CONG HUYEN TON NU NHA TRANG




• Resume
• Thanh Nhung
• The Moon of Hoa Binh -- A Novel
• Thơ Thanh Nhung -- 1958-1970
• Thơ Thanh Nhung -- 1971-2000
• Thanh Nhung's Poetry -- English Translation
• Fragments from Memory
• Research Papers




RESUME

Name: Nha Trang Pensinger
Former name: (Nguyễn Phước) Công Huyền Tôn Nữ Nha Trang
Pen name: Thanh Nhung
Citizenship: Vietnamese-Canadian
Contact addresses: nhatrangpensinger@yahoo.com, tonnu.nhatrang@yahoo.com

Born in Nha Trang, Viet Nam, I pursued my higher education in Saigon, Tokyo and California. After a Ph. D. degree in Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley (1973), with emphasis on Vietnamese literature and folklore, I have taught and given lectures in several countries in Asia and North America. I have also published a large number of books and articles including the 2-volume novel The Moon of Hoa Binh (1994) which I co-authored with my husband William L. Pensinger. Parallelly, under pen name Thanh Nhung, I write Vietnamese poetry. I have lived and travelled in twenty countries.


* Education			
   * Languages
      * Awards 			
         * Teaching Experience
            * Research Experience 		
               * Other Work Engagements
                  * Publications 			
                     * Public Lectures and Presentations
                        * Travels and Residences

EDUCATION
1973
Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Program in Asian Studies (Cultural Anthropology with emphasis on Folklore, Comparative Literature, and Sociology); University of California, Berkeley. Dissertation title: "The Traditional Roles of Women as Reflected in Oral and Written Vietnamese Literature." A textual and contextual analysis of representative literary works dealing with the responses of women of different socioeconomic strata to the Confucian ideal rule of Three Submissions.(See abstract)
1969
M.A., Comparative Literature (English and Vietnamese); University of California, Berkeley.
1967
B.A., Japanese Language and Literature; San Francisco State University, California.
1963-65
Japanese Language and Culture; International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan.
1961-62
English, Vietnamese Literature; Faculty of Letters,University of Saigon, Viet Nam.
1960-61
Quoc Hoc High School, Hue, Viet Nam.
1954-60
Vo Tanh High School, Nha Trang, Viet Nam.

LANGUAGES
    Vietnamese, English, Japanese, French.

AWARDS
1988-89
Rockefeller Resident Fellowship in the Humanities; Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University.
1984
Research Grant; Indochina Studies Program, Social Science Research Council, New York.
1972-73
Ph.D. Dissertation Fellowship; The Ford Foundation, Southeast Asia Fellowship Program.
1971-72
Ph.D. Research Fellowship; The Ford Foundation, Southeast Asia Fellowship Program.
1967-70
Grant-in-Aid; Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Feb. 2002-April 2007
Vice President for Instruction; First Global Community College (FGCC), Nongkhai, Thailand.
2000-01
Visiting Professor; University of California at Los Angeles, California; teaching Modern Vietnamese Literature in Translation, and a graduate special course in Vietnamese-English translation.
1992-94
Visiting Scholar Lecturer; Center for Asia and Pacific Studies, University of Pedagogy, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
1992
Faculty Member, co-teaching Modern Vietnamese Literature; Summer Institute on Modern Southeast Asian Literatures in Translation, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
1991-92
Visiting Professor in Southeast Asian Studies; School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
1990-91
Director/Faculty Member; East Asian Center, Friends World College, Kyoto, Japan.
1975-79
Lecturer in Comparative Modern Asian Literature, Folklore, and Literature and Society; School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
1996-present
Independent Research and Writing on Vietnamese Literature and Folklore.
1994-96
Research Associate; Women's Studies Center, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Exchanging research findings in Thai and Vietnamese Women's Studies.
1988-89
Fellow; Rockefeller Fellowship in the Humanities, Cornell University, Southeast Asia Program. Intensive library research for a writing project titled: "Ideal into Identity: the Psychosocial Evolution of the Vietnamese Woman as Seen through Creative Literature."
1984-85
Grantee; Indochina Studies Program, Social Science Research Council, New York. Field research for a writing project on " Women in Literature of South Vietnam, 1954-75."
1974
Participant ; the Pacific Asrama in Kuala Dungun, Malaysia
1968-70
Research Assistant to Librarian, Cataloguer, Bibliographer; South and Southeast Asia Library Services, University of California, Berkeley.

