Memory and Transmission among Families of Mixed-Race Children from Indochina Sent to France (1947–1980)

Abstract During the colonial period in Indochina, tens of thousands of mixed-race children were born of relations between foreign men and local women. Between 1947 and 1975, the Fédération des oeuvres de l'enfance française en Indochine (the Federation for the Welfare of French Children in Indochina), acting on behalf of the French government, directed the move of five thousand of these children to France. The memories of the transplant experience vary widely among the people involved, ranging from gratitude to criticism of the conditions they experienced, with differences along generational and gender lines. While the memory of migration is vivid among the now-grown children, its history is beginning to be written thanks to archives and personal accounts. The aim here is to see how the narrative between history and memory is constructed, what conflicts of loyalty and legitimacy are posed by historical inquiry, and how the historian should assume their social role.