Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia (PISA)
CAS has welcomed Linda J. Yarr, director of Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia (PISA), as a research affiliate to expand opportunities for new program offerings on Asia.听 To launch this collaboration, CAS and PISA will sponsor the Waging Peace in Vietnam exhibit in Norlin Library in early November. During America鈥檚 War in Vietnam, tens of thousands of GIs and veterans created a robust movement in opposition to the war. Yet its history is largely unknown.听The听Waging Peace in Vietnam exhibit and its companion book听show how the GI movement unfolded, from the numerous anti-war coffeehouses springing up outside military bases, to the hundreds of GI newspapers giving an independent voice to active soldiers, to the stockade revolts and the strikes and near-mutinies on naval vessels and in the air force.
2025-2026 Events
The End of the War in Vi峄噒 Nam: Reflection, Recovery, Reconciliation
Tuesday, November 11, 4-6:30pm
Flatirons Room, Center for Community (C4C)
4:00pm Reception
5:00pm Introductory remarks
5:10 - 6:30pm presentations followed by Q&A
April 30th marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Vi峄噒 Nam. In Vi峄噒 Nam, the day was one of celebration, featuring an elaborate parade among other events.听 In the United States, reactions were mixed: relief, shame, gratitude for improved relations between the two countries, and perhaps confusion over the meaning of the war.
This program will prompt us to consider reflect on the impact that war has on soldiers, even in the absence of physical wounds or outwardly manifest psychic pain. In her 2021 book, And Then Your Soul is Gone: Moral Injury and U. S. War-Culture, Dr. Kelly Denton-Borhaug, Professor of Global Religions, Moravia University, writes, 鈥溾oral injury results from participation in the moral distortion of the world that is created by war (pp6-7). She will help us understand how the effects of war endure over time in the hearts and minds of veterans.
The people of Vi峄噒 Nam continue to cope with the lasting environmental, health and emotional effects of the war. This includes the search for remains of missing relatives, the need to clean up the environment from the toxic chemicals sprayed to reduce tree cover, and not least the task of removing tons of unexploded ordnance that litter the land and pose a continual danger to farmers and children.听 Mr. Chuck Searcy, a veteran of the Vietnam War will share his thoughts on one path to recovery. After the war, Searcy returned to Vietnam and witnessed the damage unexploded bombs and shells were wreaking on the population and vowed to help. He founded the organization Project Renew to teach Vietnamese how to safely uncover and disarm or detonate these silent killers and to educate villagers and children to stay away from them and alert project staff. 听He will present an update on the work of Project Renew and its impact on the population.
The issue of post-war reconciliation is complex. Competing memories and narratives, serve to divide veterans from both sides of the war whether in the United States or in Vietnam and successive generations bear intergenerational burdens of incomplete understanding.听 Ms. Erin Steinhauer has chosen to grapple with the need to promote reconciliation among those marked by the war by founding the Vietnam Society. The Society fosters reconciliation through the arts and culture as a way to encourage conversation and healing.
Moderator:
Linda J. Yarr听is a research affiliate of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado, 抖阴传媒在线 and director of Partnerships for International Strategies in Aisa (PISA), a program that has partnered with universities and research institutes in Asia to enhance international affairs education and research.听Previously, she was a research professor of international affairs at the George Washington University, taught political economy and political economy at Long Island University and serves on the board of directors of the journal Critical Asian Studies.听She has earned degrees at Cornell University, Sciences P么 in Paris, and D鈥橸ouville University.
Speakers:
Kelly Denton-Borhaug, Ph.D., is a professor at Moravian University in Global Religions and Peace and Justice Studies. Struck by the rhetorical defense of unjustifiable violence following 9/11/2001, as 鈥渁 necessary sacrifice,鈥 she began researching and writing about the role of religion in direct, structural and cultural violence, leading to U.S. War-culture, Sacrifice and Salvation. Her analysis of military moral injury resulted in her 2022 book, And Then Your Soul is Gone: Moral Injury and U.S. War-culture. Currently she is exploring veteran visions of moral recovery and health for new book, Light at the Tip of the Candle. She collaborates with the Moral Injury Program based in the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center and teaches "Moral Injury: A Public Health Crisis" with military veterans.
Title: Reflecting on War鈥檚 Aftermath: Military Moral Injury as An Inevitable Outgrowth of U.S. War-culture
听 What is "military moral injury," and how should it be addressed by U.S.听citizens and leaders?听 In this talk, Denton-Borhaug will provide a brief overview of this toxic consequence of U.S.听war-culture, and an argument for understanding the phenomenon of military moral injury as an outgrowth of U.S. ways of militarism, militarization and war with unacceptable consequences for American society. Lastly, she will point to emerging visions from U.S.听military veterans living with moral injury, who are discovering pathways of moral recovery, growth and healing that could matter "for the rest of us," as citizens struggle to imagine how we should live, and what we should be doing, in our current national environment.
