Kevin Li

I am a Ph.D. candidate in History at UC Berkeley, currently completing my dissertation, “Entrepreneurs of Disorder: A History of the Binh Xuyen in Southern Vietnam, 1945- 1955.” It is about the rise of violence entrepreneurs (gangsters, racketeers, labor bosses) to political power during the decolonization of Vietnam. I focus on the Binh Xuyen—a powerful armed group organized by erstwhile criminals—to explore the local dynamics of revolution, counterrevolution, and state-formation during the First Indochina War. Prior to UC Berkeley, I received an M.A. in East Asian Studies at Yale and a B.A. in History at UC Irvine.