Bibliotactics : Libraries and the Colonial Public in Vietnam.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nguyen, Cindy Anh.

Series:

Asia Pacific Modern Series

Asia Pacific Modern Series ; v.22

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (314 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2026.

Summary:

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Libraries in French colonial Vietnam functioned as symbols of Western modernity and infrastructures of colonial knowledge. Yet Vietnamese readers pursued alternative uses of the library that exceeded imperial intentions. Bibliotactics examines the Hanoi and Saigon state libraries in colonial and postcolonial Vietnam, uncovering the emergence of a colonial public who reimagined the political meaning and social space of the library through public critique and day-to-day practice. Comprising government bureaucrats, library personnel, journalists, and everyday library readers, this colonial public debated the role of libraries as educational resource, civilizing instrument, and literary heritage. Moving beyond procolonial or anticolonial nationalism framings, Bibliotactics advances a relational theory of power that centers public reading culture contextualized within the library infrastructure of the colonial information order. As the first comprehensive history of the colonial and national library in Asia, this book contributes new insights into publicity, colonial and postcolonial studies, and the histories of Vietnam, libraries, and information.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-520-41623-6

9780520416239

OCLC:

1555342705