颁丑耻肠办听厂别补谤肠测听has lived for decades in Ha Noi, Vietnam where he serves as听the International Advisor for Project RENEW in Quang Tri Province, which funds and supports projects that mitigate the legacies of war, in particular explosive ordnance and consequences of Agent Orange.听听Quang Tri Province, which straddles the former demilitarized zone, was the most bombed province of the most extensively bombed country in the world.
Born in 1944 in the state of Alabama,听Searcy听attended the University of Georgia and graduated with a degree in political science.听 He was an intelligence analyst in the US Army in Saigon from 1967 to 1968 and served one year in 1969 at US Army HQ in Germany as an intelligence specialist.听Searcy听has worked as a weekly newspaper editor and publisher, an official of the US Small Business Administration in Washington, DC during the Carter administration, and he was a staff member in the US. Senate for two years.
Searcy听has represented several American veterans鈥 organizations in Viet Nam since 1995 鈥 including the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), the Viet Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), and VFP.听 All have shared a similar mission, to reduce injuries, deaths, and other consequences from wartime bombs and mines as well as Agent Orange. He serves as a member of the Veterans for Peace national executive board and as president of the Vietnam chapter made up of American veterans who have moved to Vietnam.
Title:听Recovery from War: Removal of Unexploded Ordnance and Mitigation of Agent Orange Contamination
Whereas the guns and artillery were silenced fifty years ago, citizens of Vi峄噒 Nam continue to be injured and killed by bombs and munitions that still emerge from the soil. Additionally, herbicides sprayed by U.S. aircraft during the war to destroy the forest canopy and reveal enemy troop movements linger in the environment leading to diseases for those exposed to them and birth defects among their children. Following the initiatives of veterans and Americans convinced of the need to heal the wounds of war, private organizations lobbied the US government to provide funds necessary for clean-up. As the founder of one of those organizations, Project Renew, Chuck Searcy will tell a story of how Vietnamese have embraced reliance to bring about recovery and appreciation for maintaining peace after conflict.
Erin Steinhauer is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Vietnam Society, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the understanding of Vietnam鈥檚 past and present through the vibrant expressions of its cultural heritage. Its mission is to serve as the arterial pathway connecting Vietnamese arts, culture, and business with U.S. and international audiences through programs and events in Washington, D.C., including Vietnam Week. Founded in 2021, Vietnam Society endeavors to broaden the public鈥檚 knowledge about Vietnamese and Vietnamese American lives, by expanding perspectives from legacies of the Vietnam conflict to showcase dynamic confluences as reflected through the arts, literature, film and cuisines.
Prior to founding Vietnam Society,听Ms. Steinhauer had a career spanning over 25 years in senior corporate executive and policy leadership roles working in government and global Fortune 100 companies, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, Visa Inc., New York Life, Iridium and MicroStrategy.听 She has a long track record in building successful businesses and partnerships, corporate strategies and policy initiatives globally.
Originally from Vietnam, Ms. Steinhauer immigrated to the U.S. as a boat refugee when she was nine years old.听 She is married to Peter Steinhauer, a renowned photographer who spent 30 years photographing Vietnam with published books.听 They听live in Virginia with their three children.
Title: In Search of Reconciliation and Healing: Beyond Prejudices, Trauma, and Politics
The year 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Third Indochina War, known in Vietnam as the Anti-American War for National Salvation and in the United States as the Vietnam War. Half a century later, the consequences of a missed opportunity for reconciliation have left behind two Vietnams: one embraced by the 鈥渨inners鈥 inside the country, and another pursued by the 鈥渓osers鈥 abroad.
Over the decades, efforts toward reconciliation have emerged, seeking to bridge divides and heal enduring emotional wounds. The Vietnamese government has called for reconciliation, recognizing the diaspora as an inseparable part of the nation. Many former officials and soldiers of the former South, along with their children, have returned to Vietnam, symbolizing meaningful steps forward.
Yet, the journey toward full national reconciliation is far from complete. To move beyond the legacies of prejudice, trauma, and politics, both the government and the diaspora must work together in building mutual trust, empathy, and understanding. Only then can the Vietnamese people, both at home and abroad, could achieve the healing and unity that history has long denied them.
Free and Open to the Public
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2023-2024 Events
The Women: Our Impact on the Vietnam Antiwar Movement
Thursday, September 19, 2024, 4-5:30 PM ET
The ultimate success of the movement to stop the war in Vietnam was due to the mobilization of multiple segments of society, such as students, academics,businesspeople, lawyers, religious activists, unions, veterans, and humanitarians.听 Not least of these were traditional women's peace organizations such as the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom and Women Strike for Peace that redirected their efforts toward stopping the war, and newer Vietnam War specific groups such as Another Mother for Peace and Gold Star Mothers for Peace.听 This webinar features the experiences of women peace activists who helped to transform the movement into a broad coalition that reached into a majority of American households and influenced the movement for women's liberation.
Moderator:
Linda J. Yarr听is a Research Affiliate of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado, 抖阴传媒在线. She also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the journal听Critical Asian Studies, successor to the听Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars听published by The Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars. Previously she was a research professor of international affairs at George Washington University and served as director of Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia. She has authored articles, book chapters and reviews on Vietnam and Southeast Asia. As a student in France during the war in Vietnam, she was a member of the Paris American Committee to Stop the War. She holds a master鈥檚 degree from Cornell University, an advanced degree in international relations from Sciences Po in Paris, and a B.A. from D鈥橸ouville College (now University).
