'Vietnam is fighting for us': French identities and the U.S.-Vietnam War, 1965--1973

My dissertation, "Vietnam Is Fighting for Us," examines French reactions to the U.S.- Vietnam War to determine how French national identities emerged in the key postcolonial era of 1965-1973. By an analysis of social movements and political groups on the right and the left, my work illuminates the dialogic interactions of past understanding and present action which shaped France in the Fifth Republic. The study of French reactions to the war challenges current historiography on France in the pre-1968 era and rewrites our understanding of how the riots of May '68 emerged, as well as situating post-'68 political and social shifts within an international framework. Through its focus, the dissertation clearly brings out the contention within France over French identities and France's role in the world, while highlighting France's move from a power at a loss without its colonies to a nation with a new mission as international mediator and ally to countries undergoing revolutionary change.