Vietnamese Studies in Russia and the Former Soviet Union

This paper surveys the emergence and transformation of Vietnamese studies in Russia and the former Soviet Union from the late nineteenth century until the present. It demonstrates how writings by Russian explorers and geographers developed into a professional academic field during the Soviet era, one that was strongly shaped by ideological affinities and international connections within the communist world. Although Vietnamese studies in Russia has retained some intellectual and institutional legacies from the Soviet era, it also reflects transformations in academic life in Russia since the 1990s as well as the changing relationship between the two countries.