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From: Jonathan Gerard Formella via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2025 11:02 AM
To: Charles Waugh <charles.waugh@usu.edu>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Dear Charles and VSG,
One program I have not seen mentioned yet is the Southeast Asia Summer Studies Institute (SEASSI) program held each summer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. SEASSI offers the equivalent of one year of Vietnamese with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year offerings (plus many additional languages such as Hmong, Laotian, etc.). Tuition can be supported by the Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship from the Department of Education and I believe UW-Madison/SEASSI is now a Vietnamese-language Flagship institution.
As an undergraduate at University of Wisconsin-Madison I took a "Vietnam Wars" course with Professor Alfred McCoy plus two other courses with him on "Southeast Asia since 1800". I did not take Vietnamese while an undergraduate but I believe Cô Hong Thi Dinh offers 1st through 2nd years.
I attend Columbia as a law/grad student and can attest to the cutting edge Vietnam Studies programming here.
Warm Regards,
Jon
--
Jon Formella
J.D. Candidate, 2026 | Columbia Law School
Blakemore Freeman Fellow for Advanced Vietnamese Studies 2021-2022
M.A./M.Sc., International and World History | Columbia University and the London School of Economics
B.A., History and Asian Studies | University of Wisconsin-Madison
+1 715-572-0460 | jgf2129@columbia.edu | LinkedIn
From: Edward G. Miller via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 9, 2025 11:57 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Dear Charles and list:
Here at Dartmouth College, we are in the process of building an undergraduate Vietnam Studies curriculum. Sara Swenson in our Religion Department teaches several courses that examine themes related to gender, sexuality, religion, and affect in Vietnam, including her newest offering “Religions of Vietnam.” I am continuing to offer my course on the Vietnam War which I have taught here since 2005. And in 2022, we launched “Developing Vietnam,” which is a study abroad program that we offer jointly each fall with Fulbright University Vietnam. In that program, Fulbright students visit Dartmouth in October and then Dartmouth students travel to Fulbright in December. Students from the two schools work together in joint teams to conduct field research on topics related to development in contemporary Vietnam. You can watch the short films that our student teams have produced on our program website.
Cheers,
Ed
Edward Miller (he/him)
Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies
Chair of the Department of Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages
Director of the Dartmouth Digital History Initiative
Dartmouth College
6107 Carson Hall, Hanover, NH 03755
Edward.Miller@Dartmouth.edu
http://history.dartmouth.edu/people/edward-miller
From: Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 9, 2025 7:42 AM
To: David Del Testa <ddeltest@bucknell.edu>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>; Aso, Michitake <maso@albany.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Following up on Bradley's excellent summary of the Connecticut State University system—WCSU offers surveys in Southeast Asian Civilizations and Modern Vietnam and seminar courses on the "Vietnam War" and Vietnamese Film and Literature, as often as I can teach them, which is not very often nowadays with our staffing level.
A few years ago, while Ivan Small was at Central Connecticut State University, we had a Vietnam specialist at each of the four Connecticut State University campuses, which was remarkable.
Best,
Wynn
Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox
Chair and Professor of History, Philosophy, and World Perspectives
Western Connecticut State University
181 White Street
Danbury, CT 06810
Phone (203) 837-8565
Fax: (203) 837-3968
From: Lady Borton via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 8, 2025 2:21 PM
To: Charles Waugh <charles.waugh@usu.edu>; VSG <Vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] Build a Database for Việt Language, Việt Studies Courses, & Grad. Degree-Awarding Programs? Plus ...
Dear Charles,
Several weeks ago, I had fervent, repeated warnings from Gmail about brinkmanship Inbox space or lack thereof. Then came the Gmail cut-off forcing me to clean out my files and Inbox...at least a little bit.
I came across emails from some time ago when I was building a database of Vietnamese Studies courses. I got side-tracked from that project, but two weeks ago, I did save those emails because I thought I could pick that project up again in two months.
Then I saw your email query on VSG and the many responses.
I'm crazy busy right now, building three indices for three books about the American War based on Nguyễn Trãi's three principles from the 1400s for addressing foreign invaders. Those books will take me into April, when I'll get to see you and your students.
Because I'm in indexing mode, I find myself thinking again of categories that would answer your recent VSG query in a way that could serve students who are hoosing undergraduate schools, students looking into grad school possibilities, and scholars. I also find myself looking beyond your literal question and the literal answers from VSG readers. I found myself considering the wider domestic, educational picture of the shuddering in academia, with the recent situation of federal grants to Columbia University a foreboding. I'm afraid that we'll see shuddering and uncertainty with decisions to avoid replacing faculty retirees and decisions to close courses, departments, and institutes. We will probably also see snap decisions where planned and agreed-upon courses, departments, or even institutes vanish right before a term begins.
