Class, Gender and the Representation of Peasant Women in Vietnamese Literature

Authors

Montira Rato

Publication Date

2003-01-01

Abstract

The paper seeks to explore how peasant women are portrayed in Vietnamese literature and tries to highlight that, throughout the development of Modern Vietnamese literature, the way in which peasant women are portrayed is closely related to political agendas and ideological struggles. It also proposes that the construction of peasant women in Vietnamese literature is not only gender-based, but also class-bound. In the period between 1930 and 1945, the victimization of peasant women was used as a tool to criticise the colonial administration. In the 1945-75 period, literature took part in mobilizing the force of peasant women in the building of a socialist nation. However, post-1975 literature reflected the failure of the Communist government and its Socialist ideology to eradicate the residee of the old values in the country side, including the patriarchal concepts and the kinship system. The post-war writers use the pictures of unhappy women in the remote village to criticize and ridicule the rhetoric and promise of the revolution.

First Page

47

Last Page

67

Recommended Citation

Rato, Montira (2003) "Class, Gender and the Representation of Peasant Women in Vietnamese Literature," Manusya, Journal of Humanities: Vol. 6: No. 5, Article 3.
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/manusya/vol6/iss5/3