ARLT 101G | The American War in Viet Nam
This is the Spring 2014 syllabus; it will be updated to reflect Fall 2014 details later.
Please be warned of a few things.
There are film screenings outside of class.
There is a team project where you will interview and videotape someone who has
some relationship to the war, which you will share on the course
website, anotherwarmemorial.com.
This is an Arts and Letters course, which means that its focus is on literature and
culture. A few students expect a military history course; this is not the case. The
course emphasizes multiple perspectives on war and memory, not just military
ones, although I will cover a great deal of history in lecture.
By nature of the course, there will be a great deal of sensitive material dealing
with death, violence, trauma, rape and obscenity. If you feel you cannot deal with
these issues, the course is not for you.
Prof. Viet Nguyen
Departments of English and
American Studies & Ethnicity
Email: vnguyen@usc.edu
Website: vietnguyen.info
Class meets T & TH 9:30-10:50, in SGM 123, with additional discussion sections and film
screenings. Film screenings and locations are in the syllabus below.
Office hours: T & TH 2-3:30
Office location: THH 404D
Teaching assistants Jolie Chea, Lisa Lee, and Emily Raymundo will provide their own section
syllabi with office hours and contact information.
Discussion Sections:
Emily Raymundo, Tuesdays, 11:00 AM and Thursdays, 2:00 PM
Jolie Chea, Wednesdays, 11:00 AM and 1:00PM
Lisa Lee, Tuesdays, 2:00 PM and Thursdays, 11:00 AM
COURSE OVERVIEW
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The Viet Nam War remains as the most controversial and divisive war for Americans in the 20th
century. The war is still invoked in debates over American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This
course provides an introduction to the war’s history in order for today’s Americans to understand
some of the key factors leading the US into its current geopolitical situation. Since the war
remains poorly understood and remembered, the course begins over a century ago in the French
colonial era (1887-1954), spends the bulk of its time on the period of American involvement
(1954-1975), and ends with postwar legacies in Southeast Asia and the United States.
The course is a multidisciplinary, multicultural and international overview of the war’s history
and its afterlife in American and Southeast Asian memory. Student reading will draw primarily
from films, literature, art, journalism, historical writing, and political discourse, while lectures
will provide necessary historical and political background. The course corrects some
fundamental flaws in the American pedagogy and scholarship on the war, beginning with how
the name indicates that the war was fought only in Viet Nam. The war was also fought in
Cambodia and Laos, and the course examines the war’s impact on those countries and their
peoples. Americans have also seen the war purely from the perspective of American self-interest
and ethnocentrism. In contrast, this courses stresses the diversity of American experiences, the
importance of Southeast Asian points of view, and the existence of international actors in the war
who were neither American nor Vietnamese.
Students will develop critical thinking skills through 1) writing papers and 2) working in
collaborative teams to contribute to the course’s public project, an online memorial featuring oral
histories of the war’s witnesses and testimonies to the dead. Using a lo-tech approach to
multimedia, “The American War in Vietnam” actively involves students in engaging with
history, sharing their work with the general public, and constructing a digital memorial. The
papers will be 5-7 page analytical essays addressing the texts of the course, where students will
be required to study these texts closely.
Besides learning critical thinking skills and acquiring knowledge about the war, what students
will take away from the course is a set of multimedia skills and the ability to use them to share
their scholarship and ideas with the general public.
The goals of the course for student learning are:
1) to provide a multidisciplinary overview of the history of the war and its afterlife.
2) to address a diversity of ethnic, cultural, and national memories about the war.
3) to actively involve students in engaging with history via multimedia.
4) to have students share their work with the general public via the course website,
www.anotherwarmemorial.com. Later classes will also contribute to this site, which will be of
scholarly and general use.
5) to prepare students to think critically and analytically, both in general and in relationship to
the Vietnam War.
GRADING AND ASSIGNMENTS
Discussion Sections
Unannounced Quizzes
10%
10%
The American War in Vietnam
Three Papers, 5-7 pages
Team Multimedia Project
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20% each, 60% total
20%
In order to receive a passing grade, students must meet the minimum requirement of earning a
score for each of these four grading criteria. Receiving a zero in any of these criteria indicates
that you have not done the work for the course and will result in a D or F for the overall class
grade.
