Anti-Colonial Visions of Dignity and Shame

Abstract

This review provides an overview and assessment of Kevin Pham’s book Architects of Dignity, the first book-length treatment of Vietnamese political thought during the French colonial period. At the core of Pham’s book are novel claims about the nature of dignity and shame as explored by prominent Vietnamese political intellectuals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  According to Pham, these thinkers took dignity to be collective and to be asserted instead of being recognized by some dominant power. Moreover, Pham contends that they viewed shame as a productive tool for motivating political action. Overall, this book is an important and necessary contribution that introduces readers to some of the central themes animating modern Vietnamese political thought. At the same time, this review highlights some philosophical and political concerns regarding the main ideas and claims of the book.