ABSTRACT This is a humanity-oriented research carried out with an aim to explore the neoliberal self and self-realisation in context of Vietnam, and how they are constructed in the popul
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Research
By the mid-1980s, the newly reunified Vietnam had been facing serious macroeconomic imbalances that were evident in macroeconomic instability, hyperinflation, budget deficit, chronic food shortages and widespread poverty (Turner & Nguyen, 2005) In respond to these challenges, the Communist Party, in 1986, mandated the Economic Reform policy (Đổi mới), shifting the centrally planned economy to the market oriented one This had been proven to be a wise and timely move, as shortly after the implementation of Đổi Mới, at the national level, Vietnam underwent a remarkable economic growth spurt, along with social and cultural liberalisation (Freeman, 1996; Nguyen & Turner, 2005) Simultaneously, at the individual level, Đổi mới offered new selfhood to many of the Vietnamese population, especially the young (Nguyen, 2017; Turner & Nguyen, 2005) To be more specific, it opened up more opportunities, while also presented new set of demands for each person By the time, adopting the slogan
“prosperous people, strong nation”, the government emphasized that one could contribute to the wealth of the country by becoming affluent individually In such spirit, it went further to articulate its intention to “place young entrepreneurs at the forefront of socio-economic development” (Turner & Nguyen, 2015) That is to say, in the era of Đổi mới, Vietnamese people started to gain and exercise greater power to decide their destiny according to their free will Meanwhile, they were also required to be more autonomous, or, in other words, more self-contain, self-reliance and to have more self-responsibility Accordingly, the people of this new age of Vietnam needed to be self-made ones
Such perception has become more and more popular over the past two decades in Vietnam, evident in the seemingly ceaseless rise in demand for and the ubiquity of personal development courses, self-help books, or the public admiration for successful self-made entrepreneurs These successful individuals have been recognised in different ways, namely via broadcasted talk shows such as Talk Vietnam, and Contemporaries (Người đương thời), and a wide range of national and private awards WeChoice Award, the selected case of this study, is one among those awards
In 2014, WeChoice Award (WCA) was introduced to the Vietnamese public by VCCorp, a Vietnamese media, and communication company, primarily as an annual award that honours persons and projects that inspire and have a positive impact on the community Besides the humanitarian values,
WCA also claims to be the voice of Vietnamese youth, acknowledging and promoting positive trends among the young generation (wechoice.vn, 2018) For such purpose, they include award categories, such as After the course of four years, WCA only gains more popularity From 2017 to 2018 alone, the number of nominations submitted has increased by 520%, from 500,000 to 2,600,000 nominations This development is attributable to VCCorp’s collaboration with VTV24, the Vietnamese national news centre, officialising WCA as a national
TV program Two subprograms, including The inspirational journey (Hành trình truyền cảm hứng) and WeTalk, which are the weekly broadcasted TV show and monthly talk show at university respectively are also added, spreading the popularity of WCA From 2014 to 2018, each year, WCA follows a specific theme, namely “Be different to be successful (Khác biệt để thành công)”, “The inspiring journey” (Chuyến xe cảm hứng), “The inspiring boat” (Cánh buồm cảm hứng), “Calm” (Bình tĩnh sống), and “The heart’s hidden sun” (Mặt trời ẩn trong tim) With such themes, centre to the awards are still the categories of the
“Inspiring persons” and the “Inspiring ambassadors” The “Inspiring stories”,
3 which can be roughly described as the journey to success, all spread out the beautiful messages about self-acceptance, self-trust, and ultimately self- realisation The focus of a meaningful life, as can be interpreted from these messages, is now put on the individual self From a personal perspective, the life stories of various “Inspiring persons” portrayed in WCA really inspire me to be more of, and even more than who I am as a unique individual However, this is not about ruthlessly follow what one wants and ignore others Indeed, WCA often put the individuals into relation with those around, triggering one’s sense of responsibility as part of a community More often than not, interestingly, one can fulfill the responsibility by being oneself, drawing and working what one has It, proven by artist Do Chi Hieu, one inspiring ambassador of WCA, starts from the individual
The factor that sets WCA apart from many other awards available now in Vietnam lies in its neoliberal nature To elaborate this point, I choose to compare
WCA with The Young Faces of Vietnam Award (YFVA) given that this is, based on my research, the only other non-sector specific award that recognises successful individuals allows to some extend the participation of the public via online voting platform The critical differences between these two awards are found in four major components, which are the organiser, nominating and voting procedure, eligibility, and claimed aims First, regarding the organiser, while
YFVA is hosted by the Ho Chi Minh Youth Union, a state-owned institute, WCA is published by VCCorp, a private joint stock company Second, while the results of YFVA are based on audience’s online vote and board of judges’ decisions equally, WCA decides its winners based 100% on the audience’s vote Third, considering eligibility criteria, WCA seems to be more opened as it imposes no age limit like the other one Finally, the primary aim of YFVA recognise individuals with excellent achievements that contribute to Vietnam’s development when that of WCA is to recognise the most popular individuals,
4 events, products that have a huge influence on the community Apparently, while the former is more state-centred, the latter is more individual-centred In short, from this comparison, WCA represents the distinctive characteristics of neoliberalism since it, to a certain extent, independence from the state and rests the decision in the hand of the market – the audiences, the Internet users Therefore, I find WCA an optimal space to explore how the neoliberal individuals are constituted and the ways neoliberal thinking is embedded and practiced in Vietnamese societies nowadays.
Research Problems and Questions
In this paper, I attempt to explore the historical conditions that have given rise to the neoliberal self in Vietnamese society This is achieved through analysing a series of historical events, with an emphasis on the Economic Reformation (Đổi mới) launched in 1986 with the introduction of the market economy, marking the entrance of neoliberalism in Vietnam I also conduct a qualitative analysis of how this neoliberal self and especially the concept of self- realisation are constituted in WCA
To put the aims of my thesis in the form of questions, I ask:
1 What are the historical conditions that have given rise to the conception of the neoliberal self and self-realisation?
2 How are the conception of the self and self-realisation manifested in the WeChoice Award?
In my paper, I attempt to answer these questions I also hope the understanding I offer can reveal the ways neoliberal thinking is embedded and practiced in Vietnamese society.
