Anthropology/Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching about Contemporary VN

From: Margaret B. Bodemer <mbodemer@calpoly.edu>

Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2021 7:15 AM

To: Small, Ivan (Anthropology) <ivansmall@ccsu.edu>; Harriet Phinney <harriet.phinney@gmail.com>; Vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Anthropology/Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching about Contemporary VN and the diaspora - global VN?

Hello all,

Reading Ivan’s comments on his seminar made me remember that I also use the wonderful book The Mountains Sing, recently released by Nguyen Phan Que Mai in my class. Ivan your class sounds amazing, can I take it?

Cheers, Maggie

Margaret B. Bodemer, Ph.D.

From: Small, Ivan (Anthropology) <ivansmall@ccsu.edu>

Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2021 11:24 PM

To: Harriet Phinney <harriet.phinney@gmail.com>; Vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Anthropology/Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching about Contemporary VN and the diaspora - global VN?

Dear Harriet,

Happy to share the syllabus for my inter-disciplinary seminar “Vietnam: a Country Not a War” focusing on contemporary Vietnam if you like. It is for upper level undergrads and masters students in Anthropology and International Studies. The first part explores historiographies of Vietnam, and asks how collective historical understandings and their constructions/challenges shape and reflect contemporary identity productions and politics. I’ve switched up the longue duree narratives of Vietnamese histories between Chris Goscha’s, Keith Taylor’s and Ben Kiernan’s books, each of which has been interesting in its own way. And of course while Vietnam is not a “war”, the framings and legacies of war(s) for the postwar period are critical. In the second part of the course we typically engage in depth with a recent ethnography of Vietnam. Here in New England I have been fortunate to invite a number of nearby authors to visit the class in person to discuss their books, such as Ann Marie Leshkowich on markets and Erik Harms on urbanization. This semester we are reading Merav Shohet’s ethnography Silence and Sacrifice and I’m hopeful we can her down from Boston despite current restrictions on external speakers. When engaging diaspora cultural productions there is plenty of new work, such as Thi Bui’s recent graphic novel on her family’s refugee experience, and opportunities to engage with local Vietnamese American communities. A few of us teaching Vietnam related courses here in Connecticut (including Nu-Anh Tran and Quan Tran on this listserv) were recently on a panel discussing that memoir, which resulted in the compilation of a teaching guide. Here in Hartford I typically take the class on a field trip to a Vietnamese supermarket, restaurant, temple and/or remittance service to visualize local and transnational community formations. Given Seattle’s significant Vietnamese American community I’m sure there would be opportunities to make connections with students. Finally, at the end of the semester the students write and present on their own Vietnam related research projects which always expands the range of topics. I learn a lot from them in the process, including new literatures and comparative perspectives, and in general the course also offers me a welcome chance to stay up to date on recent publications in Vietnamese studies. I always think it is worth assigning books or articles that you’ve been wanting to read yourself as fresh readings make for good discussion. Enjoy it!

Cheers,

Ivan

Ivan V. Small, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Anthropology

Central Connecticut State University

New Britain, CT 06050, U.S.A.

From: Vsg <vsg-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu> on behalf of "Margaret B. Bodemer" <mbodemer@calpoly.edu>

Date: Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at 8:44 PM

To: Harriet Phinney <harriet.phinney@gmail.com>, "vsg@u.washington.edu" <Vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Anthropology/Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching about Contemporary VN and the diaspora - global VN?

Please be cautious: **External Email**

HI Harriet,

Congratulations on the course! If you have a proposal I'd love to take a look. I can share with you a syllabus for a course that I developed which is a World Languages and Cultures class focused on Viet Nam for my study abroad program. It is an interdisciplinary course that explores Vietnamese culture through various expressions such as literature, music, the arts and so on as well as explorations in social issues, gender, etc... The main text we use is Huu Ngoc's Vietnam Tradition and Change. I teach it alongside a course on Southeast Asian history.

Cheers,

Maggie

Margaret B. Bodemer, Ph.D.

Pronouns: she/her/hers (Why pronouns matter)

Lecturer, History Department and Asian Studies Minor

Vietnamese Language and Culture group-roundtable

Cal Poly Global Program in Hanoi (CP students study abroad with me! Summer 2022)

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

From: Vsg <vsg-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Harriet Phinney <harriet.phinney@gmail.com>

Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2021 9:54 AM

To: vsg@u.washington.edu <Vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: [Vsg] Anthropology/Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching about Contemporary VN and the diaspora - global VN?

Hi all,

I've just now learned I am finally able to teach a class specifically focused on VN next Winter Quarter -for the first time....

Given short notice (and my current teaching/work obligations) I thought I would reach out to the Anthropologists and/or faculty taking an interdisciplinary approach to examining contemporary issues in Vietnam and among Vietnamese living outside VN. I am keenly aware that many faculty do not like to share their syllabi given the time and effort they spent putting a class together. For those of you who don't have this issue, by any chance would you be willing to share your syllabi or simply your approach to such a vast topic? I realize "contemporary" is an amorphous time frame.. I'm interested in what ya'll think is important for students to read at this moment in time. It is my hope that others on the VSG list-serve would also be interested not just in who is teaching about VN and where (a previous email chain) but in our pedagogy.

Thank you for your consideration.

Best,

Harriet Phinney

Associate Professor Anthropology

Seattle University

phinneyh@seattleu.edu