If my guess about this dynamic turns out to be true, then the answers that colleagues gave to your query may not hold in place for next term or next year, even if those courses are currently scheduled.
That means any database will need to be updated often.
I have a long airplane sit coming up and will sketch out a draft chart of data points I think would be useful and a draft form for VSGers to fill in to feed the chart.
I'll get to see you and your students soon in Hà Nội. At the moment, as I said, I'm thinking of a chart that is for students, a chart which faculty who are on VSG can give to students as well as use to locate their own colleagues and opportunities. If it's OK with you, I'd really like to hear your students' thoughts as well as your thoughts. I could send you a draft to share with your students ahead of time, if that works for you. I am NOT thinking of anything that would take a lot of your time and your students' time and distract you and them from more important and more interesting ventures.
But if your students are considering on-going study about Việt Nam, what cursory answers would they want in order to narrow their searches? They are the perfect ones to ask in order to gather information that is useful for them.
What do you think?
Might it be possible to get your thoughts and your students' suggestions in April?
The Plus List I'd also like to build and could begin in the same survey email is a list of scholars' and activists' personal archives. These are searchable through Worldcat and LOC, but you have to know you are searching for someone. You have to know this person exists, and you need to have a quick sense of whether that person's archive is useful to your work..
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
And thank you for posing this query and thanks to others for such great answers!
Warmly,
Lady
From: Aso, Michitake via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 8, 2025 2:29 AM
To: David Del Testa <ddeltest@bucknell.edu>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Dear Charles,
The SUNY and CUNY systems in New York have several folks who research and teach Vietnamese history, anthropology, etc. Just off the top of my head, these include Martina Nguyen at Baruch, Lauren Meeker at New Paltz, Caroline Herbelin and myself at Albany. There are, as far as I know, no Vietnamese language courses taught in these two systems.
All best,
Mitch
From: David Del Testa via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 6:54 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
In the heart of Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley at Bucknell University, I offer two intermediate-level courses - "The History of Vietnam since the Bronze Age" and "The Vietnam Wars from a Vietnamese Perspective" - regularly and two others - "Atrocity!" as an upper-level seminar on war crimes and human rights emanating from the Vietnam Wars and an introductory course on Southeast Asia - much less often. You may all know my colleague the anthropologist Allen Tran, author of A Life of Worry: Politics, Mental Health, and Vietnam’s Age of Anxiety. University of California Press. 2023., who offers an intermediate course of violence in Southeast Asia. When I retire, I doubt the university will specifically seek a Southeast Asianist.
With kind regards, David W. Del Testa
From: katy baldanza via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 6:20 PM
To: Charles Waugh <charles.waugh@usu.edu>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Dear Charles,
At Penn State, I teach a class originally designed by Bill Duiker called "Vietnam in War and Peace." I teach it as a survey of Vietnamese history and culture. I also teach "The Rise of Modern Southeast Asia." I include Vietnam in my surveys of East Asia. Students sometimes come to the main campus having taken "Vietnam in War and Peace" at other Penn State campuses, where it is taught more as a Vietnam War course. We do not offer Vietnamese language and at the moment I am not aware of other faculty at the university doing Vietnam-related teaching, though people come and go.
Best wishes,
Kate Baldanza
(Penn State University)
From: Davis,Bradley C.(History) via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 5:34 PM
To: Lien-Hang Nguyen <lienhangnguyen@gmail.com>; Mariam Lam <mariam.lam@ucr.edu>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Dear Charles,
Adding to this, the Connecticut State University system (and Connecticut in general) has several Vietnam specialists on faculty in its regional state universities. Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox (Western Conn State) and Michele Thompson (Southern Conn State) are on VSG and will, I hope, chime in here.
At Eastern Conn State, I offer a few courses that cover Vietnam. “Indochina at War” is a cultural, political, and social history of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1945 – 1992, basically from the end of WWII to the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia. This course also includes readings on non-majority ethnic groups (Jonathan Padwe, Ian Baird, and Mai Na Lee among others) as well as global diasporas connected to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia.
I also offer a three-part sequence on Southeast Asia (“Traditions and Empires,” “Colonialisms and Nationalisms,” “Twentieth Century Southeast Asia”) that includes Vietnam, as does my “East Asia survey,” a small bit of subterfuge facilitated by me being the only “Asian history” specialist at present.
Additionally, my department has a world history survey in my university’s undergrad curriculum that features Vietnam (1428-1945) in a global and regional context. This has become something of a gateway for students seeking more courses on Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
A colleague in my department who specializes in US Foreign Relations also teaches a course on the Vietnam War, really the second Indochina War, but it is squarely focused on US policymaking. We often have students take both courses.
