Contenu du sommaire : Recherche en sciences humaines sur l'Asie du Sud-Est

Through the example of the Merapi, located in Central Java in Indonesia, the aim of this article is to explore the cohabitation of different practices and conceptions related to the understanding of the volcanic environment. By taking the example of governmental disaster management institutions on the one hand and the Yogyakarta royal authorities on the other, it will describe the ways and the techniques that they respectively implement in their apprehension of the danger. It will show how theses perspectives, respectively naturalistic and analogical, are involved in the construction of the social space of a resettled village of the upland of the volcano.

This article reflects on the Javanese view of death, based notably on first-hand accounts of ritual masters, their conceptions and ritual practices. Existing ethnographic literature on Javanese funerary rituals is largely descriptive and delves little into conceptual issues. A comparative analysis of the literature and first-hand data reveals that death must ultimately be understood in relation to the social action of ancestors called to be reborn or not. Considered from this angle, it is possible to define various types of action that do not lead to ancestralisation as well as define various categories of death. Ultimately, these categories induce the different types of action and social relations of the living. The perspective is notably based on Robert Hertz's observations on funerary rites and the central role and unique configuration of second funerals in Java.

Parliamentary conflict is an unique phenomenon in Vietnamese history in the early modern period. In the course of the existence (1926-1945) of Chambre des représentants du peuple de l'Annam (Viện nhân dân đại biểu Trung kỳ), we can see some parliamentary conflicts emerging. One of the typical parliamentary conflicts was between the representative Huỳnh Thúc Kháng and the résident supérieur de l'Annam Jabouille in 1928. From studies on various aspects of the parliamentary conflict in Trung Ky (taxation, education, politics, law), this article will contribute to better clarify the functions and duties of Chambre des Représentants du Peuple de l'Annam in particular and the nature of a « parliament » in the French colonies in general.

During the Second World War sport activities and the scout movement in Indochina were managed by the French colonial administration to control the local youth and prevent the rise of nationalism. But in spite of this policy, many young Vietnamese people joined the Vietminh in 1945. By analysing the cases of two Vietnamese teenegers, this article aims to explain how these cultural activities may have played an active role in building their political commitment against France.

Immediately before World War II, approximately 20,000 people were sent from Indochina to France as workers. Once the war had ended, the repatriation of these workers was an obligation for the new French government and an earnest desire for the majority of workers. When France made clear its confrontational stance towards the Viet Minh government, many workers revolted against the French policy that hindered the independence of their home country. Managing these “contending” workers within France subsequently became a complex issue for France. The financial burden was also a problem, and the French government, anxious about workers expanding their anticolonial movements, sought for their swift repatriation. However, following the onset and escalation of the Indochina War, smooth execution of such plans proved difficult to achieve. The repatriation of workers from Viet Minh–controlled zones posed significant problems in particular. France feared that once returned, these people would assist the Viet Minh and join the resistance against France. The colonial authorities were concerned about this issue, and disagreements occasionally erupted between the French domestic government, who hoped to merely “offload” the workers, and the colonial authorities, who wished to actually control the effects of worker repatriation in Indochina. Yet, after the repatriation, colonial authorities, seeking to lessen the burden of handling workers, “offloaded” them in turn by forcing this responsibility onto the local Vietnamese governments under French control. Friction arose between the two sides: the Vietnamese frequently opposed the French, who would make many demands, especially to control workers from Viet Minh zones, but refuse to take any further financial responsibility. During the war, mobilisation of local citizens in a colony was a policy employed by the metropole to strengthen the unity of the empire. After the war however, France was required to spend a great amount of effort in order to settle the debt created by this policy.

Between 1963 and 1969, Jean XXIII and Paul VI searched for a just peace or a « peaceful coexistence » in the conflict which divided Vietnam, involving UNO for a concerted disarmament. These Popes played a role still ignored by many historians : Jean XXIII, rejecting all idea of a « just war » because war is now unable to correct any injustice, and Paul VI, directly addressing to the belligerents.

During the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese revolutionary government benefited from the support of overseas Vietnamese population who formed the so-called "patriotic" organizations. After the communist victory (1975) and the reunification of the country (1976), these organizations were kept out of Vietnamese political life. It was only from 1986, and the beginning of Đổi Mới (Renovation) policy, that the Vietnamese political scene granted them freedom of speech. Very quickly, however more obvious weakness of Eastern Europe socialist sparked a thirst for democracy in the overseas Vietnamese community. Previously controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam, “patriotic” organization, along with other political movements in the diaspora, are now calling for democratic progress in Viet Nam. It was only in the early 1990s that Hanoi was able to mute down dissidence and put these “patriotic” organizations back on track.

This article examines the media coverage of the 2013 campaign for the amendment and revision of the 1992 Constitution in Vietnam. Its purpose is to test the hypothesis whereby the mediatization of marginal speeches in the dominant public sphere is indicative of the emergence of a Vietnamese civil society. It draws on Gramscian conception of hegemony, of organic intellectual and of civil society.