The Architects of Dignity with Kevin D. Pham


DATE
Thursday February 27, 2025
TIME
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
COST
Free

The Centre for Southeast Asian Research, with the co-sponsorship of the Global History of Anti-Colonial Thought Research Excellence Cluster and the UBC Myanmar Initiative, warmly invites members of the UBC community and public to our first event in the series Histories of Anti-Colonial Thought in Southeast Asia This series aims to bring various Southeast Asian genealogies of anti-colonial thought into conversation and spotlight them for the broader UBC community and public. It will include two more talks in March and April 2025 respectively: Epistemologies and Emplacements with Theara Thun and Kisho Tsuchiya and  Third Worldism and its Discontents with Cindy Ewing.

 


About the talk

Kevin Pham (University of Amsterdam) will discuss his new book which explores the intergenerational debates of six influential Vietnamese figures in colonial Vietnam: Phan Bội Châu, Phan Chu Trinh, Nguyễn An Ninh, Phạm Quỳnh, Hồ Chí Minh, and Nguyễn Mạnh Tường. These visionaries debated responses to French colonialism, the role of tradition amidst Western influence, and how to transform national shame into dignity. Kevin will also share his personal motivations as a Vietnamese American for writing this book, addressing gaps in the representation of Vietnamese political thought and challenging Western-centric perspectives in political theory.

About the speaker

Dr. Kevin D. Pham is an Assistant Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. His work explores the history of nineteenth and twentieth-century political thought. He is especially interested in how ideas of democracy, freedom, and revolution travel across cultures and are adapted by thinkers engaged in political struggle, both in and outside “the West.” In addition to his recently published book The Architects of Dignity: Vietnamese Visions of Decolonization (Oxford, 2024), his research has appeared in journals such as Philosophy and Global Affairs, European Journal of Political Theory, The Review of Politics, Polity, New Political Science, The European Legacy, and Montaigne Studies. Some of these articles were the first to introduce Vietnamese political thought to the field of political theory.

About the series

In recognition of the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Afro-Asian Conference, the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second Indochinese War and the 25th anniversary of the Timorese independence referendum, the series Histories of Anti-Colonial Thought in Southeast Asia aims to bring various Southeast Asian genealogies of anti-colonial thought into conversation and spotlight them for the broader UBC community and public. The series will provoke conversation about underexplored lineages of anti-colonialism and democracy within the academy and popular discourse in anticipation of the Anticolonial Ideas of the Global Symposium held by the Global History of Anti-Colonial Thought Research Excellence Cluster in April 2025.