Theoretical Framework
Considering that my research problems and questions are taken from a Foucauldian perspective, in this thesis, I employ a set of Foucault’s concepts to
5 construct narratives around neoliberal self-realisation in Vietnam and analyse the award That are used in my paper are discourse, self and technologies of the self
A discourse in the Foucauldian realm is collective thoughts that is put into language (Fendler, 2010) However, it is not limited only to verbal articulation, but anything that is understandable to us in a specific context, for discourse is historically specific This notion qualifies the “self” and “self-realisation” as discourses because they are understandable and have been expressed and interpreted differently in different historically situated practices Another feature of discourse is that it is produced by a network of subjects (Fendler, 2010) For example, the discourse that this paper focuses on, neoliberal self-realisation is produced by different subjects, including “self”, “neoliberal”, and those among others The interactions between these subjects are what Foucault phrases as power relations That is to say, studying a discourse, from a Foucauldian perspective, requires adopting the genealogical approach and attending to the power relations of the subjects that produce the discourse
Additionally, regarding the subject matter of my thesis, I draw mainly on Foucault’s understanding of the self, and especially the technologies of the self as the means human beings use to produce and constitute themselves in a certain historical context
All in all, in my thesis, I will adopt genealogical approach to recount the network of historical events that underpin the formation and transformation of the concept of the self and self-realisation Furthermore, I use his understanding about the technology of the self as the framework based on which I examine, analyse, explain and evaluate the way the self is constituted in the specific case of WeChoice Award
Mode of inquiry
This graduation thesis is a humanities oriented study Thus, it does not follow established steps of scientific research methodologies, but guided by my research interest and theoretical perspective My mode of inquiry can be described as the process of critical reading and writing to produce an essay I draw on a wide series of news, research, books, articles, TV series that is related to my research focus Especially, all published articles about the “Inspiring persons” of WCA since its launch in 2014 are analysed I hope to see how it constitutes the neoliberal self, and the self-realisation discourse then and now, when it has become much more well-organised, consistent, and somewhat complete in terms of the messages it conveys to the public
The population of my research is 40 selected “Inspiring person” of five consecutive years since 2014 until the end of 2018 Each of the subjects has their own featuring article on the official websites of WCA Links to related news are also included there Throughout the course of four years, WCA has been consistent in the way it portrays the subjects in these articles by providing transformative narratives of the “Inspiring persons” In other words, each of the persons has its own story that follows a specific pattern: they have changed from rather inadequate to be successful people There is a consistent theme of living one’s dream, working hard against all odds to live life to the fullest in this program
For this thesis, I offer my subjectivity along the process of synthesizing, interpreting analysing the materials.
Significance of the Study
The findings of this study are of contemporary significance to the understanding of self-realisation, especially in the media discourse, under neoliberalism, which is influential in diverse spheres of life in the world in general (Turken, 2016), and in Vietnam specifically (Nguyen, 2016)
Additionally, by providing such insights into the dissemination of neoliberalism in Vietnamese society, the study is also expected to contribute to the understanding of local variations of neoliberal discourse.
Overview of the Chapters
After chapter 1, chapter 2 reviews the understanding of the concept of self, self-realisation and vehicle of self-realisation before fitting these concepts in the context of neoliberalism
Chapter 3 outlines and explains historical events and trends that gave rise to the conception of self and self-realisation in Vietnamese society The genealogical account provided in the chapter proves that it was not until the early twentieth century that the concept of the self an individuality emerged in Vietnamese culture The development and transformation in the understanding of this concept has continued until the present time in a non-linear path and been profoundly affected by both national and international trends at the time
In chapter 4, I analyse the narratives in the official articles about the
“Inspiring persons” of WCA to see how the concept of self-realisation is constituted I also examine the influences of neoliberalism on the way the individuals are constituted or constitute themselves
Finally, chapter 5 summarises the historical conditions that given rise to the concept of self and self-realisation in Vietnam in the context of neoliberalism, briefly comments on how WCA contributes to the phenomenon, and discusses the limitations of the study
THE CONCEPTION OF THE SELF AND SELF-
The Conception of the Self
In the literature concerning what the term ‘self’ really denotes, some scholars raise the contradistinction between the ‘self’ and the ‘person’, arguing that while the former refers to inwardness, deep internal values, and private life, the latter is associated with outwardness, superficial appearance, and public life (Ferrera, 2001) In his article, Harris (1989) adds another concept of ‘individual’ into the discussion and distinguishes among the three terms According to him,
‘individual’ is defined as ‘member of humankind’, denoting the characteristics of ‘normal’ individuals that distinguish itself from other being based on culturally divergent criteria Meanwhile, ‘self’ is considered ‘locus of experience’ In this sense, there is an emphasis on the duality of the self
In one aspect, the self is subject, author of behaviors known to their author as the latter’s own and so distinguished from the behaviors of any other someone
In its other aspect, the self is an object some aspects of which are brought within its own purview by the normal human capacity for noticing one’s noticing (Harris, 1989, p 602)
In the discursive discourse on the self, the continuity of the self and of identity is also brought into consideration The identity is a ‘unity upon the diversity of our self-experiences for the sake of feeling secure and reassured’; it transforms over time, as a ‘transcendental feature inherent in all human beings’ (Ferrera, 2001, p.11241) Finally, the concept of ‘person’ is understood as ‘agent in society’ Drawing on ethnographical accounts of the use of the three terms, he argues that they are interrelated in conceptualizing ‘human being’
Considering the fact that the concept of self-realisation, as I justify in the later part, cannot exist in the absence of either of the biological, psychological and social aspect of the human being, I draw on Harris’s finding on the inter- relatability of the three concepts, which are “individual”, “self”, and “person”, to refer to the subjects chosen for this study Each subject is a distinguishable individual, a cultural and historical construction, an accumulation of various investments, namely education, nutrition, and training, as well as love and affection (Foucault, as cited in Hamann, 2009) I, thus, use the three terms interchangeably throughout my discussion.
