Ménages irréguliers’: interracial liaisons in colonial Indochina, 1905–1938

[Kung-fu Hillbilly]

By Milkie Vu

The number of mixed marriages is always directly proportional to the freedom and facility permitted to native women in each colony.

The lack of social integration and the skewed sex ratio among Europeans led to some French ctional novels as well as a few ocial records from the colonial period lamenting ‘the particular monotony of the single life’ (Douchet, 1928, p. ) for French men in Indochina, highlighting the lack of female companionship, and pointing to relationships with THE HISTORY OF THE FAMILY 157indigenous women as either a possible remedy or an inevitable event (Osbourne, 1990).3 For some, ‘unions with an Annamite’ could apparently provide .

....pleasures that do not cost much and are secured from diseases, a companion or even a servant who takes care of [the French man] … and a sensible woman who can serve usefully as an intermediary between him and the indigenous population. (Bonifacy, 1910, p. 8)I

In certain cases, French men were even depicted as being unwilling to return to France after having spent time with Vietnamese women and being immersed in Vietnamese culture and lifestyle. The writer Alfred Meynard described:…

..having next to him his Annamite petite épouse, his congaie who has taught him her lan-guage… [the French man] begins to explore his uncultivated side. He only lives with the natives and conducts business with them. Gradually, he forgets about the idea of an eventual return to France. (Meynard, 1908, p. 63)

Others, while also seeing interracial unions as inevitable, were not as supportive of these relationships. Another example is a report issued in 1927 entitled ‘Le rôle et la situation de la famille française dans les colonies’ that includes the following paragraph:

A man who nds himself a million miles from home, who only receives news from home every three months or so. With few distractions he abandons himself frequently to debauchery. The best he can do is form a temporary marriage with some native woman or other, which none-theless does not necessarily prevent him from catching venereal diseases…

In several cases, interracial unions were described as being similar to a service where French men spent money on the women in order to have their sexual needs satised or domestic chores done (Cooper, 2000). For example, Douchet wrote in his 1928 novel Métis et congaie d’Indochine:

The congaies strut around in expensive clothes and live in luxurious apartments purchased by French men. Their hands are delicate and beautiful since they no longer have to work … A congaie doesn’t love the French guy she lives with; the cohabitation is only for her interest…. (Douchet, 1928, p. 9)

full https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... _1905-1938

[hunter8]

In certain cases, French men were even depicted as being unwilling to return to France after having spent time with Vietnamese women and being immersed in Vietnamese culture and lifestyle. The writer Alfred Meynard described:…

..having next to him his Annamite petite épouse, his congaie who has taught him her lan-guage… [the French man] begins to explore his uncultivated side. He only lives with the natives and conducts business with them. Gradually, he forgets about the idea of an eventual return to France. (Meynard, 1908, p. 63)

Yellow fever, once caught, has no cure.

[hanno]

So the Frogs were the original sexpats? Where did they drink though, I guess there were no minimarts back then?

[John Bingham]

The book "Colonial Cambodia's Bad Frenchmen" by Gregor Muller covers this topic well, and also details the various hotels, bistros etc that came into being in the early years of the protectorate.

[Duncan]

Anyone that has been involved in breeding animals and even fruit etc , would understand what can be done through cross breeding . With my experience from crossbreeding cows the end result from the first crosses is usually very positive result.

The same good results can be seen with humans , so who were the Khmer's cross breeding with before the French arrived that gave the region such beautiful looking women. Do you think that it was because the Mekong river gave easy access to other tribes as far away as Lao , Thailand and Vietnam , or because the Khmer Empire covered such a big area and female slaves were taken as concubines.

[Mishmash]

In certain cases, French men were even depicted as being unwilling to return to France after having spent time with Vietnamese women and being immersed in Vietnamese culture and lifestyle. The writer Alfred Meynard described:…

..having next to him his Annamite petite épouse, his congaie who has taught him her lan-guage… [the French man] begins to explore his uncultivated side. He only lives with the natives and conducts business with them. Gradually, he forgets about the idea of an eventual return to France. (Meynard, 1908, p. 63)

Yellow fever, once caught, has no cure.

Apsaras are legendary - I married one. The rumors are true.