Vietnam, Culture, and Identity
Vietnam is a country that seems to remain forever rooted in America’s past: a war-torn country that problematized U.S. foreign policy, a traumatic symbol of divisive ethical and philosophical debates, a Hollywood setting for action movies recirculating images of America at its worst. Yet, Vietnam is a country that has continually been marked by its survival. Vietnam’s histories of war and colonialism have only served to strengthen Vietnamese culture; rather than deny those colonial influences, Viet Nam has sought to balance those cultures and regain a wholly original cultural identity. In fact, Vietnam’s major political and artistic project of the last two decades, since President Clinton’s normalization of diplomatic relations in 1995 and Viet Nam’s subsequent “opening” to the West, has been this search for a uniquely forward-looking Vietnamese identity.
SNAPSHOT
A two-week summer program engaging the complex history Vietnam.
Date: On hiatus 2020
Program Director: Khiem DoBa
Themes: History, Culture, Identity