Self-realisation
It is important to understand what it means for a person to attain self- realisation This matter has been seen through various types of lens offered by different traditions of thought throughout history The full definition I use in this paper will only become clear in subsections as I present below
The conception of authenticity as the underpinning of self-realisation emphasizes the liberation of the self from constricting forces of the society, roles, and institutions, etc (Ferrara, 2001) This view necessitates the need to live an authentic life, in which the individual projects to the world a “true self” living creatively (Winnicott, 1965) In this light, the individual is both the designer and
10 material of his own life Consequently, according to aesthetic modernist, namely Baudelaire and Nietzsche, his end-product must be in opposition to established ones that conform to the demands of society and culture (Ferrera, 2001) Whereas, drawing on the understanding of Mounier’s personalism or Habermas’s intersubjective view of subjectivity, whose views supported by authors such as Rousseau Schiller, Herder, Kierkegaard, it is impossible to set apart the social expectations, roles, and institutions from the individual’s perception of self-realisations they contribute to the sensible of “self-realisation” in certain historical context
There is an inherent sense of fullness in self-realisation
First of all, Elster (1986) associates this fullness with Marx’s ideas of an individual bringing to actuality all of his powers and abilities to achieve the good life The author expresses and justifies his favour on the idea of developing oneself into a master of one trade (in opposition to the jack-of-all-trades)
Second, according to the consequentialist point of view, as Ferarra (2001) cited, the degree of fullness a person’s life may reach depends greatly on the impact it has on the external world Meanwhile, as indicated by exemplary proponents, the measure of fulfillment is provided by success in meeting ‘a challenge that carries a unique significance for the person’, independently of the impact of such success on the external world
In his work, Elster (1986) put a great emphasis on the role of freedom in the process of self-realisation as a whole He argues that being free to choose whatever power and ability an individual wishes to work on whenever he feels right, is the fundamental conditions that render self-realisation possible
Otherwise, if the choices are not made out of the individual’s own will but of others, it will no longer be self-realisation
Elster (1986) also points out the two more different aspects of self- realisation, which are self-actualisation and self- externalisation Regarding the former, he claims that it is conditioned by two pari passu processes – the development and deployment of the subject’s abilities and powers in order to become “all that one is capable of being to develop ones fullest potential” (Kaur,
2013, p 1062) As for the latter, externalisation, this process matters for, as explained by Elster, it is not enough to only deploy an ability outside of the public domain He considers this ‘consumption’ rather than self-realisation Thus, to attain self-realisation, there is a need for the subjects to make known their abilities and powers to other people, or in other words, bring themselves to the public domain This argument is strengthen by Hegel’s assertion:
The most important value for human beings is self-esteem Self-esteem derives largely from the esteem accorded one by other people Esteem requires something that can be esteemed, some form of externalisation of one's inner self It is of no avail to be a "beautiful soul" if the soul remains ineffable and mute; the self must be made part of die public domain (Elster, 1986, p.118)
To summarise, the five subsections discussed above, including authenticity, fullness, freedom, actualisation, and externalisation are essential to render self- realisation possible In other words, only by satisfying all of the five subsections can one claim to attain self-realisation
2.3 The Constitution of the Self and Self-realisation in Neoliberal
This part offers a brief account of how neo-liberalism developed out of the classical liberalism, and how human beings in the apparatus of neoliberalism constitute themselves
The classical liberalism established itself since the late eighteenth century as the
“outstanding doctrine of Western civilisation” (Lasky, 1936, p.9) It trusted the role of ‘the invisible hand of the market’ as the drive of economic development; they call for the rational basis of self-determination as the prerequisite of self- development, and responsible power as the corollary of liberty, while demanded minimum state intervention (Turner, 2008) However, by the early twentieth century, in light of the decline of the laissez-faire liberalism and the rise of collectivism from the 1930s which not only breached the fundamental values of individual liberty but might also bring about economic catastrophe, liberals urged and initiated the revival of liberalism, with reconsiderations on the role of the state and the free market This somewhat new variant liberalism developed into the then known “neoliberalism”, coined by Alexander Rustow, a German economist to distinguish the pro-collectivist liberal ethos from the classical liberalism (Turner, 2008) The emergence of neoliberalism in the 1930s and 1940s was the backlash of collectivism This ideology continued to develop until it came to dominance in the Western societies by the 1970s, before spreading its influence throughout the rest of the world with the wave of globalisation until now
2.3.2 The New Selfhood Offered by Neoliberalism
As can be seen from the account above, individual liberty and economic efficiency are the most important factors that underpin neoliberal dogma Such notion is supported by David Harvey when he defines neoliberalism:
Neoliberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade (David, 2007, p.2-3)
This quotation highlights the idea that under the influence of neoliberalism, individuals are given greater capacity for freedom for self-development They have greater power to decide their destiny according to their free will, not others’ Meanwhile, with greater power comes greater responsibility Indeed, the individuals is required to be autonomous, which can be roughly interpreted as to be more self-contained, self-reliance with the absolute self-responsibility The competitiveness of the market-oriented society that neoliberals advocate also requires perpetual and consistent improvement of the self to maximize its values to meet the requirements of the neoliberal society (Olssen, 2006)
To conclude, in the neoliberal apparatus, the self is constituted as free and autonomous This is not an absolute freedom, though, but one ‘governable via continual self-monitoring and self-disciplining’ (Besley, 2010; Gershon, 2011; Kiersey, 2009; Rose, 1999; Walkerdine, 2003)
2.3.3 The Constitution of the Self in Neoliberal Discourse
A HISTORY OF THE CONCEPTION OF THE SELF AND SELF-REALISATION IN VIETNAM
The First Half of the 19 th Century and Earlier: Confucianism and the
