ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 incorporates Foucault’s concept of biopower with recent theories of affect to analyze the neo-liberal conjuncture of the text, the body, and the politics of national reconciliation in Vietnam through the case study of As if We Never Parted (‘Như Chưa Hề Có Cuộc Chia Ly’), a famous Vietnamese reality show that reunites missing people. The majority of the missing people in the show are victims of previous national tragedies, including multiple wars, various waves of political migration, and prolonged poverty. The revelation of silenced pain in this reality show indicates an implicit resistance to the Vietnamese partystate’s prolonged repression of past tragedies. On the other hand, the focus on traumatic testimonies provided by individual victims reduces collective violence to a matter of private victimhood. As if We Never Parted thus enables a soothing effect upon the latent wounds of the country, but this is only achieved at the scale of intimate consolation, leaving intact the structural root of political and social oppression both before and after the Reform.
