Between Sacrifice and Desire

An exploration of the role of women in the politics of national identity in Vietnam. Drawing on extensive and diverse primary resources - including state news media, government contests, tabloid journalism and extensive interviews - the author examines the intimate connection between notions of Vietnamese femininity and the cultural quandaries of modernity in post-colonial Vietnam. The book covers the socialist and market reform periods (from the 1950s through to the 1990s) and examines women's central place - as both symbols and disciplined subjects - in Vietnam's socialist modernization and ongoing capitalist tradition.