Subjects and Sojourners - by Charles Keith (Paperback)

About the Book

"Subjects and Sojourners explores how French colonial rule in Indochina extended Indochina's colonial society into France. Perhaps two hundred thousand Indochinese sojourned in France between conquest in the 1850s and decolonization a century later. They came from all parts of colonial society, from ruling monarchs to the most marginal laborers. In France, they studied, labored, fought, and lived in contexts that, although still within the empire, remained profoundly different from their places of origin. Their French sojourns were socially, culturally, and politically transformative. And when these sojourners returned to Indochina, virtually all parts of colonial society bore traces of their experiences abroad. Subjects and Sojourners shows, in short, that Indochina did not simply receive and refashion 'France' in the colony: they went and lived it for themselves"--

Book Synopsis

During the era of French colonial rule in Indochina, as many as two hundred thousand Indochinese sojourned in France. Subjects and Sojourners is a vivid and comprehensive social, cultural, and political history of this diverse group, which ranged from ruling monarchs to the most marginal laborers. Drawing from a range of rich but underused archives, Charles Keith explores how French colonialism extended Indochina's colonial society into France, where Indochinese subjects studied, labored, fought, and lived in imperial spaces and contexts that were profoundly different from those they had left behind. Time in France transformed these sojourners, and when they returned to Indochina, they in turn transformed colonial society. Indochinese, in short, did not simply encounter "France" in the colony: they went and lived it for themselves.

From the Back Cover

"A ground-breaking and highly original study of the Indochinese in France during the entire colonial era. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, this is one of the most important books published on colonial Indochina and imperial France in decades."--Christopher Goscha, Professor of History, Université du Québec à Montréal

"Subjects and Sojourners complicates simplistic narratives of the metropole as a site that radicalized future anticolonial activists to illustrate the myriad ways that France shaped, and was in turn shaped by, Indochinese sojourners of all backgrounds. A must-read for students and scholars of European imperialism, Southeast Asian history, cross-cultural encounters, and migration."--Martina Thucnhi Nguyen, author of On Our Own Strength: The Self-Reliant Literary Group and Cosmopolitan Nationalism in Late Colonial Vietnam

"With meticulous research in Vietnamese and French sources, Charles Keith provides a nuanced history of the French empire and decolonization seen from Southeast Asia, while simultaneously demonstrating that the transformations of Indochina's culture and society during this period can only be understood in a global context."--Joshua Cole, author of Lethal Provocation: The Constantine Murders and the Politics of French Algeria

About the Author

Charles Keith is Associate Professor of History at Michigan State University.