BEYOND KHE SAN:
AUSTRALIA'S LITERARY ENGAGEMENT WITH VIETNAM

  

This work in progress explores the ways in which Australia has engaged with Vietnam since 1963 with its first commitment of troops to the Vietnam War. It will examine the manner in which Australian writers and cultural practitioners have represented Vietnam in their texts as a focus of conflict, migration, protest, tourism, and post-colonial/post-war transformation.

The project will draw on the multiplicity of Australian voices through which Vietnam was discovered and defined including the diasporic texts of Australian Vietnamese writers, the works of ex-service personnel, those of anti-Vietnam protesters, as well as imagined and ficto-critical narratives.

It will explore post-war Vietnam, a country unknown to most Australians prior to Australia's military engagement, through a series of publications, exchanges and seminars/conferences. In particular, the project will examine and redefine the ways in which Australian cultural discourse has been shaped by its engagement with Vietnam.