Ashley Pettus 
Between Sacrifice and Desire [PDF ebook] 
Gender, Media and National Identity in Vietnam

An exploration of the role of women in the politics of national identity in Vietnam. Drawing on extensive and diverse primary resources — including state news media, government contests, tabloid journalism and extensive interviews — the author examines the intimate connection between notions of Vietnamese femininity and the cultural quandaries of modernity in post-colonial Vietnam. The book covers the socialist and market reform periods (from the 1950s through to the 1990s) and examines women’s central place — as both symbols and disciplined subjects — in Vietnam’s socialist modernization and ongoing capitalist tradition.