Living the Dream: Settler Responses to Colonial Indochina

From the late nineteenth century onwards the French were encouraged to emigrate to Indochina. In a variety of media – official propaganda, commercial advertising and literary and cultural representations – Indochina tended to be portrayed as a glamorous, prosperous, and therefore desirable destination, particularly in comparison with France’s other, more ‘barbaric’ colonial possessions. Settler narratives however, provide a counterpoint to these idealized representations of Indochina, and tend instead to focus upon Indochina’s perceived immorality, its insalubrity, and the debilitating effects it has on both the physical and psychological well-being of the European settler.