Vietnam Capstone Course

To read a project, click on its title. To read about the author, click on his or her name.

A narrative reflection on Christa's trip to Vietnam. In it she tries to share her emotions about the Vietnamese people and what they have overcome -- "something," she says, "a history book can't really give."

This paper centers around the importance of memoir and its function as a healing tool after the experience of something as profound as war. By combining her own memoir on loss and her trip through Vietnam with Vietnamese memoirs from the war, the author argues that despite the vast expanse of miles and cultural differences that separate us, people are inherently the same.

This paper is based on interviews with Vietnamese who immigrated to the United States after 1975. It focuses on the lives of Vietnamese who were detained in reeducation camps and who worked in New Economic Zones, and tells the stories of their leaving their homeland to await immigration processing in refugee camps. It also describes the adjustments they have had to make to new cultural environments in the United States.

Mary Kupiec Cayton, Out from the War's Shadows

Craig Divis, The War that Won't End
A research paper on the physical, environmental, and psychological effects of herbicides and defoliants used in the Vietnam War. Craig focuses mainly on Agent Orange, both because of its toxicity and its high usage. From both the Vietnamese and U.S. perspective, he researches how widely Agent Orange was employed during the war and how its use still affects the world today.

Hallie Godshall, Vietnam Literature and the Passage of Time
This paper is an analytical look at three major works on Vietnam: Sticks and Bones, by David Rabe, Dispatches, by Michael Herr, and The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien. Since these books were written respectively in 1969, 1980 and 1990, the author looks at the differences in the perspectives of these authors and how these relate to the overall change in perspective that America has gone through in the 30 years since the end of the Vietnam War.

Shauna Hanley (with Colleen Treacy), Sacred Spaces
A web-based project that explores sites of spiritual significance in a country ravaged by war and united by the common worship of ancestors. In our trip, the authors observed how people alone or in groups can travel to pagodas and temples to pay homage to spiritual leaders, or they can privately pay respect to deceased ancestors in their own homes. This website features photos of these areas of reverence and remembrance, as well as reflections on how notions of family, ancestors, and religion have come to be intertwined in every facet of Vietnamese life.

Dustin Huddleston, The Intersection of Ho Chi Minh, Marxism, and Confucianism
This paper deals with Confucianism and its influences on Vietnamese society. The religion has influenced the social structure of the family in as well as shaping the ideology and thought of the general public. Understanding of Confucianism is achieved by comparing elements of the faith to prevailing values in American society and to the author's own personal experiences in the United States and Vietnam.

Brandon Keeton, Interviews With Veterans: War Stories and More
Interviews with service personnel on all sides of the war – American, as well as North and South Vietnamese. As a member of the military of a nation currently at war, Keeton tries to gain a clearer understanding of what combat does to a person and how best to deal with it. He is also just looking for some good war stories.

Chris Knight, Transformation of Truth: Reporting the American War in Vietnam
The gentlemanly model of journalistic reporting that prevailed during and after the Second World War was demolished during the American war in Vietnam. In its place arose a penetrating, iconoclastic approach to the truth that remains a fundamental element of journalism to the present day. The two catalysts in this revolution were the invention of the integrated circuit, and the U.S. government's policy of duplicity.

Susan Schroer, "We Hope They Spend Lots of Money": The State of Tourism in Vietnam
Though it may seem an unlikely place to vacation, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has opened its doors to tourism for several years now. Eager to draw travelers, especially from the U.S. and Europe, the country is proving to be an attractive destination in many ways. This paper blends factual information about the industry with observations from the class trip, and reflections on the nature of tourism in general.

This paper outlines numerous changes occurring within the Vietnamese economy since the introduction of doi moi, (renovation) in 1986. Brian first defines doi moi and what its changes have meant for Vietnam. He also includes personal observations from in Vietnam that relate to the reformation offers some insight on where Vietnam stands today economically, and speculates about the country's economic future.

Nancy Stewart, Finding Death
A multigenre look into the intersectional perspective of death that developed during and after the Vietnam-American War. The paper uses personal experience as well as both American and Vietnamese literature in order to evoke an understanding of the development of perceptions of death.

An analysis of the economic situation in Vietnam based upon data provided primarily by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in addition to anecdotal evidence and inference of the author. Whenever possible, the author’s experiences in country during March 2003 were weighed against conclusions drawn from the literature and a diverse array of statistical data. It is important to note that much of the literature on Vietnam was written prior to the Asian financial crisis of 1997; thus, analysis of near-term statistics is subject to wide variation due in large part to a lack of prescient and available information. In an effort to overcome this deficiency and to lend perspective to the current situation in Vietnam, the case of the recent rapid economic growth and subsequent decline in Thailand is utilized as a basis of comparison.

Colleen Treacy (with Shauna Hanley), Sacred Spaces
A web-based project that explores sites of spiritual significance in a country ravaged by war and united by the common worship of ancestors. In our trip, the authors observed how people alone or in groups can travel to pagodas and temples to pay homage to spiritual leaders, or they can privately pay respect to deceased ancestors in their own homes. This web site features photos of these areas of reverence and remembrance, as well as reflections on how notions of family, ancestors, and religion have come to be intertwined in every facet of Vietnamese life.

Story about the trip published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, 18 April 2003.