OTHER WORK ENGAGEMENTS
1998
Assistant to the CEO; IndoChina Petroleum Co., Ltd., Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
1996-97
Front Desk Receptionist; La Posada de Santa Fe Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
1988-90
Associate Editor, for THE VIETNAM FORUM, a review of Vietnamese culture and society, and the LAC VIET series of books on Viet Nam, both co-published by Yale University, Southeast Asia Studies and the William Joiner Center, U/Mass, Boston.
1980
Resource Person and Health Aide; Refugee Services Program, Health Department, City of Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
1979-80
Consultant and Resource Person; City Refugees Coordinating Center, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

PUBLICATIONS

Books
  • Một Cành Mai (Vietnamese Zen poetry in translation), co-authored with Võ Đình and Hạnh Cơ. San Jose, California: An Tiêm Publisher, 2005.
  • The Moon of Hoa Binh. A two-volume novel, co-authored with William L. Pensinger. Bangkok: Foundation Autopoy, 1994.
  • Folk Narratives from Vietnam. Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1985.
  • More Folk Narratives from Vietnam. Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1985.
  • Favourite Stories from Vietnam. Hongkong: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1978 & 1979. [Written by personal request of Dr. Leon F. Comber, second husband of author Han Suyin, for the Heinemann Asia Favourite Stories series.]
  • Vietnamese Folklore: An Introductory and Annotated Bibliography. University of California, Berkeley: Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, 1970.

Articles

  • "Những Khác Nhau Trong Giao Lưu Văn Hóa Đông Tây, " Văn Nghệ (Ha Noi, Viet Nam), No. 18 (May 1998), p. 14.
  • "Thư Về Thành Phố Biển ," , Nhatrang (Journal of Literature and Arts, Nha Trang, Viet Nam), No. 40 (Spring 1997), pp. 35-37.
  • "The Makings of the National Heroine," Vietnam Review 1 (Autumn-Winter 1996), pp. 388-435.
  • "The House Lizard that Was a Witness," in Seedling Short Story International, Vol. 13, No. 49, (March 1993), pp. 61-63. Published by International Cultural Exchange, New York.
  • "Women Writers of South Vietnam, 1954-1975," Vietnam Forum 9 (Winter-Spring 1987), pp. 149-221.
  • "The Role of French Romanticism in the New Poetry Movement in Vietnam," in Truong Buu Lam, ed. Borrowings and Adaptations in Vietnamese Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii at Manoa, Southeast Asian Studies Paper Series, No. 25 (1987), pp. 52-62.
  • "Memories of a Hue Girlhood," Vietnam Forum 3 (Winter-Spring 1984), pp. 147-154.
  • "The Functions of Folk Songs in Vietnam," in Blacking, J. and J.W. Kealinohomoku, eds. The Performing Arts: Music and Dance . The Hague & New York: Mouton (1979), pp. 141-51. Paper originally presented at the IXth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Chicago, 1973.
  • "Collingwood's Conception of Imagination in Art,"(published in Bahasa Malaysia: Konsepsi Collingwood tentang Imaginasi dalam Seni) Dewan Budaya 1, No. 1 (Jan. 1979), pp. 46-51.
  • "Ideal Role Conformity of the Vietnamese Wife as Reflected in Folksongs," Tenggara, No. 8 (1976), pp. 60-69.
  • "Literature and Society -- An Introduction," (published in Bahasa Malaysia: Sastra dan Masyarakat -- Satu Pengenalan) Dewan Bahasa, Vol. 19, No. 10 (Oct. 1975), pp. 643-650.
  • "Poetics in Vietnamese Riddles," Southern Folklore Quarterly, XXXV, No. 2 (June 1971), pp. 141-156.

