Kickoff Webinar on the War in Vietnam, OCDE, 5/16/2024
On Thursdays throughout the month of May 2024, the Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) will host virtual webinar lectures to announce the completion of three model curriculum projects: the Cambodian American Studies Model Curriculum, the Hmong History and Cultural Studies Model Curriculum, and the Vietnamese American Experiences Model Curriculum. The purpose of this free webinar series is to introduce K-12 educators to the topics, themes, and contexts of the model curricula. These webinars will feature presentations by experts on subjects that include ethnicity, language, war, diaspora, and community-building. The presentations will provide attendees with foundational knowledge to prepare for implementation of the model curricula in their schools, districts, and communities. You can learn more about the Model Curriculum Projects here.
I’m going to join other scholars to talk about the War in Vietnam on May 16, 2024. Please register for the webinar series at the following webpage: https://ocde.k12oms.org/1244-247501.
Vietnam Centric Approaches to Vietnam’s Twentieth Century History, UC Berkeley, 4/20/2024
A special conference at UC Berkeley on Vietnamese history of the twentieth century on April 19-20, 2024! UC Berkeley has served as a center of research and training young historians of the field for years, and this conference proves it. Organized by our leading scholar Peter Zinoman and his graduate students, this conference is an effort to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in 2025 – and the lack of our attention to the Vietnam centric approaches in the modern Vietnamese historiography (btw, which “Vietnam” in this Vietnam centric? And what kind of approaches in this global/international context of the modern history?? – an American approach of the Vietnam centric?).
I’m so looking forward to presenting my piece on a Huế-centric approach: “Voices from the Center: Lập Trường and ‘the Vietnam problem'” as part of Panel 6 “New Directions in RVN History,” also catching up with many great scholars in the field! More info can be found here.
Stories of People of Color in the OC: Vietnamese Communities in the OC, 3/14/2024
Please join us for a special workshop on the Vietnamese American Community in the Orange County, organized by the UCI History Project and Teacher Academy. The History Project connects with local schools and school districts, providing professional development for teachers, curriculum development and support, and a community resource for important conversations. I look forward to sharing my research and teaching experience with educators from the OC area!
Nhân Văn – Giai Phẩm and Vietnamese Reform Communism in the 1950s, 3/2/2024
Please join us for our second event of UC Irvine’s annual Viet Nam Lectures series, this year featuring one of the most important episodes of domestic political opposition in the history of communist Viet Nam.
Dr. Peter B. Zinoman, Professor of History at University of California, Berkeley, will present on “Nhân Văn – Giai Phẩm and Vietnamese Reform Communism in the 1950s.”
This talk will discuss the mix of local and global forces that gave rise to the Nhân Văn – Giai Phẩm movement, analyze its political agenda, and consider how Vietnamese political culture has been shaped over the long term by the history of the movement and its repression.
Time: 10AM Saturday, March 2, 2024
Location: Người Việt Dailies, 14771 Moran Street, Westminster, CA.
Updates: Annoucements of the event could be found on SBTN (Saigon Broadcasting Television Network) and Việt Báo. Người Việt Daily covers the event here.
USS Midway Seminar on the Cold War, Korea and Viet Nam, 7/13/2023
Like last year, I’ll be coming back to the USS Midway this year to join the seminar on the Cold War, Korea, and Viet Nam. I’ll participate in three panels to present on the 1968 Tết Offensive, the impact on the Vietnamese, and the outcome of the Viet Nam War. Looking forward to reuniting with other scholars in the field and meeting with various teachers from different states!
Talk on Bùi Huy Tín, 7/9/2023
I will give a talk on the historical context of the early twentieth century at an event to honor Bùi Huy Tín (1876-1963) – a successful businessman and founder of three important newspapers: Thực Nghiệp Dân Báo, Tràng An Báo, and La Gazette de Hue – at the Institute of Vietnamese Studies, on the occasion of the release of a new book by Trần Viết Ngạc Bùi Huy Tín với Thực Nghiệp Dân Báo và Tràng An Báo (Hồng Đức Press, 2023).
Updates: Here is the coverage of the event by the SBTN (Saigon Broadcasting Television Network). Người Việt Daily also covers the event here.
Viet Nam Echoes: Page, Song, and Stage, 2/21/2023
Please join us for our first Viet Nam Lectures event – a very special afternoon of talk, film, and performance featuring traditional music of Viet Nam past and present. Three prominent artists and authors will present on the Mekong Delta’s “Đờn Ca Tài Tử” folk music, the operatic “Cải Lương,” and multiple genres of Vietnamese music. This is the first event of the annual series “Viet Nam Lectures” I organize at UC Irvine.
The event will feature three special speakers:
Dr. Alexander M. Cannon, Associate Professor, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Leon Le, Director/Co-writer, Song Lang, 2018
Van-Anh Vanessa Vo, Emmy Award-winning composer/ Vietnamese traditional music master
3:00pm TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2023
Humanities Gateway 1030
Light reception following the event.
The event is supported by the UCI Humanities Center, UCI Center for Asian Studies, and the UCI Vietnamese American Alumni Chapter (VAAC).
Updates: Check out Voice Of America coverage of our event, and some pictures on VAALA.
