History/Political Science 382 comprises an upper-level seminar that focuses on the impact of popular American motion pictures and major documentaries of the Vietnam War on U.S. history and culture. It promotes critical thinking about the Vietnam War to understand how historical, economic, social, and political conditions affected American cultural values and beliefs. In that sense, this course centers primarily on the place of the Vietnam War in American culture and memory.
This is not a course that centers on the Vietnam War itself. Although historical subfields overlap, this is not principally a class on economic, military, or diplomatic history, but rather one on U.S. cultural, social, and political history. Political culture will necessarily be central to our analysis – and we will engage themes significant to political scientists.
- Teacher: Dustin Walcher