The Politics of Vietnamese Craft: American Diplomacy and Domestication

Description

Jennifer Way's study The Politics of Vietnamese Craft uncovers a little-known chapter in the history of American cultural diplomacy, in which Vietnamese craft production was encouraged and shaped by the US State Department as an object for consumption by middle class America. Way explores how American business and commerce, department stores, the art world and national museums variously guided the marketing and meanings of Vietnamese craft in order to advance American diplomatic and domestic interests. Conversely, American uses of Vietnamese craft provide an example of how the United States aimed to absorb post-colonial South Vietnam into the 'Free World', in a Cold War context of American anxiety about communism spreading throughout Southeast Asia. Way focuses in particular on the part played by the renowned American designer Russel Wright, contracted by the US International Cooperation Administration's aid programs for South Vietnam to survey the craft industry in South Vietnam and manage its production, distribution and consumption abroad and at home. Way shows how Wright and his staff brought American ideas about Vietnamese history and culture to bear in managing the making of Vietnamese craft. Cover page Halftitle page Title page Copyright page Dedication CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION: VIETNAM AT HOME, 1955–1961 The organization of this book Domesticating Americans “Crossing the public/private divide of politics” 57 Vietnamese craft and American histories of craft and art Chapter 1 STATE DEPARTMENT AND UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATIONS FOR VIETNAMESE CRAFT AID Introduction American involvement in South Vietnam UN Economic Council for Asia and the Far East: A template for craft development Foreign Operations Administration Chapter 2 DESIGNER AS DIPLOMAT Introduction “Need for this type [of] help urgent” 8 Promoting “an obvious desire among the population”33: Recommendations for craft American frameworks for Vietnamese craft Craft and design in production Expanding America’s geography of craft Design diplomacy: A “hard-headed business”155 Chapter 3 REFUGEE AS ARTISAN: THE IMAGE OF VIETNAMESE CRAFT Introduction The United States in South Vietnam, and South Vietnam in the United States Pathos “The refugee problem” and solution Occupation: From refugees to citizens Depoliticizing artisans Chapter 4 THE U. S., NORTH VIETNAM, AND SOUTH VIETNAM: COMPETING NARRATIVES OF CRAFT Introduction American perspectives Outsourcing otherness: Palliative dimensions of native craft Reclaiming craft for the nation: Hanoi’s Vietnamese Handicraft s Marking success in South Vietnam: Modernization and mobility Chapter 5 FROM SALVAGING TO MERCHANDISING: EXHIBITING VIETNAMESE CRAFT FOR A MERICAN CONSUMERS Introduction Saigon Chamber of Commerce, 1956 Southeast Asia Rehabilitation and Trade Development Exhibit, New York Coliseum, 1956 Table Settings: The Old with the New , Brooklyn Museum, 1957 United States World Trade Fair, New York Coliseum, 1958 Traveling Department Store Exhibition, 1958–9 Craft centers in South Vietnam, 1957–61 Chapter 6 ARTIFACT, ART, CRAFT: DISPLAYING AND COLLECTING DIFFERENT VIETNAMS Introduction Vietnamese craft as knowledge of the region, culture, and nation Acquiring Vietnamese craft Crossroad and cultural diplomacy Marginalizing craft Ethnographic failures The unsuitability of Vietnamese craft for SITES CONCLUSION NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX