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SCCC 387A
U.S. SOCIETY AND THE VIETNAM WAR
Ron Baughman
Media Arts Division, Department of Art
&
Jerel Rosati
Department of Government & International Studies
Spring 1996
The purpose of the course is to gain an understanding of the Vietnam War--especially from the perspective of American culture and history. The era surrounding the Vietnam War was a traumatic and profound experience for American society. Although memories of the Vietnam era have receded, its significance has remained. This course focuses on the American journey throughout the war, and its consequences for America and Americans, through the use of non-fiction literature on the larger scope of the war complemented by the use of novels and poetry that center on the individual's combat experience.
READINGS
The course revolves around the readings. The literary authors--Heinemann, O'Brien, McDonald--are Vietnam combat veterans and consequently provide first-person accounts of how it felt to experience combat and the war. The journalists and historians--Lomparis, Hodgson, and Sheehan--present a larger historical perspective of the major events and their significance related to the war. These perspectives--the personal and the historical--grant a balance to our study that should deepen our understanding of the war and its significance for America.
Larry Heinemann, Close Quarters (Penguin, 1977)
Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried (Penguin, 1990)
Walter McDonald, A Band of Brothers (Texas Tech University Press, 1989)
Timothy J. Lomperis, The War Everyone Lost--and Won: America's Intervention in Viet Nam's Twin Struggles (Congressional Quarterly Press, 1983, revised 1994)
Godfrey Hodgson, America in Our Time (Vintage, 1974)
Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (Vintage, 1988)
[Please be warned: the language of combat veterans is often quite profane. If you are troubled by such language, please talk to the instructors about your concerns before continuing with the course.]
REQUIREMENTS
The course is team-taught by Ron Baughman, of the Media Arts Division of the Depart of Art, and Jerel Rosati, of the Department of Government and International Studies. We are excited about teaching the course together as well as about learning from the experience, and we have high expectations for the students who take the class. Students are expected to engage in a considerable amount of reading and will be evaluated through class participation, a journal, written papers (including a field project), and examinations. The intent behind these requirements is to have you study and think about the course material throughout the semester--to provide you with numerous opportunities to demonstrate the knowledge you have acquired and to get feedback--in order to maximize your ability to learn and grow as a student.
1. Class Participation/Attendance (20%). In order to get the most out of class, you must be prepared when you come to class. Students are required to complete the readings prior to class meetings and to come to class ready to discuss them. We expect everyone to participate actively in the discussion of the day. Roll will be taken and attendance affects your participation grade; excessive absences will result in a lower or failing grade. A midterm evaluation of the quantity and quality of your participation in class discussion will be provided approximately halfway through the semester.
2. Journal (30%). One requirement is for you to keep a JOURNAL that records your thoughts about and reactions to what you read. The journal must be 8 1/2" by 11" (nothing smaller) and must be a separate notebook from your class notebook (Your instructors will read your journal at key points throughout the semester and necessarily will hold onto them for a while; consequently, you will not want to be without your class notes). Each entry in your journal must be dated and numbered, and you should write at least three-quarters of a page for each entry. You must write an entry (minus one) for each class period devoted to a book to be discussed. For example, if four class periods are scheduled for Heinemann's novel Close Quarters, then you should have three journal entries on this book.
A journal serves as a running record of your views and responses; if thoughtfully written, the journal allows you to realize later how you have grown intellectually and emotionally in relation to the topic of this course. A journal allows you to discover motifs and themes in your reading and to focus your thoughts on the Vietnam experience. Also, ideas for the papers may develop in your journal. Writing a bunch of pages the night before the journal is due defeats the point of a journal, making it merely pages written to fulfill an assignment--the deadliest of all material to write and to read. You should write in your journal while and immediately after you read to record your thoughts while the material is still fresh in your mind.
Finally, your journal should record how you honestly feel and what you truly think about what you read. You may present these entries in any form you wish--you will not be evaluated on style or writing mechanics (though the journal is a good place to practice both). You should feel completely free to write anything in any way you feel is appropriate. The journal, as the poet William Stafford noted, is a good place to "go fishing" for what is in your heart and on your mind.
3. Essay Assignments (20%). There will be two essay opportunities during the semester. All assignments are to be completed on time. Grades for late assignments will be lowered by their tardiness.
Each essay should be three pages, typed, double-spaced, with normal fonts. The journal should help you generate and write two short essays that will be handed into your instructor at the end of the discussion of each major work. Each essay is to be on one of the three novels. You should discuss the nature of your essay with one of the instructors before completing the essay.
