Looking Back Fifty Years, America in Vietnam:
Commemorating the 50 Year Anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords
产测听Steven Dike听(History and Honors, CU Boulder)
American combat in Vietnam ended 50 years ago with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in early 1973. 50 years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that the United States would have close and peaceful relations with Vietnam鈥攕pecifically a Vietnam united under the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), a communist government that we had fought a war against for over two decades. Vietnam itself was in the midst of nearly continuous conflict and upheaval from 1940 to 1975, facing decades-old French colonial domination, Japanese occupation and a massive famine during World War II, an 8-year war against France, and then a prolonged conflict of varied intensity lasting from when the nation was temporarily divided in 1954, until 1975, when the DRV defeated the southern, American-backed Republic of Vietnam, marking as well the first time that the United States had lost a major war. The subsequent communist economic program failed badly, and Vietnam began to abandon it in the mid-1980s under a liberalization program known as听doi moi. Ever since, Vietnam has achieved high, though unevenly distributed, rates of economic growth. In the mid-1990s the United States and Vietnam normalized relations and have since become significant trading partners and remarkably friendly nations.
The Center for Asian Studies is running a series commemorating the 50thAnniversary of the Paris Peace Accords that ended American combat in Vietnam. The theme of the events is moving from war to peace. Ambassador Ted Osius was on the ground in the 1990s as the United States normalized relations with Vietnam and began to leave the war behind. During the Obama Administration, he served as ambassador. Our other speakers have all been involved with humanitarian and cultural exchange work between Vietnam and the US in the decades after the war.听
We began with a November showing of a rough cut of a forthcoming PBS documentary,听The Movement and the Madman听about the confrontation between the antiwar movement and the Nixon Administration.
This week we have three more events:
Vietnam and the USA: Looking Forward and Back, a panel discussion with Sister Sen Nguyen, Dr. Ted Ning, and Dr. Pete Steinhauer.
February 2, 5:30 PM, CASE E422
鈥淣othing is Impossible: America鈥檚 Reconciliation with Vietnam鈥� with Former US Ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius
February 3, 5:00 PM, Chancellor鈥檚 Auditorium, 4th听Floor, CASE
followed by a reception
A showing of the film Hearts and Minds,听in conjunction with CU鈥檚 International Film Series. Featuring a personal video introduction by director Peter Davis.
February 4, 7:30 PM, Muenzinger Auditorium
In October, as the world watched the Iranian Women's Revolution taking shape, an anonymous student on the CU Boulder campus contributed a Brief, offering their perspective on their home country and the events as they were unfolding there. We were glad to be able to provide a forum for their thoughts as these events were happening. Below, you can find the Brief, which appeared on our blog in two installments on October 26, and November 3, 2022.
Cumulative Reflection on What the Killing of Mahsa Jina Amini Sparked In Iran
Today marks the 40th听day after the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini on Sep 16, 2022.听听She was a 22-year-old woman taken into custody and killed by 鈥渕orality鈥� police for her 鈥渦nsatisfactory鈥� hejab*. This unofficial police force has been oppressing and assaulting the women of Iran for years and it has only grown more violent and absurd with time. Oppression of women in Iran is not limited to how they are required to dress (failure to comply has led to them being arrested, lashed, and even killed,) it dictates their eligibility for jobs (illegal to be a singer or a pilot,) legal age of marriage (9 years,) traveling abroad and divorce (both only permitted by the husband/male guardian.) Over 40 years of such gender apartheid under the Islamic Republic fueled unprecedented uprisings across Iran that are led by women 鈥� and now by female students. Since the day of Mahsa Amini鈥檚 death, daily large-scale protests with the slogan 鈥榃oman, Life, Freedom鈥� (鈥榋an, Zendegi, Azadi鈥�,) have evolved into revolution-seeking rallies and strikes; people of Iran are demanding freedom, a once and for all end to the current regime which is the cause of years of growing injustice, corruption, abuse of human rights and dictatorship. However, unfortunately but as expected, this regime is implementing every possible oppressive method to silence the freedom movements:
CAS Executive Director Danielle Rocheleau Salaz contributes to Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum in Higher Education: Harnessing the Transformative Potentials of CLAC Across Disciplines
CAS is pleased to announce that our own Executive Director,听Danielle Rocheleau Salaz, is a contributor to听, which was published by Routledge on November 18.
Edited by India C. Plough and Welore Tamboura, the volume offers 16 chapters describing Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC) programs and initiatives throughout the US, offering insight into outcomes and opportunities for both students and faculty members, and describing the adaptability of CLAC concepts to various institutional cultures and needs.
Salaz鈥檚 chapter, entitled 鈥淐LAC Your Campus: Institutionalizing a Program that Encourages 乐播传媒 to Put Language and Culture Skills to Use,鈥� discusses the structure and progress of the听听CLAC program at CU Boulder, launched by CAS in 2017-18 with support from the CU College of Arts & Sciences. CLAC enriches learning by encouraging students to study texts and materials in languages other than English, which they typically can鈥檛 do in standard content courses due to unavoidable limitations in such settings. CLAC at CAS allows students to integrate Asian language skills into content study in their field of interest.听Since launching the program, 11 CLAC co-seminars have been offered at CU Boulder, with plans for a new course offering this spring, associated with Katherine Alexander鈥檚听CHIN 3361 Women and the Supernatural in Chinese Literature听for students with Chinese language knowledge.听
CAS will be offering听course development grants听to faculty members interested in creating CLAC co-seminars associated with existing content courses that would benefit from the addition of Asian language sources. The deadline for applications will be听Monday, February 27, 2023. An information session about developing a CLAC co-seminar will be held on听February 13 from 11:30 to 1听over.听Application processes and further information is available on the听CAS website.
CAS Opportunities for 乐播传媒 and Faculty
Graduate 乐播传媒:听听
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships听
(deadline February 15)
Edward G. Seidensticker Japan Summer Research Grant听
(deadline February 20)
Undergraduate 乐播传媒:
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships for Undergraduate 乐播传媒听(deadline February 15)
乐播传媒 and Himalayan Studies Scholarship听for Study Abroad, Language Study, and/or Independent Research听(deadline February 27)
Faculty:
CLAC Course Development Grants听(deadline February 27)
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