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Vietnam’s other story

Ngo Vinh Long

Deep in the misty mountains of Vietnam, there are stories to be told. They are the stories of women who helped shape the southeast Asian country over the last several decades through social revolutions that eventually turned political.

But as the women grow older, the chance also grows that the world will never hear the truth. University of Maine history Professor Ngo Vinh Long is afraid that soon, there won’t be anyone left to recount the incredible tales of what happened in 20th- century Vietnam. That’s why, for more than 30 years, he has been racing against time to capture those memories through interviews with the women of Vietnam.

“Women are important,” Long says. “Women in Vietnam happen to be in the forefront of most social movements, and the social movements, of course, move into political movements.”

For example, the National Liberation Front, formed in 1960 to overthrow the South Vietnam government and reunite the country, included people from a variety of religious and political groups.

“Ninety percent of Vietnamese were peasants. In the past, when people talked about Vietnam, they never talked about the peasants,” says Long, who has written several books and articles from the standpoint of both women and peasants. “They talked about kings and sometimes they talked about queens, but they did not talk about (a large) percent of the population: the women. What happened to them? If you want to understand any society, how can you ignore half of that society?”

Countries that experience prolonged wars become very polarized, Long says. Women in Vietnam organized many social movements to help each other, the poor and others in need. The groups ranged politically from the left to the right in their beliefs, but all had similar missions.

Long is no stranger to conflict, and understands the workings and makings of such groups. From late 1959 to mid-1963, he was a military mapmaker for the United States, charting almost all of southern Vietnam, and borders of Laos and Cambodia.

After coming to the United States in 1964, he began telling Americans about the war and organized several teach-ins. In April 1969, he helped coordinate the Harvard-Radcliffe Strike at Harvard University — two weeks of student demonstrations against the Vietnam War.

Three decades ago, Long began traveling into Vietnam’s remote countryside to record the neglected historical accounts of the women who provided grassroots leadership throughout the war years.

“It took me a very long time to gain people’s confidence,” Long says. But after several years of persistence and proving himself, Long has been able to break through the political barrier.

Long has spent many years building relationships. For example, just prior to his death in June 2008, former Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet led Long through the countryside, introducing him to key revolutionary leaders and activists.

Kiet has been regarded by most people as the best prime minister of Vietnam since 1945 because of the reforms he helped carry out during his tenure (1988–97), and his respect for intellectuals, democracy and human rights, Long says.

Such relationships have helped Long with one of the most difficult aspects of recording history — finding the right people to talk to.

“First of all, you have to know the history of the area,” Long says. “You don’t need to interview the most important people, but you need to know the most important people so they can show you the people you need to talk to.”

Technology also has aided Long’s quest.

“People in Vietnam are not like people here. They’re not used to being on camera,” Long says. “In the past, I’ve used a tape recorder, but with the video, you can see the emotion of the people.”

In the countryside where Long does the majority of his interviews, he needs his equipment to be able to run without electricity, sometimes for days at a time. With more than 5,000 hours of interviewing completed and more to come, Long also needs a computer with the memory capacity to store all of those hours of discussions.

“Sometimes I can talk with one person for about 10 hours,” he says.

Long now records his interviews in high definition for use in the classroom, to post on the Web, and to archive for future generations of historians and students. Through his research, Long hopes to change the way women are viewed in some societies.