Attendance is mandatory: in lecture, in discussion section and at film screenings. Discussion
sections have their own attendance and grading policy; see your section syllabus. Your teaching
assistant has authority over her discussion section and will assign the grade for that section. For
the class as a whole, attendance will be accounted for through quizzes (see quiz policy below).
Participation in sections is both verbal and written; besides classroom participation, students are
also expected to post weekly comments or responses that are thoughtful and substantive on
Blackboard, an electronic resource for the class, which can be accessed at
https://blackboard.usc.edu/. Blackboard comments are run through the discussion section, but I
will read them and draw on them for my lecture and will make reference to them in lecture.
Come prepared to lecture with what you have written on your Blackboard comments. Classroom
and online participation is essential to the class, and will significantly impact your grade.
Unannounced quizzes will cover the reading and film screenings. It is important that you keep up
with the reading, as you will not be able to participate without having done so. The quizzes will
have a significant impact on your final grade. They may happen in every class meeting, if
necessary. If you are late to class and miss a quiz, or leave class early and miss a quiz, you will
get a zero for the quiz. Quizzes cannot be made up.
There will be three research papers of 5-7 page research papers. There will be a later handout
with further information about topics. Strict late penalties of 1/3 grade deduction per 24 hours of
tardiness will apply, except in cases of documented illness and emergency.
Using video cameras, students will work in teams of three or four to either profile someone who
died in the war or as a direct result of the war, or interview a witness to the war. Students will
also provide contextual material for understanding the historical experiences of the witnesses or
the dead. The class will produce about forty such oral histories or profiles of the dead per
semester. Students will post interviews or testimonies to a public course blog, “An Other
Memorial” (http://www.anotherwarmemorial.com). The blog will be the archive for an
expanding body of such work, which will be of scholarly and general use. No prior technical
experience is required. This is a team effort, and all team members are expected to contribute.
Failure to participate in a team will result in a zero for the project grade and a failing grade for
the course.
Plagiarism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed, including failure in the class and
reporting to student conduct. Further information about plagiarism and standards of citing
others’ work will be available in paper handouts. USC policy on plagiarism and academic
integrity can be found here: www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/forms/tig.pdf
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Disability Policy: Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is
required to register with the Disability Services Program (DSP) each semester. A letter of
verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is
delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30
a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
Electronic devices: Since I will not use my cellphone, PDA, iPod, or any other handheld
electronic device in class, and since I will not text, IM, send email, read email, tweet, check my
Facebook page, etc., in class, neither will you. Please do not make me reprimand you in front of
your classmates for using these devices, as I will. The only multitasking you can do in class is to
use your laptop to take notes or to check information related to class online. Students who wish to
use their laptop must sit in the first five rows of the lecture hall.
This syllabus and updates to it, a set of handouts for the multimedia project, and assigned
readings are available on https://blackboard.usc.edu/.
Syllabus is subject to change at the professor’s discretion. Lectures online at:
http://capture.usc.edu/Mediasite/Catalog/Full/027b986259ef413f8628f4f4
5d40a7f521
REQUIRED TEXTS and MATERIALS
Books
Christian Appy, Patriots (selections)
Graham Greene, The Quiet American
Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places
Bao Ninh, The Sorrow of War
Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried
Vaddey Ratner, In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree
Kao Kalia Yang, The Latehomecomer
Anticipate about 100-120 pages of reading for Tuesdays and 50-60 pages of reading for
Thursdays on the average
Films
Frances Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now (outside of class)
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino (outside of class)
Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) (outside of class)
Errol Morris, The Fog of War (107 mins)
Dang Nhat Minh, When the Tenth Month Comes (95 mins)
Socheata Poeuv, New Year Baby (80 minutes)
Ham Tran, Journey from the Fall (outside of class)
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Additional film clips and essays will be part of the required texts; essays cited in the readings
below will be available on Blackboard.
Schedule
Week 1
Tues 1/14 –Introduction to Course
Thurs 1/16 – France and Indochina Before the United States
Readings: Graham Greene, The Quiet American (author’s dedication to page 61)
Week 2
Tues 1/21 – The United States Arrives in Viet Nam
Readings: Graham Greene, The Quiet American (62-114); Martin Luther King Jr.,
“Beyond Vietnam” (11 pages); Edward Said, “Introduction” (pp. 1-28) from Orientalism
(in Course Reader)
Readings: Graham Greene, The Quiet American (62-114); Martin Luther King Jr.,
“Beyond Vietnam” (11 pages); Edward Said, “Introduction” (pp. 1-28) from Orientalism
(in Course Reader)
Audio of King’s speech: http://mlkkpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_beyond_vietnam/
Thurs 1/23 – Orientalism, or Western Fantasies of Asia
Readings: The Quiet American (115-189)
Week 3
Tues 1/28 – The United States Stays in Viet Nam
Readings: Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (1-84, "The Things They Carried"
through "The Dentist.")
