The Daily Bulletin

Please join us for the lecture “Saigon Motors: Motorbike Mobility and the Futures of a City since 1967,” presented by Mark Frank, assistant professor of history at Fulbright University Vietnam, on Tuesday, March 19, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center 214 (or virtually)

This talk, part of the 13th annual Southeast Asia Week, uses the history of the Honda Cub in Vietnam from its late-1960s introduction onward to meditate on the interplay of individual human subjects and broad, systemic forces: namely, market development and the urban environment of Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon). A 1963 advertising campaign for the 50cc Honda Cub aimed to sell that bike to American families as a fun, practical way to motor around with child, dog, or houseplant in tow: “You meet the nicest people on a Honda,” read the tag line. If that image was doomed to a short shelf life in the United States, it had long legs in the much of Southeast Asia, where the Honda Cub (and modified versions thereof) remains among the most popular vehicles for all demographics from teenagers to the elderly. Increasingly, urban travelers are in a position to choose between motorbikes and cars, including the growing supply of electric cars manufactured in Vietnam. Green capitalism has become a significant influence on personal choices, and yet attitudes toward the  environmental sustainability of low-capacity motorbike engines are varied and often contradictory. This talk draws on oral history interviews with Saigon residents to chart changes in the ways that people choose to get around as they weigh myriad factors, including affordability, safety, environmental sustainability, and personal style. 

Please register by Wednesday, March 13, to attend in person or virtually.

Sponsored by the New York Southeast Asia Network (NYSEAN), Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University.

Co-sponsors and partners: The SUNY/CUNY Southeast Asia Consortium; the Buffalo State Global Studies Institute; the Buffalo State departments of Geosciences, History and Social Studies Education, Economics and Finance, Political Science, Public Administration, and Planning; Art and Design, Anthropology, Mathematics (Data Science and Analytics); the Buffalo State School of Arts and Sciences and School of Education (Career, Technical, and Science Education); the Buffalo State Equity and Campus Diversity Office, and the Buffalo State Small Business Development Center.