The Subjugated Other: Vietnam and the Memory of War

This lecture will focus on the cultural, political and ethical challenges associated with the representation of war in Vietnam. It will explore the symbolic battles over the memory of the war and scrutinise the capacity of art to disrupt the polarised ideological discourse on the war to advocate for marginalised and excluded perspectives. From a critical postcolonial perspective, we will investigate how creative works help facilitate new interpretations of the war by transcending boundaries (political, geographical, temporal) to reveal connections between perspectives often thought of as distinct or contradictory. Key themes we will examine include ethical memory, trauma, gender and war, displacement, exile, and reconciliation.

Dr Dana Healy

Senior Lecturer in Vietnamese Studies at SOAS University of London. Her principal academic interests focus on modern cultural and postcolonial studies with reference to Vietnam (including literature, cinema, religion and gender) and cultural history (literature and the Vietnam War; art and politics; diaspora and migration). She published studies that critically examine the relationship between gender and modernity, and on the themes of memory, ideology and the representation of war and conflict. She also authored several Vietnamese language teaching books.

Her teaching includes modules Vietnamese Literature; Vietnam on Screen; War, Revolution and Independence in South East Asian Literatures in Translation; South East Asia on Screen; Beyond Regions: Cultures in the Diasporas; Decolonising Otherness; Postcolonial Practices; Screen Cultures and other.

Date: 15 May

Time: 15.30-17.00

Venue: Room 431, College of Communication Building