Genealogy of reproduction: The governing of wombs in the nation of Vietnam

Abstract

In Vietnam, the governing of women’s wombs has undergone multiple transformations that are contingent upon the particular disciplining power of the time. The technology of biopower is employed by the modern state to directly target and control human bodies as subjects of the state. It is centrally exercised over the human body, which disciplines and regulates them into social bodies. In the 19th century, the French colonial government advanced pronatalism as one of their main governing ideologies. Pronatalism encouraged women to procreate in order to increase the population (i.e. labor supply) at the same time that capitalism was beginning to emerge in the region. In opposition to this, the anti-colonial and socialist Vietnamese government disputed the colonial policy of pronatalism, instead encouraging family planning and birth control. This controversial ideology is significant in seeking to understand the tactics applied by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam against French colonial authorities and their stance on reproduction. Following this, communism would become the main ideology of Vietnam, further shifting the trajectory of governing reproduction, for instance in the case of the legalization of abortion. When the state is able to influence the population in these ways, women’s wombs become part of the nation-building process, in which the state apparatus is able to manipulate the population according to the “needs of the nation.” Consequently, women’s bodies become marked with traces of bodily and reproductive governance. Applying the genealogical method, this article will investigate the history of reproduction in Vietnam from the French colonial era to the arrival of socialism. Therefore, the article aims to reveal the disciplining power that governs women’s bodies as well as the power relations existent between them.