Brad
Bradley Camp Davis (he/him)
Professor
Department of History
Webb Hall 333
Eastern Connecticut State University
83 Windham Street
Willimantic, CT 06226
US
Series Co-Editor, HdO Section 3 - Southeast Asia, Brill
https://brill.com/view/serial/HO3
From: Lien-Hang Nguyen via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 3:25 PM
To: Mariam Lam <mariam.lam@ucr.edu>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Dear Charles,
At Columbia, we have Vietnamese Studies under the East Asian Languages and Cultures and Department of History where John Phan and I offer two-semester "Vietnam Civs" lecture course covering antiquity to present day, seminars offered by John, Vinh Q. Nguyen, Tony Bui, and myself at the undergraduate and graduate level, and beginner to advanced Vietnamese language courses taught by Chung Nguyen. This semester, I am also teaching a large Vietnam War lecture that incorporates events surrounding the 50th anniversary of the end of the war and 30th anniversary of US-Vietnam reconciliation.
In conjunction with our classes, we have a Global Vietnam Studies program under the Weatherhead East Asian Institute that organizes events focused on all aspects of Vietnam Studies. Ultimately, we hope to raise enough funding for a Center for Global Vietnam Studies. I am happy to provide further information about our initiatives if you are interested.
best,
Lien-Hang
From: Bich-Ngoc Turner via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 3:18 PM
To: Charles Waugh <charles.waugh@usu.edu>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Hi Charles,
At UW Seattle, we have a minor in Vietnamese. In addition to 4 Vietnamese language courses (1st year heritage; 1st year non-heritage, 2nd year, 3rd year), we also have 4 Vietnamese studies courses instructed in English and 1 Vietnam War history class.
All the best,
Bich-Ngoc Turner, PhD (she/her)
Asst. Teaching Professor, Vietnamese Language and Literature, University of Washington
206-221-3362 | turnerbn@uw.edu | 235 Gowen Hall
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From: Mariam Lam via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 1:35 PM
To: Charles Waugh <charles.waugh@usu.edu>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Dear Charles,
At UC Riverside, we offer a full Southeast Asian Studies Program w/minor and graduate designated emphasis, a Vietnamese Language Program, and VNM undergraduate courses and graduate seminars in Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Ethnic Studies, History, and other interdisciplinary programs. The General Catalog link below has some of the undergrad course listings on pp. 264-265.
Best,
Mariam
UC Riverside
From: Qui Ha Nguyen Hoang via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 10:37 AM
To: Janet Alison Hoskins <jhoskins@usc.edu>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Hi Charles,
I teach Gender and Sexuality in Vietnamese cinema and Vietnamese Cinema courses at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Both are advanced undergraduate/graduate-level classes.
I also taught Southeast Asian Cinema at Yale (2021-2023).
Best,
Qui Ha Nguyen
Assistant Professor of Film Studies, UNCW
From: Janet Alison Hoskins via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2025 11:28 AM
To: Charles Waugh <charles.waugh@usu.edu>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Hi Charles,
University of Southern California does not have a Southeast Asian studies program and does not teach Vietnamese (which I studied at UCLA).
But I teach both a course on Southeast Asia and a freshman seminar called The New Vietnam: Arts, Culture, Diaspora
Viet Thanh Nguyen also teaches a very popular large GE course on the American War in Vietnam.
Viet and I co-founded a Center for Transpacific Studies which offers research funding and programming about culture, capital and people who cross the Pacific (including Vietnamese people, but not limited to them).
Best,
Janet Alison Hoskins
Professor of Anthropology and Religion, USC
From: Charles Waugh via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 9:12 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] To what extent is Vietnam studied in the US today?
Dear VSG,
I am wondering if you all can help me with a question that was recently posed to me about the degree to which Vietnam is studied in some fashion in the US. I imagine that most History departments at most American universities have a course on the Second Indochina War, but is that actually true?
How many American universities now have an even greater presence for Vietnamese studies of some kind? Courses besides those on the SIW? Vietnamese literature courses? Sociology or Anthropology courses on Vietnam? Others I’m missing? An internet search yields the response that 40 American universities now teach Vietnamese language courses—does that seem accurate to you? The internet is less helpful on the other questions. The AAS lists 16 universities that have Southeast Asian programs, but I don’t imagine they are the only ones offering various courses by individuals, many of whom are hopefully on this listserv. If you teach a course (or courses) on Vietnam, would you reply to me to let me know what it is (or they are)?
More broadly, has this sort of information already been tracked by someone, or some organization?
With many thanks for any and all help with these questions!
Charles Waugh
Professor
Utah State University
Director of the Heravi Peace Institute Semester in Vietnam
Co-translator of No Man River, The Termite Queen, Wild Mustard, and Family of Fallen Leaves
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