The best literary essay is always based on a close reading of a work or works. You should develop a controlling idea that explores: the significance of a motif (a pattern of images, characters, or themes): an analysis of a major character or characters; an explanation or definition of a key theme. For example, in the novel Close Quarters, Heinemann frequently describes the daily activity of soldiers in terms of work, as if they had been hired to perform menial labor for a small amount of pay. This perspective on soldiers (laborers), their employers (the U.S. government), and the task (combat in Vietnam) creates an important commentary about the American involvement in Vietnam.
You may also incorporate ideas you have researched from sources other than the novels. The nonfiction works in our course, for example, provide an extensive range of significant concepts that are embodied in the novels. You may explore the connection between the nonfiction and fiction works.
Finally, a copy of the Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series, Volume 9: American Writers of the Vietnam War, has been placed on reserve in Thomas Cooper Library. The three novelists we will read--Heinemann, O'Brien, and McDonald--are represented in this volume. Each entry contains a collection of private and public documents relating to the subject's life and career. Read the entry on the author you have chosen before writing and integrate within your essay. The entries also may prove helpful in generating essay topics.
4. Self-expression or Nontraditional Assignment (10%). This will require some creativity and possibly some fieldwork to give some expression and substance to the material you have read. You may adopt any approach to this assignment: that is, you may conduct an extended interview with a Vietnam veteran; produce a video (or a comparable expression of the visual arts) about what you have read; compose and record a musical interpretation of what you have read, and so on. In all cases you should draft a short proposal and discuss it with the instructors, clarifying how your work relates to the reading(s) in the course. Whatever you decide to do, we expect you to do some additional research/reading above and beyond the required material. For example, should you choose to write a paper based on interviewing a person involved, directly or indirectly, in the Vietnam War to better understand the War and its impact, we would expect you to read the relevant chapter (or chapters) of Long Time Passing: Vietnam & the Haunted Generation (Signet, 1984) by Myra MacPherson to provide context and perspective. The paper should be around three pages (typed, double-spaced, normal font) and the interview should integrate and be directly related to the course material and readings, including the MacPherson volume, to illuminate the nature of the Vietnam War and its significance for American society and Americans.
5. Two exams (10% each). Each exam will probably consist of a take-home where you will write an essay responding to one major question from a set of questions revolving around the non-fiction reading. Your essays should demonstrate your mastery of the information and concepts provided in the assigned readings, the ideas generated in class discussions, and should reflect your thoughtful consideration and analysis of the material.
Missing an assignment or examination. In order to turn in a late paper or make-up an exam, one of us must be contacted WITHIN 24 HOURS OF THE DUE DATE and provided a legitimate explanation (e.g., medical illness) with evidence eventually provided. Late assignments or make-up exams will be graded in terms of a higher set of expectations given the additional time allowed.
GRADES
Your grade will be based on the quality of substantive knowledge, quality of analysis, and effective communication demonstrated--in other words, the level of understanding demonstrated. Your grade will not be determined by how well you do compared to others in the class. That is, an A represents "excellent" understanding, a B+ represent "very good" understanding, a B represents "good" understanding, a C+ represents "satisfactory yet promising" understanding, a C represents "satisfactory" understanding, a D+ represents "poor" understanding; a D represents "very poor" understanding, and an F represents an "appalling" level of understanding.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
The University of South Carolina, like all institutions of higher education, is fundamentally dependent upon the maintenance of proper standards of honesty. Maintenance of those standards is the responsibility of every member of this academic community--students, instructors, and staff alike. We will not spend our time trying to find cheaters, but when confronted with clear evidence of academic dishonesty, I will respond vigorously. Such impropriety in this class will result in an F for the course.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY AND STRATEGY
The class will be structured around a class dialogue in which information, knowledge, and thought will be generated predominantly through discussion and the Socratic method. We may play the role of provocateur and advocate to stimulate participation. The class dialogue emphasizes the importance of student participation and active learning as a means to improve one's skills, interest, information, knowledge, and, ultimately, understanding. In essence, class discussions will consist of an active exchange between the student and professor. When deemed necessary, lecture/background will be provided for some of the more difficult material and to provide appropriate context.
