Another Kind of Vietnamization: Language Policies in Higher Education in the Two Vietnams

The reform and expansion of higher education was a priority for both of Vietnam’s postcolonial regimes, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in the nation’s north and the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) in the south. “Vietnamization,” or the adoption of Vietnamese as the language of instruction, was seen as a central part of that reform. However, the two regimes pursued Vietnamization by different means and on different timelines. This chapter argues that the history of the Vietnamization of higher education reflects the different political systems of the two regimes. In the DRV, Vietnamization would be initiated by the central authorities and carried out by decree. By contrast, in the south Vietnamization was shaped by the efforts of individual educators and linguists, associations, and student participation. Exploring the process of Vietnamization thus sheds light on a crucial aspect of the process of decolonization and highlights the divergent paths to independence taken by the two Vietnams after 1945.