USIP Dialogue on War Legacies and Peace in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, 10/11/2022
It’s my pleasure to join the Dialogue on War Legacies and Peace at the US Institute of Peace in October. This event series is part of the USIP’s Vietnam War Legacies and Reconciliation Initiative which aims to, among others, further advance reconciliation through people-to-people engagement. The dialogue will bring together diplomats, advocates and authors to draw lessons from U.S. engagement in Southeast Asia that could apply to conflicts elsewhere in the world. I will join other speakers to present my work in session “Individuals, Communities, and US-Vietnam Relations” (in -person, by invitation only). Several public plenaries will be livestreamed in both English and Vietnamese.
Vietnamese American Refugee Experience Model Curriculum, 7/11/2022
Another exciting opportunity for teachers! The Orange County Department of Education is hiring experienced writers for their model curriculum projects to develop the Cambodian Genocide Model Curriculum, the Hmong History and Cultural Studies Model Curriculum, and the Vietnamese American Refugee Experience Model Curriculum.
The curricula will center statewide community voices and be developed with community feedback. The curricula will honor intergenerational differences, include first-hand accounts, and center restorative practices.
The Vietnamese American Refugee Experience Model Curriculum flyer below. My presentation on the Viet Nam War “What’s In A Name? Context and Conflict” will be the inaugural scholar talk of the project!
USS Midway Seminar on the Cold War, Korea and Viet Nam, 7/7/2022
I’m so excited to come aboard the USS Midway Museum in San Diego to present my works for a wide range of teachers of History and Social Studies from all over the nation! I’ll join other scholars to share our insights, viewpoints, and research in a two-week seminar on the Cold War, Korea, and Vietnam. This is an annual event of the Midway Institute for Teachers, and I’d highly recommend eligible teachers to take a look at their program and apply!
Teaching for Justice Conference, 4/29-30/2022
I’m pleased to be part of the Conference Planning Committee of the first Teaching for Justice Conference with A Spotlight on Teaching Asian American Studies Across the Curriculum of the University of California, Irvine Center for Educational Partnerships and UCI Teacher Academy.
It is a hybrid two-day conference on April 29 and 30, 2022, intended for K-12 teachers and others interested in integrating the principles of Asian American Studies into their professional work.
The conference is a model of community collaboration and uplifting. We are bringing together Asian Americans at all levels: students, K12 educators, universities, scholars, parents, organizations, government representatives, activists, business owners, authors, historians, and celebrities.
We hope you will join and share with your networks.
Vietnam War conference on the year 1972, 4/1/2022
The Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive and Institute for Peace & Conflict at Texas Tech University is collaborating with the War and Society Program at Chapman University to organize their annual conference this year in Orange County. This conference, 1972: The War Between North and South Vietnam, will take place in March 31 – April 2, 2022, at Chapman University. I am invited to serve as one of the panelists of the panel discussion during the conference’s welcome reception Going (Back) to Vietnam: Experiences of Veterans, Refugees, and Students from the U.S., sponsored by US Institute of Peace at Chapman University on March 31. I will also be joining a roundtable on Teaching the Vietnam War: Pedagogy and Engaging the New Generation of Students, at 3:30pm, Friday, April 1, 2022, Lassen Room (2nd Floor). Here’s the full conference agenda!
South Vietnam’s Era of Openness: Transnational and Global Histories of Republican Vietnam, 3/25/2022
A huge conference / party in Hawaii this year – the Association of Asian Studies Annual Conference!!! In person (with many virtual panels as well)!
Our panel, South Vietnam’s Era of Openness: Transnational and Global Histories of Republican Vietnam, is scheduled at 11:30am – 1pm HST, Friday, March 25, 2022, Room 301B. My paper, Ready, Aim, Fire: Female Literary Voices of the Wartime South, will give voice to the young women writers of the Republic of Viet Nam. More details of the conference can be found here.
SoCal Southeast Asia Research Workshop, 3/10/2022
On Thursday, March 10th, 4-5:30 pm, UCSD will be hosting a writing-in-progress workshop featuring Claire Edington, Mohammad Bin Khidzer, Cindy Nguyen, and Nattapol (Pup) Wisuttipat. I’m going to provide comments on their papers. Join us in La Jolla!
Putin’s Invasions in a Global Perspective: A Pop-Up Panel Responding to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, 3/8/2022
How is the current war similar to and different from previous ones involving invasions? What can we learn from placing Putin’s military moves beside past events and from taking note of how the invasion of Ukraine is seen differently in different parts of the world?
Join me and my colleagues in varied fields (History, Law, Global Studies, and Journalism) and who have reported from or have deep connections to many parts of the world (from Haiti, and Nigeria to Eastern Europe, China, and Iraq) in a pop-up conversation to explore these and other pressing issues.
On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 2pm- 3:15pm, the event will take place before a live audience in HG1030, with an in person moderator and speakers on screen ZOOMING in, and it will be live streamed globally.
Anaheim Reads 2022, 3/1/2022
Join me at Central Library on March 1, 2022, 5:30pm, for a talk on the Viet Nam War to celebrate our community-wide reading program!
Full brochure of all events here!
SELECTED PAST EVENTS
Symposium “Voices from the Everyday South: Civilian Lives during the Viet Nam War,” brings together Vietnamese civilians from southern Viet Nam who lived through the war (1954-1975) for a conversation on varied aspects of daily life in the wartime South, at Haverford College on November 1, 2019.
Symposium’s official announcements on the websites of Haverford College, Việt Báo, and Người Việt.