In the following discussion, I pin point main force that influenced Vietnamese civilisation that contributed to this phenomenon – Confucianism Entering Vietnam as early as 111 BCE, is Confucianism, which was introduced and reinforced in Vietnam by Chinese rulers over the next millennium
During their rule, Chinese leaders carried out many comprehensive projects to assimilate the then Nam-Viet people (Goscha, 2016), including the introduction and integration of Confucianism as the dominant dogma The teaching of Confucianism was profound, though could be highlighted in three main features, namely the strict conformity to hierarchy, the stress on correct behaviours, and the disparity between the elite and the ordinary This practice affected Nam-Viet and later, Vietnamese people’s sense of “self” and
“individuality” It is noteworthy, however, that at the time, these concepts had not came to the Vietnamese language yet, but much later in the first decades of the twentieth century (Marr, 2000)
Regarding the first two features, under the strict Confucius hierarchical ruling scheme, unless they were the one who were endowed the power, the individuals did not have the right to make any decision, even those that were most fundamental to their existence and well-being, including the matter of life or death, picking a partner to get married to, and so on The parts of the society
16 that could decide were the fathers, the authorities, the royal family and ultimately, the king To illustrate, the father’s power extended to the degree that, as described in Nguyen (2017, p.312): “the father possesses the absolute power in educating, punishing his children; arranging their marriages without their consent; deprive their heirship, [ ]” This quotation illustrates the lack of personal freedom and the important of roles in the Confucian hierarchical social system People were trained to obedient individuals who must fulfil their ascribed roles by abiding by sets of correct behaviours, such as the way of gentlemen, or three obedience and four virtues for woman
As for the last feature, strict hierarchical practices divided the society into two main classes, which were the officials and the ordinary The former group, made up of scholars, which were highly respected in Confucian culture, was considered the rulers, while the latter was the ruled The rulers could enjoy many advantages, for example, in a village festival, they would always get the nicest piece of pork (Nguyen, 2017) They were the ones who had the power and were above the rest of the population Therefore, many Vietnamese would not mind going the extra mile to earn a position in the authority board, either by learning hard to pass the Confucius examination, or involving in corruption The intellectual path was, as a result, the only path that led to a fulfilling life to the majority of Vietnamese who were still struggling with poverty All these practices led Vietnamese people to value intellectual professions more than any other ones while showing disgust and disrespect towards vocations such as manual work, and especially trading (Nguyen, 2017)
To conclude, the Vietnamese individuals in this period preferred likeness, non-differences among each other; they sought harmony and avoid conflict, prioritized the sense of belonging and neglected the need for self-liberating Meanwhile, they were also highly constrained The consciousness of one’s self independently was barely developed Indeed, the concept of “individual” had not yet exists Individual then was nothing more than an irreducible human unit
17 belonging to something more significant Therefore, to realise oneself meant to fulfil their role within their family, community, or, in other words, to become a responsible member of the society, and a loyal citizen of the nation.
The Late 19 th Century and Early 20 th Century (1858 – 1945)
Cultural Enlightenment and the Self-Liberation Movement
The first three decades of the 20 th is a critical period whose many events contributed to the establishment of the self-liberating movement in Vietnamese society These years fall into the normal phase of the French colonial paradigm
(1886 – 1919) By this time, the French had accomplished their pacification programs throughout Vietnam, and started implementing various comprehensive exploitation and enlightenment projects The enlightenment aspiration which stimulated critical cultural and educational reforms is the most important to our discussion in this paper
In fact, in order to gradually replace the Chinese influence with the Western one, the French authorities carried out various profound educational reforms, focusing on three main points as following
First, they opened a lot more Franco – Vietnamese schools in urban and rural areas alike where they followed a westernised syllabus, and used only French and “chữ quốc ngữ” as the official language of instruction
Second, with more schools, and important reformed educational policies including the abolishment of the male-exclusive examination system, French colonial education was extended to a wider range the Vietnamese population, opened doors to women, the other half of Vietnamese population that were previously excluded completely from the academic sphere under the Sino – Vietnamese system For about twenty years since the mid-1920s, there had been an increase of 5000 intellectuals (Goscha, 2016) nationwide In 1934, thanks to the new educational system, Vietnam had its first women doctor, Henriette Bui Quang Chieu
Third, the combination of the expansion of education, the popularisation of “chữ quốc ngữ”, and the introduction of printing offered Vietnamese population new realms of knowledge: new scientific ideas, technological advances, literary models, and most important of all, new philosophical horizons
This philosophical encounter was fundamental to the rise of liberal movement taking place in Vietnam in the early 1930s It was then that individualism and then-traditional liberalism gained access to Vietnamese peoples’ life We are discussing about the two cultures in their most humanist form Their guiding principles focused on freedom of choice and freedom of action, and the stress on ‘individual worth as well as their ability to improve themselves and the society through rational thoughts’ (Goscha, 2016) instead of blind obedience like before All of these ideas, despite being obviously exotic to the locals at the time, were quickly latched on by Vietnamese young intellectuals
Actually, the concern about the self and self-liberation was first brought to the public notion in the 1920s by Nguyen An Ninh in his personal speech in Sai Gon:
You must struggle against your milieu, against the family that paralyzes your effort, against this vulgar society weighing you down, against the narrow, hampering prejudices that stop at every turn your actions, against ignoble, humiliating, terribly humiliating and lackluster ideas which lower your race with every passing day […] The greatest idealists have always conseuled those who want to follow them to leave ‘the house of their fathers’ And we, too, the youth today, must also leave the house of our fathers We must leave our family, free ourselves from this society, separate from our country […] That is to say that once we, the Annamese who have been given the chance to be conscious of our own worth, the highest possible form of worth being that of the individual and the law governing the world, when we will return to Annam (Goscha,
