Vietnam/American War: Nation, Literature, Memory, and the Cultural History of Conflict

Catalog description

This course examines the cultural history of the “Vietnam War” (also known as the “American War”) from the perspective of Vietnam from 1954 to 1986. What were the political, ideological, civil, international, and colonial roots of conflict? How was war experienced on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)? This class challenges the orthodox and American-centric views of the war by investigating how different actors contested the vision of a post-colonial Vietnamese nation. We will dedicate attention to literature, gender, migration, memory, and debates on historical contingency, agency, and complexity.