Comments on: Fabric stores on the roof of hell

By: duc

duc — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:54:26 +0000

I appreciate your comments and responses.

By: hieu

hieu — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:30:54 +0000

Hoang,

This is Hieu, we met you at the ‘Difficult Dialogue at UW.

It’s convenient to say that the “villagers” want development so here comes development. How are the questions asked? Who are supposedly the “villagers”? Where were the questions asked? Do we ask the questions “before” and ignore the answers “after” (before and after development)? Without context and framing, the question could be quickly answered with a definite ‘yes’. Who would say ‘no’! Development: good; underdevelopment: no good. Have we heard this mantra over and over and over again? As Duc mentioned we are all grappling with the questions on development and the associated costs …

“We’re still telling the stories that we think should be told, rather than asking those people what they want to be told.”
It’s easy to be lured into being “objective” as if we could be neutral and what we heard could be truth. What happened if the questions could not be asked? Could not be answered? What if the answer is right in front of our eyes and we don’t want to see but keep asking for a verbal response? The answers are in the lines on the faces of the elders begging on the street, in the dragging feet of the children with worn-out flip-flop peddling lotto tickets, in the hunch back of the women toiling on the fields.
If we could be with any of them for a long time, listening till the wee hours without asking (the kind of research, polling questions), they would tell you the stories that were never told where they come from and what are their hope, their dream. It’s all subjective, non qualifiable.

Duc gives voice to the voiceless, and I’m thankful to hear.

By: duc

duc — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:22:34 +0000

Thanks, Hoang. The version you read was missing a few lines – those that talk a little about what people are and aren’t able to say.

And of course, you raise a question long-debated among social scientists, writers, economists, thinkers, government officials, and, yes, villagers: development, sure, but at what cost?

By: hoang

hoang — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:04:23 +0000

I agree with you that the stories behind the swanky art galleries and the expensive boutiques in the Old Quarter need to be told. But again, we’re still telling the stories that we think should be told, rather than asking those people what they want to be told. This quarter, I took a class on Thai literature in translation with Biff Keyes, the Thailand specialist at UW, he said the Thai villagers actually wanted more development – and I’m sure the same can be said about the Vietnamese villagers. But again, who cares about the villagers they don’t produce any art?