American involvement in the war: Malcolm Browne, Dennis Deal, Harlan Pinkerton,
Philip Jones Griffiths, and Frank Maguire (from Patriots, 64-71, 130-134, 209-211, 240242, 441-444)
Thurs 1/30 – In Retrospect
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In class film screening: Errol Morris, The Fog of War (part 1)
Reading: Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (85-130, "Sweetheart of the Song Tra
Bong" through "Style.")
American involvement in the war: Larry Colburn, Michael Barnhardt and Frank Maguire
(from Patriots, 346-348, 349-353, 441-444)
Film Screenings (attend one of these two; mandatory)
Thurs 1/30 Apocalypse Now, 5-8 PM, THH 102
Fri 1/31 Apocalypse Now, 2-5 PM, THH 102
Week 4
Tues 2/4 – American Innocence or the Heart of Darkness
In class film screening: Errol Morris, The Fog of War (finish)
Readings: Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (131-207, "Speaking of Courage"
through "The Ghost Soldiers.")
Thurs 2/6 – Hollywood’s Cinema-Industrial Complex
Readings: Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (208-233, finish the book); Tim
O’Brien (from Patriots, 542-545)
American involvement in the war: Jo Collins, Jim Soular, Bobbie Keith, Nancy Smoyer,
Nguyen Quang Sang, Charles Cooper (from Patriots, 28-29, 156-160, 179-183, 188-189,
215-216, 445-448)
Interviewees should be selected; TAs must be notified
Week 5
Tues 2/11 – American Literature of War
Readings: Bao Ninh, The Sorrow of War (1-100)
Thurs 2/13 – Race, Gender, Class and Sexuality in American Culture and the War
Readings: Bao Ninh, The Sorrow of War (101-156)
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American conflicts over race: Julian Bond, General Baker, Jr., James Lafferty, Yusef
Komunyakaa, Vincent Okamoto, Charley Trujillo (from Patriots, 143-145, 146-149, 164166, 257-258, 357-361, 366-370)
Fri 2/14 Midterm Paper #1 Due (consult TA for details)
Week 6
Tues 2/18 – The North Vietnamese Go to War
Reading: Bao Ninh, The Sorrow of War (157-233)
North Vietnamese views on the war: Vu Thi Vinh, Nguyen Thi Kim Chuy, Le Cao Dai,
Duong Thanh Phong, Huynh Phuong Dong, Lam Van Lich, Le Minh Khue, Tran Van
Ban (from Patriots, 103-104, 105, 138-141, 247-249, 330-331, 341-342, 508-514, 515516)
Thurs 2/20 – North Vietnamese Memories in Literature and Film
In class film screening: When the Tenth Month Comes (part I)
Reading: Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (acknowledgments,
prologue, 1-62)
Appointments with interviewees should be set; TAs should be notified
Week 7
Tues 2/25 – North Vietnamese Memories in Literature and Film
In class film screening: When the Tenth Month Comes (finish)
Reading: Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (63-164)
Thurs 2/27 – Nothing is More Precious Than Independence and Freedom
Reading: Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (165-215)
Fri 2/28 Midterm papers returned
Week 8
Tues 3/4 – The End of the American War
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Reading: Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (216-315)
American antiwar movement: Anne Morrison Welsh, Vivian Rothstein, Tom Englehardt,
Clark Dougan, Daniel Ellsberg (from Patriots, 150-155, 274-278, 268-273, 304-306,
432-435)
Thurs 3/6 – The South Vietnamese Perspective
Reading: Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (316-368)
South Vietnamese views: Luyen Nguyen, Truong My Hoa, Oliver Stone, Nguyen Ngoc
Luong (from Patriots, 94-98, 228-230, 252-255, 374-376)
Film Screenings (attend one of these two; mandatory)
Thurs 3/6 Journey from the Fall 5-8 PM, THH 102
Friday 3/7 Journey from the Fall 2-5 PM, THH 102
Week 9
Tues 3/11 – The End of the War for the South
Reading: Vaddey Ratner, In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree (1-101); Thai Dao (from