This quotation is an urging call for the liberation of the individual from the old oppressive order Nguyen (2017) problematized the current hierarchical,
19 prejudiced, repressive society, accusing it of impeding individual growth The individual is thus encouraged to fight for their freedom by becoming independent, autonomous and self-conscious
The individual-liberating movement, led by a group of intellectuals known as The Self-strengthening Literary Movement (Tự Lực Văn Đoàn), then busted in the following decade in Hanoi The group consisted of seven key members, who were Nhat Linh (Nguyen Tuong Dam), Hoang Dao (Nguyen Tuong Long), Thach Lam (Nguyen Tuong Lan), Khai Hung (Tran Khanh Du),
Tu Mo (Ho Trong Hieu), The Lu (Nguyen Thu Le), and Xuan Dieu (Ngo Xuan Dieu) They were all chidren of mandarine families, highly educated, and were perfectly at ease at both French and “chữ quốc ngữ” The group also invited other like-minded intellectuals working as artists, writers, poets, and cartoonist to join the Vietnam’s first published liberation of the individual on the cultural front
Their prime goal, as put by Khai Hung, was to urge the individuals to
“achieve liberation, break with the oppressive structures that had, by fooling him, led him down the wrong path […] The individual must decide for himself” (Goscha, 2016)
To realise such goal, they established two notable newspapers in ‘chữ quốc ngữ’, which were Phong Hóa (Culture) and Ngày Nay (The Contemporary) The two regular newspapers featuring essays that diminished and assaulted Confucian traditions, while promoting Westernisation and the liberation of the individual They went further to establish a set of work ethics featuring ten principles, all of which promoted originality, traditional values, and
Especially in this period, the individuals became notably more expressive and vocal First, to free up the expression of the individuals, many of the authors
20 started to use the personal pronoun ‘I’ – ‘tôi’ in their writings and communicated very personal feelings to the public, which was not the case in the earlier era (Marr, 2000) Additionally, apart from the unconventional use of the personal pronoun, the authors expressed their long to ‘walk free’ in numerous novels whose main characters at the beginning were victims of the oppressive hierarchical system, but eventually managed to break free, even with an extreme solution as suicide Some of the typical examples in this genre are To Tam by Hoang Ngoc Phach, The midst of spring by Khai Hung, and Breaking the ties by Nhat Linh
To conclude, in this period, Vietnamese people, especially the intellectuals in urban area had become more aware of the self and self-worth There emerged a new definition of self-realisation here, which was closely linked to the liberation of the individual from the suffocating hold of the old order.
From 1945-1986
The self-liberal movement during the 1930s cooled down in the next few decades as there were more pressing matters emerged: the warfare Decades of war affected the individual liberty profoundly In underwent the process of marginalisation and oppressively normalisation, which are discussed below
This was marked with the Japanese occupation of Vietnam, as part of its immediately war plan against China, and of its long-term imperial plan across Indochina While the Japanese tried to force their own imperial propaganda, other powers, including the United States, the Soviet Union, and Vietnamese neighbor, China, actively promoted their own cultural diplomacies in Vietnam Meanwhile, the French also fought hard to maintain its colonial culture
So, during this time, there were more of ideologies whose fundamental values undermined the individual liberty instilled in Vietnam, than those
21 promoting sense of independence and liberation That is not to mention, the methods and schemes that all parties, even the French and its personalism, used in their competition for Vietnamese hearts and minds were rather oppressive and controlling at the core Meanwhile, regarding the internal condition in Vietnam, incessant wars and the national liberty being at risks were the two factors, as discussed earlier in this paper, contributed to the re-emergence of collectivism in Vietnam during this period The individual needs and interests became subsidiary as the priority was then to reclaim the national independence
When the war was over in the North, the Vietnamese government adopted a Leninist communist approach in forming a new independent, liberal, and happy Vietnam One obvious problem was that, according to Nguyen (2017), Vietnamese government was rather authoritarian and totalitarian Two of the policies that are most important to the subject matter of this paper is the central planning and state provision ones These had been the practices in Western Europe in the earlier years of the 20 th century, and criticized by Western neoliberals, including Hayek, Lippman, and so on, to be detrimental to human freedom While communist economic planning is closely linked to dictatorship (Hayek, 2001; Finer, 1946), state provision posed a threat to freedom as the service based mainly on welfare policies that coerced individuals into a paternalistic and authoritarian system, falling to take into accounts individual needs and interest (Hayek, 2001) They, as, Hayek argued, indicates a social vision that is incompatible with a free society
Then, the unification of the whole Vietnam in 1975 marked the leaders’ achievement of the territorial state known as “modern Vietnam” today Ever since then, the Communist Party had implemented throughout the country socialist precepts of Marxism and Leninism, which had been applied in Northern Vietnam after the defeat of the French forces in 1954 The ruling scheme adopted by the party was acknowledged by its own members at the Sixth Congress in
1986 to indicate a tendency to “control the whole show” (Thayer, 1992) Moreover, the decision-making process was also mainly conducted by a few chosen political elite, though there were quite evident attempts nationwide to incorporate a variety of state members through informal consultations (Gainsborough, 2011) Furthermore, worried about the fragile nature of their newly unitary states, the communist and their Confucian predecessor were determined to impose unflinching loyalty right down to the lowest levels of state and society They wanted people in command, and direct rule
One example is how the Party controlled how writers, poet, etc represented the war The war had to be glorified, etc and anyone trying to bring the ugly, deadly face of the war or the party to light would be shut down It was not the case in the south though, under the rule of the republic of Vietnam government
In this period, once again, Vietnamese people fall back into the net of oppression, collective interests, lack of self-awareness and lack of motivation to attain self-realisation, which were understandable in the rather gloomy context of the newly independent, but isolated and struggling nation.
