The Post-Colonial Village

Abstract

A comparative study of the traditional village with post-colonial villages can show the effects of the development of capitalist markets in Central and South Vietnam. This chapter, therefore, describes typical southern and central villages in the 1950s and contrasts these with the traditional village. This technique reveals the fundamental economic changes in production and distribution in the villages during the colonial era. The effects of the extension of the market on methods of production and the production infrastructure are shown. It becomes apparent that the market affected the lives of the people of the village, the organisation of their labour, the returns they received, and also the distribution of wealth among the village population.