Patriots, 540-541); Yen Le Espiritu, “Toward a Critical Refugee Study: The Vietnamese
Refugee Subject in US Scholarship” (23 pages)
Views on the end of the war: Phan Xuan Sinh, Vu Hy Thieu, Tran Ngoc Chau, Frank
Snepp, Truong Tran (from Patriots, 25-27, 190-194, 475-479, 496-503, 504-507)
Thurs 3/13 – Mourning and Melancholia
Reading: Vaddey Ratner, In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree (102-161)
Spring Break 3/17 - 3/22
Week 10
Tues 3/25 – The “Sideshow” in Cambodia
Reading: Marilyn B. Young -- “Bombing Civilians from the 20th to 21st Centuries,” in
Bombing Civilians: a 20th century History (20 pages); Jonathan Schell, Judith Colburn,
Loung Ung (from Patriots, 202-208, 407-412, 526-528)
Reading: Vaddey Ratner, In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree (162-269)
The American War in Vietnam
Thurs 3/27 – Year Zero: The Khmer Rouge
In class screening: New Year Baby (80 minutes)
Reading: Vaddey Ratner, In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree (270-322)
Consent forms for interview subjects due to professor
Fri 3/28 Midterm Paper #2 Due (consult TA for details)
Week 11
Tues 4/1 – The Khmer Rouge and Genocide
Reading: Susan Sontag, excerpt from Regarding the Pain of Others (3-17) and excerpt
from The Image World (153-180); Boreth Ly, “Of Performance and the Persistent
Temporality of Trauma: Memory, Art, and Visions” (23 pages); David Chandler,
excerpts from Voices of S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot’s Secret Prison (Preface,
Discovering S-21, S-21: A Total Institution, Explaining S-21, 60 pages)
Thurs 4/3 -- Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Cambodia
Michael Paterniti, “Never Forget” (13 pages); Ben Ehrenreich, “Cambodia’s Wandering
Dead” (9 pages); excerpts, Peter Maguire, Facing Death in Cambodia (132-296)
Film Screenings (mandatory)
Thurs 4/3 The Betrayal, 5-7 PM, THH 102
Friday 4/4 The Betrayal, 2-4 PM, THH 102
Week 12
Tues 4/8 – The “Secret War” in Laos
Reading: Kao Kalia Yang, The Latehomecomer (1-128)
Thurs 4/10 – Laotian Americans and Refugees
Reading: DuBois, Thomas A., “Constructions Construed: The Representation of
Southeast Asian Refugees in Academic Discourse,” (28 pages); excerpt from Avery
Gordon, Ghostly Matters TBA; Kao Kalia Yang, The Latehomecomer (131-151)
Fri 4/11 Midterm papers returned
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Fri 4/11 Final upload of profiles to the course website
Film Screening (mandatory)
Thursday 4/10 Gran Torino, 5-7 PM, THH 102
Week 13
Tues 4/15 – The Hmong at War
Reading: Kao Kalia Yang, The Latehomecomer (151-274); Fred Branfman (from
Patriots, 217-220)
Thurs 4/17 – The Hmong in the United States
Reading: Louisa Schein, Va-Megn Thoj, Bee Vang, Ly Chong Thong Jalao,
“Beyond Gran Torino's Guns: Hmong Cultural Warriors Performing Genders” (31
pages);
“
; review Edward Said reading from earlier
in the semester
Week 14
Tues 4/22 – Revisiting the War in the United States
Reading: McMahon, Robert, “Contested Memory: The Vietnam War and American
Society, 1975-2001,” pp. 159-184; Cathy Schlund-Vials Cambodian American Memory
Work: Justice and the “Cambodian Syndrome” (27 pages); Khatharya Um, “Exiled
Memory: History, Identity, and Remembering in Southeast Asia and Southeast Asian
Diaspora” (21 pages); William Westmoreland (from Patriots, 539)
Thurs 4/24 – Contemporary Memory: Presentation of Interviews
Each team has three minutes to do a brief introduction given by one representative, and then to
show a two-minute clip
Week 15
Tues 4/29 – Contemporary Memory: Presentation of Interviews
Thurs 5/1 – Contemporary Memory: Presentation of Interviews
Fri 5/2—Final paper due
The American War in Vietnam
May 13 – 8-10 AM Final Exam—not necessary
May 17—Final grades due
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