From 1986 until Now
The period from 1986 until the time this paper was conducted can be considered the continuity at a higher and more comprehensive level of the self- liberation movement launched in the 1930s but disrupted by warfare and a prolonged period of close-door policy
There two major factor that explain the need for a new kind of self is Vietnam’s economic reform in neoliberal direction, and the explosion of the information technology services, namely the Internet, satellite radio and cable
TV, fostering the third wave of globalisation in Vietnam
With regard to the former factor, by 1986, the prospect of Vietnam had not been positive The socialist economic model, not being implemented as robustly as in the Soviet Union, the prolonged Vietnam – American war, the border conflicts with China in 1979, the occupation of Cambodia from 1979 to
1989, as well as the weakening Soviet Union put great pressure on the local economic environment and even led to “very serious macroeconomic imbalances” (Irvin, 1995, p.726) This was evident in uncontrollable inflation and budget deficit, along with severe food shortage and poverty In such a situation, economic reform appeared to be inevitable In the Sixth National Communist Party Congress taking place in December that the state initiated the critical economic renovation program called Đổi mới which was in accordance with the global neoliberal trend
The priority of Đổi mới was to alleviate the country’s economy by converting the central control economic system to a market-oriented one through a range of strategies These included decentralisation, de-collectivisation, diversification, fostering multi-sector economy, private ownership, and foreign trade and investment More importantly, the focus then was shifted to the development of the individuals, especially the young With its slogan
“prosperous people, strong nation”, the government emphasized that one can contribute to the wealth of the country by becoming affluent individually In such spirit, it went further to articulate its intention to “place young entrepreneurs at the forefront of socio-economic development” (Turner & Nguyen, 2015) That is to say, it was not until the economic reform in 1986 that the personal wealth, as well as individual liberty, became of greater matter than in the collective culture before It was then the time for heightened awareness of the individual Such a heightened awareness of the self is inherent under the influence of neoliberalism around the globe (Ferge, 1997; Layton, 2010; Nafstad, 2002) It provided the conditions for and imposed contemporary
24 requirements on the neoliberal individual - a “new type of individual” (Ball & Olmedo, 2012) To be specific, the new type of individual is expected to be the rational entrepreneur who is capable of and responsible for taking care of itself instead In this sense, the neoliberal self is subjectified as free and autonomous, yet “governable via continual self-monitoring and self-disciplining” (Besley, 2010; Bondi, 2005; Gershon, 2011; Kiersey, 2009; Rose, 1999; Walkerdine, 2003; Weidner, 2009) Additionally, as suggested by Weidner (2009, as cited in Turken, 2016), neoliberalism demands consistent improvement of the self to maximize its values to meet the requirements of the liberal society (Olssen,
2006) In short, an individual, in solely neoliberalism terms, is rendered by exercising (1) rationality, (2) entrepreneurship, (3) autonomy and responsibility, and (4) positivity (Turken et al, 2015)
With respect to the second major factor, the development of information technology was marked by some shaping events The first one was the explosion of the Internet followed by the growth spurt in social media usage In fact, by
2000, only 0.2% of the Vietnamese population had access to the Internet This proportion, however, by 2017, had mounted to 60% (Pham, 2017) This dramatic increase was attributable to the rise of smartphones usage and the introduction of first 3G Internet service on mobile phones in 2009 - 2010 that allowed wireless instant connection to the network This development also paved the way for the social media revolution in Vietnam Some examples of the most used social media include discussion forums 1 , among which yeuamnhac.com, dienanh.net, Vozforums.com were the most popular until 2007, before being replaced by social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
1 discussion board where users all with the same interest create topics and have conversations about anything related to that topic
Another type of popular social media was blogging sites, namely Yahoo! 360 during the early 2000s, and, later, WordPress and BlogSpot
Another shaping event was the rapid expansion in Cable TV services In fact, by 1997, the number of households having televisions was up to 90% (Tran,
2000) The total broadcasting time reached 50 hours per day, considerably longer than that in 1986, which took up only 3.5 hours daily (Tran, 2000) Noteworthily, ever since the Vietnamese Television became financially independent, though remaining legally state-owned, from the Vietnamese government, there had been an expansion in TV channels in terms of number, genres, and providers Along with the advent of national and provincial movies, games, talks, and reality shows, foreign ones also flooded into Vietnam (Nguyen, 2015) This turn, according to Turner (2010), is driven mainly by market, which is typical of and only possible in a market-oriented economy that Vietnam has been shifting to
Both of the aforementioned events, along with various state’s comprehensive global integration schemes, have helped to integrate Vietnamese people to what Edmun and Turner (2005) call the “global generation” All of these events have contributed to the shaping of the distinctive characteristics of generation Y 2 and early generation Z 3 , whose coming of age takes place during this turbulent period Accordingly, first, these two generations have had and demanded the diversity and freedom of choices in terms of occupation, lifestyle, education, sources of entertainment, along with others Regarding the first aspect, which is occupation, many have opted for less conventional jobs, namely Influencer, or Key-opinion-leader (KOL) in marketing which goes hand in hand with the expansion of social media Meanwhile, when it comes to lifestyle, people belonging to generation Y and Z tend to take a more open-minded
2 people born between 1977 – 1994 ("Generations X,Y, Z and the Others", n.d.)
3 people born between 1995 – 2010 ("Generations X,Y, Z and the Others", n.d.)
26 approach to life They embrace the differences They are flexible and adaptive enough to respond to never-ceasing trends worldwide, but also bold and independent enough to become trendsetters (Nam, 2018) One example is the Hip-hop trend pervading in the early 2000s The message of this exotic pop culture was a powerful one, which advocates individuality and liberty against the established way of thinking, social norms and oppressions (Lynsky, 2016) People’s choice for lifestyle is strongly influenced by western culture, especially American one, and those of Vietnam’s neighbours like Korean, China, and Hong Kong (Nguyen, 2017)
Second, to these two generations, the work on self-presentation has shifted to the digital platforms too As mentioned earlier, the majority of them are active Netizens 4 on forums, social networking sites and other types of social media There, they tend to spend a large amount of time projecting online self- images, whether as part of a larger community, as on forums, or expressive and distinctive individuals, as on personal blogs, and later social sites like Facebook These are the personal communicative spaces that allow different level of intimacy, and offer them a sense of protection to freely raise their voices to many different matters (Bach, 2007) In general, digital platforms have become the preferred space for communication, and even sources of news, knowledge, entertainment, and so on (Nguyen, 2017; Nam, 2018)
Finally, to generation Y and Z, self-cultivation remains vital when it comes to personal development (Marr, 2010; Nguyen, 2017), though the techniques have not remained static The power of knowledge is deeply ingrained, and there are more and more opted for studying abroad where they can seek better education The generations value success gained through the western self-help manuals They appreciate self-confidence and self-esteem Various successful cases made it to the newspaper, broadcasting talk shows
4 an active participant in the online community of the Internet ("Definition of NETIZEN", n.d.)