Waging Peace in Vietnam Exhibit and Events October 27-November 8, 2023
November 8, 5:00-7:00 PM, British and Irish Studies Room, Poetry of the War in Vietnam and its Consequences
Poetry helps us speak the unspeakable and feel deeply. Award-winning poets whose poems of war, memory, and reconciliation will arouse our empathy and understanding of the war in Vietnam and its profound consequences.
Professor Julie Carr, Department of English and Creative Writing, Moderator
Poets Reciting Via ZOOM:
Jan Barry, Teresa Mei Chuc, Wayne Karlin, Yusef Komunyakaa, Hoa Nguyen, Kimberly Nguyen, Doug Rawlings, Bruce Weigl
November 7, 5:30-7:30PM, British and Irish Studies Room, Book Talk: Defending Black Sailors from Discriminatory Prosecution
Racial tension was high when a fight broke out between White and Black sailors aboard the massive Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier that serviced the bombing missions over Vietnam. Discovering the unfair, unequal, and frankly discriminatory treatment to which Blacks were subjected, Marv Truhe, the JAG officer assigned to the case, mounted a vigorous defense of the Black sailors. His book draws on the original documents he collected and saved.
Marv Truhe, former Navy JAG officer, author of Against All Tides: The Unknown Story of the USS Kitty Hawk Race Riot
November 6, 5:00-7:00PM, Humanities 250, Panel Discussion on the Legacies of War
War does not end when the last shots are fired. The Vietnamese population, as well as American soldiers and their families, continue to this day to bear the costs of war. This panel will investigate consequences of the war in Vietnam and efforts to mitigate those impacts.听
Steven Dike, Arts and Sciences Honors Program, CU 抖阴传媒在线, Moderator
Five-Minute film on Project RENEW featuring Ho Van Lai, victim of unexploded cluster bomb.
Susan Hammond, Founder and Executive Director, War Legacies Project
Linda J. Yarr, Research Affiliate, Center for Asian Studies, CU 抖阴传媒在线
November 3, 12:00-1:30PM, Chamber Hall, Film Screening, The Whistleblower of My Lai
This outstanding documentary takes us through the process of creating an opera commissioned by the renowned Kronos String Quartet. The opera is based on the experience of Hugh Thomson, the helicopter pilot who witnessed the killing of civilians at My Lai and did his best to rescue survivors. 听
Professor Mutsumi Moteki, Co-Chair, Voice and Opera, College of Music, Moderator
November 2, 5:00-6:30 PM, CASE Building E340, Talk by Ron Haeberle, former Army photographer, whose photos of the My Lai Massacre published in Life Magazine helped to shift public opinion
Ron Haeberle will share his experience of coming upon the massacre of Vietnamese civilians by US soldiers, and the effort to share his photos with the world.
Ross Taylor, Assistant Professor, College of Media, Communications and Information, Moderator
November 1, 4:30-6:30PM, Humanities 135, Screening of documentary on GI Antiwar Movement Sir! No Sir!
This remarkable documentary tells the story of soldiers and sailors who actively opposed fighting in the war in Vietnam, and their ultimate impact on the prosecution of the war.
Professor Steven Dike, Arts and Sciences Honors Program, 听Moderator
David Zeiger, Producer and Director, Commentary and Q&A via ZOOM
View discussion of the film here.
October 30, 5:00-7:00PM, British and Irish Studies Room, Norlin Library, Opening Reception
Introduction to an exhibit that depicts the important, but largely unknown, role of U.S. active duty military and returning veterans in opposing the war in Vietnam.
Professor Rachel Rinaldo, Faculty Director, Center for Asian Studies, Welcome Remarks
Ron Carver, Exhibit Curator, Director, Waging Peace in Vietnam Education Fund
Curt Stocker, UC 抖阴传媒在线 Alumnus and Veteran, publisher of underground GI Newspaper, "aboveground"
October 27, 2:30 PM, Norlin Library, Underground West Gallery, Soft Opening for Faculty and Media
Ron Carver, Curator, Director, Waging Peace in Vietnam Education Fund
Professors Steven Dike and Vilja Hulden, UC 抖阴传媒在线, on Teaching the War in Vietnam
Curt Stocker, UC 抖阴传媒在线 Alumnus and Veteran, publisher of underground GI Newspaper, "aboveground"
Mark McVay, local Vietnam Veteran, who voluntarily enlisted
Student Essay Contest, Deadline, December 13, 2023
Students are invited to submit a 500-word essay with their reflections and impressions after having viewed the Waging Peace Exhibit. The student with the winning essay, as selected by the guest judge, will receive an award of $500.听 Nick Ut, Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer of the 鈥淣apalm Girl鈥 image, will serve as the Guest Judge. Please submit essays to Linda Yarr (Linda.Yarr@colorado.edu).
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