Thy Phu - Warring Visions: Photography and Vietnam

WARRING
VISIONS

______

PHOTOGRAPHY
AND VIETNAM

THY PHU

Duke University Press

Durham and London2022

2022 Duke University Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

Designed by Courtney Leigh Richardson

Typeset in Minion Pro by Copperline Book Services

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Phu, Thy, [date] author.

Title: Warring visions: photography and Vietnam / Thy Phu.

Description: Durham: Duke University Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021011955 (print)

LCCN 2021011956 (ebook)

ISBN 9781478010364 (hardcover)

ISBN 9781478010753 (paperback)

ISBN 9781478012917 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH : War photographyVietnam. | Documentary photographyVietnam. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975Photography. | VietnameseAttitudes. | Vietnamese diaspora. | BISAC: PHOTOGRAPHY / Criticism | HISTORY / Asia / Southeast Asia

Classification: LCC TR820.6. P496 2021 (print) | LCC TR820 .6 (ebook) | DDC 779/.909597dc23

LC record available at https: //lccn.loc.gov/2021011955

LC ebook record available at https: //lccn.loc.gov/2021011956

Cover art: Courtesy Vietnam Pictorial.

I once believed that writing was a lonely, solitary exercise. Writing this book taught me otherwise. For years, Ive been inspired, moved, and lifted by the support of friends, mentors, and colleagues. I learned from a special group of friends how to write not just more but also better. For their generosity and unwavering belief in this book and in me, I thank Elizabeth Abel, Sara Blair, Thuy Vo Dang, Deepali Dewan, Erina Duganne, Lan Duong, Nicole Fleetwood, Tak Fujitane, Evyn L Espiritu Ghandi, Steven Gin, Jamie Maxtone-Graham, Marianne Hirsch, Dinh Q. L, Anthony Lee, Joanne Leow, Ann Marie Leshkowich, Cheryl Neruse, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Doug Niven, Franny Nudelman, Marc Opper, Sarah Parsons, Minh-ha T. Pham, Leigh Raiford, Susan Reid, Sue Schweik, Christina Schwenkel, Sharon Sliwinski, Shawn Michelle Smith, and Alan and Felicity Somerset. I also thank Karen Strassler, Madeleine Thien, S. Trimble, Y-Dang Troeung, Linda Trinh Vo, Laura Wexler, Kelly Wood, Sunny Xiang, Lisa Yoneyama, and Donya Ziaee. In recent years, I have relished the pleasures of writing retreats, walks in the country, and the comfort and warmth of conversation over multicourse meals. In these quiet, soul-sustaining adventures, I have been fortunate to deepen my friendships with Nadine Attewell, Ju Hui Judy Chun, Jennifer Chan, Richard Fung, Tim McCaskell, Malissa Phung, Vinh Nguyen, and Gkbr Sarp Tanyildiz. Although some habits are hard to shake, I credit the wisdom imparted by the writing workshop coordinated by Eva-Lynn Jagoe and Elspeth Brown with helping me see the form and structure, heart and soul of this book more clearly. My thanks to Dip L, Chau Doan, and Triet Minh L, who made me feel at home every time I came to Vietnam and patiently answered my questions, no matter how naive or obvious.

I was able to develop and complete this project because of the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and of Western University, which has provided a wonderfully enriching institutional home for me and where Ive benefited from the encouragement of friends, including Nandi Bhatia, Manina Jones, and Jan Plug, and from the resources provided by the Research office. This project also benefited from the assistance and encouragement of graduate students, including Chinelo Ifeyinwa Ezenwa, Julia Huynh, Maral Moradipour, and Zeinab Mcheimech, from whom I learned so much over the years. Archivists at the Associated Press, Swarthmore College, the Hoover Institution, and the Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University were enormously helpful in providing guidance to their special collections. I was fortunate to share some of my research at institutions including Yale University, where I held a position as visiting associate professor in 201617, and the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, where I spent three wonderful months as senior research fellow. I also presented talks at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Mount Holyoke College, the University of Michigan, the University of Toronto, Concordia University, Dartmouth College, Rutgers University/the New York Public Library, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Colby College, Monash University, Prato Centre, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, Princeton University, and the University of the Western Cape. For so warmly welcoming me to their intellectual communities, I thank my gracious hosts, including Paul Barrett, Kimberly Juanita Brown, Tina Campt, Gao Chu, Steven Chung, Iyko Day, Kyle Frisina, Richard Grusin, Yi Gu, Patricia Hayes, Eric Harms, Chua Beng Huat, Erin Huang, Jonathan Long, Dan Magilow, Melissa Miles, Joshua Miller, Margaret Noodin, Franz Pritchard, Maureen Ryan, Tanya Sheehan, Lisa Steele, Kim Tomsczak, Ed Welch, and Andrs Mario Zervign.

I am grateful to my editor, Ken Wissoker, and to my anonymous readers for helping me shape the book more clearly. I thank my brother and parents for sharing their stories and for being part of this project. Any inaccuracies or distortions are, needless to say, mine. My dearest friends, Donald C. Goellnicht and Andrea Noble, always stood by me, lending strength when I needed it most. Their sudden and untimely deaths left me unmoored, but I take comfort in knowing they are still with me in the work they inspired, in the person they helped me become, in the light they shone my way. Not least, I thank Michael, my best friend and partner, for being by my side from first to last.

Because Vietnamese is a tonal language, I have written out names and quotations using diacritics unless they were omitted in original source documents. According to Vietnamese conventions, proper names begin with the surname followed by middle and given names. However, diasporic Vietnamese often adopt Euro-American naming conventions that reverse this order. Instead of imposing a single convention, here, I respect subjects own naming preferences.

PLATE 1Cover of Vietnam Pictorial, 1957 issue.

PLATE 2Wounded in Vietnam. Wounded Marine Gunnery Sergeant Jeremiah Purdie (center) is led past stricken comrades after fierce firefight for control of Hill 484, south of DMZ in South Vietnam, 1966. Photographer Larry Burrows. Getty Images.

PLATE 3Cover of Vietnam Pictorial, 1961 issue.

PLATE 4Factory workers in Vietnam Pictorial, 1958 issue.

PLATE 5Colored photographs illustrating a story about science and industry in Vietnam Pictorial.

PLATE 6Farmers riding water buffaloes, Vietnam Pictorial.