Contemporaries (Người đương thời) was such a talk show From 2001 to 2009, it was broadcasted by Vietnamese Television, staring successful individuals, especially nationalist businesspersons like Dang Le Nguyen Vu, the so-called
“Vietnamese Coffee King” (Forbes.com, 2012)
THE CONSITUTION OF THE SELF AND SELF-
The Constitution of the Self in WCA
The “inspirational persons” in WCA, in generally, are depicted as self- contained, self-sustaining people and class acts in their fields Each has their own a life stories which has become the source of inspiration to others These elements of individuality underpins all of the narratives about the subjects
In its attempt to constitute the “Inspiring persons”, WCA has extensively employed narratives of transformation that follow the same pattern: from being inadequate in one way or another to being accomplished, famous and successful
In these narratives, it can be seen that the individuals are constituted and constitute themselves based on the following technologies
The “Inspiring persons” in this program are constructed as essentially rational individuals As analysed below, their rationality is fabricated as inborn, serving as the base for their decisions and courses of actions which eventually lead to positive results
To begin with, the persons of WCA are born-rational thinkers In fact, in the narratives of their journeys, most individuals are repeatedly reported to
“know about”, “aware of”, “realise”, and actively take part in the continual process of thinking, self-reflection, evaluation, and so on This practice influences their perception of both the self and the world outside
On one hand, their self-consciousness is indicated through the full awareness of personal dreams, needs, ability and limitations, and the like Their dreams and passions, being the source of meaning and providing direction of their lives, are understandably recognized at a rather early stage To exemplify, while Suboi realized that she started her career, at 15, as a rapper because she herself loved rapping, Hoang Ku, as soon as he turned 18 knew that it was fashion, not architecture, his ultimate passion, regardless of his family’s early orientation into the latter field Meanwhile, through their journeys, they constantly consult different sources, namely past experiences, feedback and even criticism from other people, to self-examine, self- evaluate, and make improvements accordingly
[…] Tung takes his seniors’ and colleagues’ criticism, but only with a grain of salt He would acknowledge and keep in mind the constructive ones right away, while ignoring the bashing, scathing ones He knows that he can’t make everyone love him ("Sơn Tùng MTP – WeChoice Award 2014", 2014)
Son Tung’s experience with public bashing is shared by many other artists in WCA In such situation, most of them are reported to use the same
32 strategy as Tung, which is to keep the mind straight and in peace to tell right from wrong
On the other hand, they are also conscious of the world – the external factors that may either prosper or impede their actions and plans One example is Phan Anh and his plan to use money to help children in the mountainous areas
My primary intention was to build more schools for the children However, I learned from the results of our survey there that many schools had been built as part of the national target programme on building new countryside Building more schools was not a necessity then So we decided to change to building flood proof houses and even opening swimming classes for the children ("Phan Anh - WeChoice Award s 2016", 2016)
In this quotation, being aware of the local struggles toward heavy flooding and the fact the even living in a highly flooded area, many children still don’t know how to swim, Phan Anh has changed his initial plan to much more practical ones This can be considered a good choice made based on sound reasoning
Next, their developed consciousness, as well as sound reasoning and analytical ability help to establish a firm base for their decisions in life This explains why they remain unswerving trust on their assertions and choices even when encountered with oppositions or disapprovals from the majority To illustrate, people at Tu Du Peace village, where Le Minh Chau, the handicapped artist had been living since he was 6 months old, thought that he was too unrealistic to leave the village at 17 However, their doubts never stopped Chau from leaving to open his own gallery, teach art and make a living with his passion for painting all on his own To justify his decision, Chau claims that “I have come to realize that only by living my dream and passion can I make money and be truly happy” Another example is Hoang Ku, a successful founder of a fashion brand, whose plan to open his first shop was strongly rejected by his family
I felt so sorry for mum Everyone in my family criticized her just because she supported my dream Even my sister, who was living abroad at the time, called home to criticize her Fortunately, both mum and I was very determined So, we decided to secretly open our own shop Everything from finding and renting houses, people hunting, to decorating, and so on was done under the radar ("Hoàng Ku - WeChoice Award s 2015", 2015) Hoang Ku’s story proves that regardless of all disapprovals and rejections, the people of WCA managed to keep an unwavering will to pursue what they believe to be right and carry on their path with determination and consistency
These rational and calculating ability, together with other characteristics that are to be discussed in later parts, gradually leads to success or the realisation of one’s own dream, potential, and ultimate, self This resonates with Foucault’s understanding of how neoliberal individuals are instilled with a particular subjectivity in the modern world (Kiersey, 2009) This subjectivity encourages the belief that individuals are solely responsible for their own life (Rose, 1999)
As the subjects are constructed as rational about themselves and about the world, they are inherently autonomous and responsible as a result Their subjectivity is represented through the inclination to problematise, based on which they initiate changes, and undergo the solo process of transformation
First, considering their problematisation tendency, in the data, the subjects often recognize the current existential elements like challenges and hindrance to their dreams The challenges may be internal, for example, Minh Chau’s physical impairments and Xuan Vinh’s hesitative disposition: “His biggest weakness, which is quite contradictory to what is required from a shooting athlete, is his emotional instability and soft temperament” ("Hoàng Xuân Vinh - WeChoice Award s 2016", 2016) Meanwhile, in other cases, they have to face challenges posed by external forces, such as limits in working
34 conditions, disapprovals, and rejections, social norms, and expectation that hinder full development
Second, upon recognizing the challenges on their own, the subjects then initiate changes or adaptive strategies accordingly In the data, they are always depicted as the ones who confront the challenges, “take action”, “step out of the comfort zone”, “take the risk” and work “hard”, “steadily” against all odds to
Meaning of Self-realisation to Neoliberal Individuals
In the story of WCA’s “Inspiring persons”, the conception of self- realisation being constructed bears similar features to that discussed in the second chapter, with the emphasis on authenticity and fullness
