at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He has published widely on cultural, social, political, and diplomatic aspects of colonial Indochina and the wars for modern Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Publication year: 2012
176 pp / 229mm x 152mm
8 figures, 6 maps
ISBN: 978-87-7694-099-7, Paperback
ISBN: 978-87-7694-069-0, Hardback

NIAS Press