Poetry
(Published under pen name Thanh Nhung.
See an analysis of her poetry)

  • "Lên Đường," & "Xưa Nay," Văn Học, No. 1 (Feb. 1986), p. 80.
  • "Song Đôi," Văn Học Nghệ Thuật, Nos. 8 and 9 (Dec. 1985-Jan.1986), p. 1071.
  • "Tiêu Hao," Văn Học Nghệ Thuật, No. 4 (Aug.1985), p. 469.
  • "Quê Hương Buồn," in Hội Tuyển Thi Ca (Selected Poems), compiled by Phong Trào Thanh Niên Hoạt Động Xã Hội (The Young People's Social Action Movement). Paris: 1985.
  • "Dreams," Vietnam Culture Journal, No. 1 (Dec. 1982), p. 61.
  • "Self," Westerly, No. 4 (Dec. 1976), p. 30.
  • "Please Look Down Closely," & " Detached ," Tenggara, No. 7 (1975), pp. 16-17.
  • Approximately 20 poems in Vietnamese, in Phổ Thông and Tân Phong (Saigon,1958-1965).
  • Tiếng Thơ Miền Trung, a collection of poems, with Từ Thế Mộng and friends. Huế: Tầm Dương, 1959.
    Reprinted in New Jersey, U.S.A.: Thư Ấn Quán, 2013.
  • Hoa Mười Phương, a collection of poems, with Định Giang, et al. Saigon: Trường Giang, 1959.

Translations

  • The Green Belt. Raleigh, North Carolina: Ivy House Publishing Group, 2004. Translation work, in collaboration with William L. Pensinger, from the Vietnamese novel, Vong Dai Xanh (1971) by Ngo The Vinh .
  • Preventing Child Abuse -- A Parent's Guide. Translation into Vietnamese the book-length Guide and accompanying workshop manual for program trainees; both created by the Child Assault Prevention Training Center for Northern California, Oakland, 1986.
  • Guide to Canadian Life. Translation into Vietnamese the book-length manuscript produced by the City of Vancouver Task Force on Refugees, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1980.

PUBLIC LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS
  • "The Emergence of Modern Vietnamese Literature," lecture sponsored by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, UCLA, November 17th, 1999.
  • "Development of Vietnamese Studies in the U.S.," public lecture, given in Vietnamese, sponsored by Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Pedagogy, Ho Chi Minh City, October 1992.
  • "Women in Vietnamese Folklore," presentation for the panel discussion Southeast Asian Women Then and Now: A View from the Folklore of the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, sponsored by the Indo-Pacific Languages Department, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and the Center for Philippine Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, March 12, 1992.
  • "Women Writers of South Vietnam: 1954-1975," public lecture, in the informal lecture series organized by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, September 13, 1991.
  • "The Trung Sisters and Other Early Vietnamese Women Warriors," public lecture, sponsored by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, April 16, 1991.
  • "The Image of Women in Vietnamese Literature," guest lecture, Asian Studies/Women's Studies, Cornell University, April 1987.
  • "Women in Vietnamese Literature," public lecture, given in conjunction with Women's History Month, Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA, March 1987.
  • "The South Vietnamese Intelligentsia's Post-75 Dilemma: A Glimpse from Nguyen Khai's Gap go cuoi nam (A Gathering on New Year's Eve; a novel, 1981)," guest lecture, Southeast Asia Studies Distinguished Scholars Series, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, July 1983.
  • "Love in Literature: From Hoang Ngoc Phach's To Tam to Khai Hung's Nua Chung Xuan," presentation, workshop on Early Modern Vietnamese Literature: Literary Images of Change in Pre-Independent Vietnam, Harvard University, June 1982.
  • "People's Traditions and National Liberation in Vietnam -- A Socio-Cultural Perspective," presentation, UNITAR International Conference on Alternative Development Strategies and the Future of Asia, New Delhi, India, Feb-March 1980.

TRAVELS AND RESIDENCES
  • Cambodia, Canada, England, France, Hongkong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Senegal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, U.S.A., Vietnam.

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