Out of the four subsections that constitute the ‘self-realisation’ discourse, authenticity appears to be the most important factor in the success story of the
First of all, their authenticity is indicated in the way they accept and manifest their differences and uniqueness to create distinctive values and contributions In fact, the quality of being unique, different is central to the self- realisation discourse As a matter of fact, the theme topic of WCA 2014 was “Be different to be successful” They clearly stress the importance of being different here, as if there would be nothing worth discussing if a person fails to be one of a kind
Second of all, the individuals in WCA define and construct who they are, who they should be and will be according to their free will This is often mentioned in the articles as to listen to their inner voice, to follow their heart, and so on, even when it means going against others’ expectation, contemporary norms, and practices For example, Henie is praised for having a very unique beauty, which redefines the common Vietnamese beauty standard In this sense, they refuse to follow the established way They redefine definitions based on their own set of beliefs and values and strengths are committed to those, instead of letting the external forces to alter their self-hood whether in the present perception or direction of development in the future
Finally, the “Inspiring persons” manage to remain true to who they are as a person, even when they are very famous Most of the time, the subjects are depicted as people who have no appeal to superficial glamour and materialistic appeal They often appear as “a normal person”, “a neighbour”, an uncle, and many other words that express the friendliness, close relationship, which is quite contradictory to the public perception of “celebrity” discourse This can be
39 explained by their self-consciousness, self-liberation and self-trust inclination, which lead them to opt for a simple life where they can invest in what really matters to them, being dream and passion, instead of the pursuit of wealth and superficial satisfaction
As cited in Cohen (2012), Zygmunt Bauman (qua postmodern apostle) considers authenticity to be as much about what we will be or should be as about what we are The “Inspiring persons” in WCA have proved themselves to be authentic according to this interpretation By living true to who they are, they are also changing present-in-present, that is being different from what the conditions or society want them to become or make them into
The discourse of fullness can be explored in both private and public domains in the case of the “Inspiring persons” of WCA
On one hand, there is a personal aspect to the discourse of fullness Sense of fulfillment is indicated through expressions such as “satisfies”, “happy”,
“self-content”, etc If fullness is only about actualising all of one’s potential and power as discussed in the second chapter of this paper, in WCA, there is an emphasis on the dream and passion In other words, to the subjects here, self- realisation, first and foremost, means dream-realisation, and the stories of success in WCA are the stories of making dreams come true Of course, the individuals have to bring to the process the best they have or can get, but it’s only procedural, the ultimate goal is still the dreams These dreams are intrinsic, self-generated They are the motivation, and drive underpin the whole process Realising their dreams bring about meaning to one’s existence, and the feeling of satisfaction
On the other hand, there is also a more public matters when it comes to
“self-realisation” The stories in WCA create an impression that an
40 accomplishment is insufficient if it is only bring out self-contentment There has to be an impact Indeed, impact is half of what the award is about, indicated in its title “Inspiring persons” Thus, although first, it’s about making their dreams come true, in the end, such dreams, or the process of realizing their dreams have to contribute to the community in one way or another The contributions can be tangible, such as the improved conditions of living for children in the mountainous area in Phan Anh’s story, doctor Thang’s new cure for cancer, the artists’ high quality work of art They can also be intangible, such as a change in the attitude, or the the belief and inspiration to go against all odds to make their dreams come true They spread the message that with giving comes fulfillment Some of the subjects even take helping others as their priority or primary motivation This act of altruism is manifested in Phan Anh’s charity campaign, and teacher Binh Phuc’s educational project for children on Hon Chuoi Island
The somewhat balanced importance of personal success and contribution to the community to one neoliberal individual in Vietnam is understandable Indeed, here, just as neoliberalism was juxtaposed with Marxism and Leninism in the political sphere, neoliberalism has always been fused with nationalism – a more conventional ideology embedded since dawn of the twentieth century, when it comes to the constitution of the concept of the “self” and “individual” (Nguyen, 2015) This has strengthened the Rose (1999)’s claim that neoliberalism is not a substitution of collectivism in formally collective states but reconciles with the collective interest in various way.
Discussion on WCA’s Constitution of the Neoliberal Self and Self-
4.3.1 The problematic idealisation of “following your dream and passion”
Throughout its operation, WCA systematically idealises dream, passion, and the process of pursuing and realizing them Passion and dreams are
41 constituted as essential to one’s existence Indeed, the stories of success it tells can be simply translated into the story of making one’s dream come true The meaning of the dream to the selfhood is not limited to the goal to achieve but also a purpose that brings meaning to one’s life, an incentive for all courses of actions Dream and passion is an ideal that is worth risking and fighting for
However, the main problem with WCA’s constitution of this ideal is that it lacks specificity and practicality Regarding the former, most of the subjects claim to “realise”, “follow”, and “pursue” their dreams and passion their whole life, while sometimes fail to articulate what exactly their dreams are As for the latter, the process of making the dream come true is rather too idealistic In fact,
WCA creates the impression that as long as one dream passionately, and work hard and persistently enough, they can overcome all sorts of difficulties This formula for success is only ideal, for, in real life, we know that this is not always the case
4.3.2 The idealisation of the people
The nature of awards is to recognise and honour those who best qualify a set of criteria set by the organisers That is to say, award-winning individuals cannot be expected to offer the reality of the whole group, community, race, culture, or generation that they belong to Instead, they are only the representatives of their group, and of what the organisers value and wish to promote publicly
In WCA, they are trying to market a group of successful people as the role models of individuals in the current context of Vietnam Along the way, they seem to have fallen into the trap of creating a false projection of perfection Indeed, in their articles, they mainly highlight the good side of the individuals with little effort made into discussing the not-as-good side