Museification of the Indochina Wars Memory in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract In the 21st century, the politics of historical memory in general and the representation of past events in museum exhibitions in particular are extremely relevant. Museums are conductors of collective memory of past incidents. The purpose of this study is to identify the features of museification of the Indochina Wars memory in Ho Chi Minh City. The main method of conducting the research was the method of qualitative content analysis. This method is necessary for assessing both the museum exhibitions themselves and the information materials associated with them. The following features were discovered related to the representation of the memory of the Indochina Wars in Ho Chi Minh City. First, the Vietnamese are shown by Ho Chi Minh City museums as victims of French colonialism and American imperialism. Secondly, if the Vietnamese are not presented as victims, they are heroes and liberators. Thirdly, the Indochina Wars are presented in Ho Chi Minh City museums not as a series of military conflicts between two parts of divided Vietnam, each of which is supported by external forces, but as a struggle of a united Vietnam against invaders. Fourth, the Indochina Wars are presented in black and white. In other words, according to the museum narrative, there is a side of patriots and heroes and a side of traitors and aggressors, other forces and positions are ignored. Keywords: Indochina Wars, museification of memory, War Remnants Museum