The class is organized around the required readings. We expect every student to come to class prepared for we will regularly call on you. Every student should be able to summarize and analyze each assigned reading and place it in perspective relative to the rest of the course material. Students also will be expected to offer comments or questions which contribute to class discussions on a regular basis. It should be noted that your participation in class discussion will count for twenty percent of your overall grade.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS
Ron Baughman (Coliseum 1020-F, 7-6773) is a Full Professor currently
serving as the Director of Graduate Studies in the Media Arts Division of the Department of Art. He began teaching English in USC's College of Applied Professional Sciences in Fall 1971, where he was named Distinguished Teacher of the Year in 1978. In July 1993, he moved into Media Arts where he teaches advanced scriptwriting, creativity in the media arts, and research methodologies for graduate students. He was a finalist for the campus-wide Michael J. Mungo Teaching Award in Spring 1995. Among his publications are Understanding James Dickey (1985), The Voiced Connections of James Dickey (1989), and the Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series, Volume 9: American Writers of the Vietnam War (1991). He is married and has one child, a freshman at the University of Georgia. His interest in the literature about the Vietnam War grew while writing his dissertation about James Dickey's poetry, focusing on Dickey's World War II experience as the formative event that shaped his life and career. It also arose from his teaching where he included much war poetry and fiction, and the impact it had on many of the students in the class, including Vietnam War veterans.
Jerel Rosati (Gambrell 313, 7-2981) is an Associate Professor and has been a member of the Department of Government and International Studies at Carolina for twelve years. He has a great love of knowledge and learning about the world and human affairs. His intellectual interests range from understanding American politics and history, United States foreign policy, and the Vietnam War to exploring the dynamics of global change, political psychology, and the sources of human behavior. In addition to the usual undergraduate and graduate students, he has taught Bulgarians, Israelis, Somalis, Master's of International Business students, and high school teachers. He has been named the Outstanding Professor of the Year in the Humanities and Social Sciences by the South Carolina (Honors) College and the Outstanding Teacher in International Studies in the Department of Government & International Studies. He also enjoys research and writing, and is the author of The Carter Administration's Quest for Global Community: Beliefs and Their Impact on Behavior and The Politics of United States Foreign Policy, as well as the co-editor of The Power of Human Needs in World Society and Foreign Policy Restructuring: How Governments Respond to Global Change. He has been a Research Associate in the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Library of Congress's Congressional Research Service, has served as President of the International Studies Association's Foreign Policy Analysis Section, and is currently the President of the Southern region of the International Studies Association. He is the proud father of three small children and enjoys travel, sports, music, reading, and good company. He can be found at times in a local coffeehouse absorbed in a book or engaged in good conversation. He came of age during the early seventies as an undergraduate at U.C.L.A when the events surrounding the Vietnam War and Watergate reached a crescendo, which had a profound impact on his intellectual and personal development to the present day.
Please feel free to come see us during our office hours or any other time we are free.
THIS SYLLABUS REFLECTS THE EXPECTATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS YOU MUST FULFILL. WE EXPECT YOU TO TAKE THE COURSE SERIOUSLY AND WORK AS HARD AS WE DO--WHICH IS, AFTER ALL, THE KEY TO LEARNING AND INTELLECTUAL GROWTH.
COURSE TOPICS AND READINGS
[A syllabus is an idealized schedule of assignments and activities. If adjustments to this schedule are necessary, all changes will be announced in class.]
JANUARY
T--9: Introduction to class.
Th-11: Lomperis, The War Everyone Lost--and Won, prologue, introduction, chapters 1 & 2
T--16: Lomperis, complete
Th-18: Heinemann, Close Quarters pp. 3-77.
T--23: Heinemann, pp. 78-208.
Th-25: Heinemann, pp. 209-270.
T- 30: Heinemann, pp. 271-336.
FEBRUARY
Th--1: Hodgson, America in Our Time, preface and pp. 1-99
T---6: Hodgson, pp. 100-178
Th--8: to be decided
T--13: Hodgson, pp. 179-274
Th-15: Hodgson, pp. 274-353
T--20: Hodgson, pp. 353-499
Th-22: O'Brien, The Things They Carried, pp. 1-72,
Fri-23 MID-POINT
T--27: O'Brien, pp. 75-199.
Th-29: O'Brien, pp. 203-273.
MARCH
3-10 Spring Break
T--12: Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, the funeral, books I & II
Th-14: Sheehan, books III & IV
Th-19: McDonald, A Band of Brothers, pp. xi-39.
T--21: McDonald, pp. 43-102.
Th-26: McDonald, pp. 105-144.
Th-28: Poetry: a collection
APRIL
T--3 Sheehan, book V
Th-5: Sheehan, book VI
T--9: Sheehan, book VII
Th-11: to be decided
T--16: to be decided
Th-18: to be decided
Sat-27 final exam due at 2 pm