Speech at Schurz Library introduces installation up for viewing through June 2025
Dr. Jonathan Nashel, history professor at IU South Bend, has returned from a term as a Fulbright Scholar at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi. He gave lectures and presentations in universities throughout Vietnam, and he taught American and world history. Along the way, Nashel also developed an abiding interest in the chaotic and colorful traffic patterns in downtown Hanoi, prompting him to create a photography exhibit, titled “Motorbikes | Motion | Vietnam,” currently on display on the 5th floor of the Schurz Library.
Dr. Jonathan Nashel, history professor at IU South Bend speaks at a podium at his photography exhibit.On September 26, Nashel gave an opening presentation.
“Throughout my travels in 2023 and 2024, especially while living in Hanoi for six months, there was one constant: motorbikes,” Nashel said. “Motorbikes seem to fill every nook and cranny of the city landscape. I learned very quickly that Midtown Manhattan was child’s play in comparison.”
The ubiquitous scooters play critical roles in the lives of the citizens of Hanoi, and they serve as a key symbol of social mobility.
“As one Vietnamese driver put it, ‘My motorbike is my freedom,’” Nashel said.
Although the speed and intensity of the traffic was so intimidating that it was initially impossible for him even to cross certain streets, he found that the locals could pick up on the logic of it all, and he adapted.
“Every day, you’d see things you cannot believe. If you saw a little old lady with two dogs just rambling across Grape Road, you would call 911. Instead, we learned to get right next to her to see how to cross that street,” Nashel said. “And as the State Department warned us: never back up and just keep walking straight ahead.”
Some of the photos have a slight blur to them, which captures something of the sheer kinetic energy of the scenes. Most of the shots came not from a photographer’s camera but from Nashel’s iPhone.
“None of these photos were posed, and most drivers seemed unaware that I was taking their picture,” Nashel said. “Drivers need all their powers of concentration just to jockey for position. I began from a fascination with all the different shapes and sizes of the objects drivers have strapped on. Many seemed to defy the limits of the imagination.”
In pursuit of certain shots, Nashel overcame his initial hesitancy, almost to his own peril.
“Sometimes, for a closer shot, this required going into the street. On more than one occasion I experienced quite the jolt of being pulled back to the sidewalk by my comrade in arms,” Nashel said, referring to his wife, English professor Rebecca Brittenham, who joined him in Hanoi.
The subject of Vietnam has permeated Nashel’s scholarship. His 2005 book, “Edward Lansdale’s Cold War,” is a study of a CIA operative who was central to America’s activities in the Vietnam War, and many of Nashel’s classes at IU South Bend have focused on the country. The scenes in this photography exhibit are not about historical Vietnam, however: they are snapshots of contemporary life.
“These people seem less interested in the past and more intense about the rush to get to the future,” he said.
Jonathan Nashel’s “Motorbikes | Motion | Vietnam” is on display at the 5th floor of the Schurz Library through June 2025. Notebooks and prints of images from the series are available for sale.
