Reading Questions, Week 9

Thi Thoa Duong (Le Thi), "Changing My Life"

1. What biographical information does the introduction provide?

2. The introduction says that the road to revolution for women like Le Thi was "indirect."  Explain what this means and tie it into your understanding of revolution as we have run across in the course of the semester.

3. Why does the introduction warn us about personal memoirs?  How can we take this warning and still accept / use this kind of document as a primary source?

4. How was Le Thi brought into the Viet Minh? What kinds of activities did she engage in?

5. How does her memory of the first revolution resonate with Marxist ideology?  How does her memory draw women revolutionaries into the story? Are there any ways that women's participation seems neglected here?

Mothers of the Revolution (excerpts)

1. How do the stories here line up with Ranchod-Nillson's analysis of Zimbabwean women.

2. Many of the stories in this volume connect the personal to the political.  Why do you think these women, in their analysis of a political situation, constantly return to discussions of private life?

3. Maudy Muzenda asserts that women played a large role in the revolution.  How does her story (as well as the others)  provide evidence of this assertion?  How does the film Flame (in part based on women's discussions of their revolutionary roles) portray this activity?

4. Explain the death of Loice Mushore's husband and how that affected her relationship to the revolution.  How does her account of dealing with comrades differ from Muzenda's?  Why?

5. Each of these accounts of the Revolution are somewhat different.  Explain the differences between each of these memoirs and then connect them to a larger story about revolutions and women's involvement or place.