The Traditional Boats of Vietnam, an Overview

Abstract

This paper addresses the material boat culture of Vietnam both in its current context and more specifically through an assessment of how the boats of Vietnam have been studied in the past. It presents a comprehensive summary of past publications describing the construction, use and variety of boats in the region, from the earliest volumes to modern research projects, including the work of the US military. It highlights the rich diversity of construction approaches and boat‐types that are still built and used, and demonstrates the need for further field research to record the fast‐disappearing traditional boats of Vietnam.

© 2010 The Authors

Key words:

• Vietnam
• boats
• ethnography

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Society for South East Asian Studies for their initial support of this project, and the Ecole Française d'Extrême Orient for grant‐aid to one of the authors so ethnographic studies of the boats in the region could be progressed. The advice and support of maritime scholars Professor Seán McGrail and Dr Eric Reith, as well as Dr Pierre‐Yves Manguin, has been particularly useful. We are most indebted to the pioneers of maritime studies in Vietnam, and those who continue to construct and use the diverse range of boats that Vietnam still supports: the boatbuilders and users of Vietnam.