Feb. 28, 2000
Contact: Mary Bridget Reilly
513-556-1824
mary-bridget.reilly@uc.edu

DRAMATIC CLASSROOM ROLES AID IN STUDY OF VIETNAM ERA

Cincinnati -- Every week this quarter, fine art graduate student Mark Shafer sits through his honors course wearing a heavy-duty, broadcast-quality headset clamped over his ears.

It's not that he's trying to tune the teacher out. Rather, he and fellow seminar students are trying to fine tune their understanding of the Vietnam War.

Shafer and the 15 other students in the first-time course, "The History of the Vietnam War in Film, Literature and Art," have each taken on a persona typical of the late 1960s and early 1970s, dramatically portraying their characters throughout each class meeting in order to better appreciate the drama of the era.

"Their roles must be well-researched and realistic. It's a stimulating way to introduce young people to a war that seems as distant to them at the end of the century as did World War I to me when I was a child," explained course developer and leader Joan Seeman Robinson, adjunct assistant professor of art history who has long studied and written on art related to the Vietnam conflict. (She plays the role of Ho Chi Minh every week. All roles were drawn in a lottery.)

As a disc-jockey wearing a retro-patterned shirt and bandana -- all the while perched behind his authentic 1940s-era broadcast microphone -- Shafer has made a special study of the music scene surrounding anti-war activism, especially that in Clifton near the university. "I've met and interviewed people from the Ludlow Garage (a local garage-turned-club)...Some of the local musicians then were UC students at the time. I'm finding there was a real relationship at the time between UC and the anti-war community in Clifton," he explained.

Other students study, speak and dress for roles such as a photojournalist in Vietnam, a prisoner-of-war, an anti-war activist, an army nurse, specific political and military leaders, as well as family members of those intimately connected to the war.

Music education major Alanna Doherty's role is, no doubt, the most natural fit. She plays the role of a veteran's daughter, and, indeed, is a veteran's daughter. As part of the class, she is reading accounts by other veterans' daughters, and for the first time, talking to her own father about the time he spent in Vietnam as a pilot. "We never had talked about it seriously. He would tell me stories about the work he did in an orphanage there and about sending letters home to ask for supplies," she commented. That may change during the class meeting on Feb. 29 when her father will come from Seattle to talk to the class about his experiences.

He is not the only family member touched by this timely course, timely in that May 4, 2000, will serve as the 30th anniversary of the Kent State shootings, and April 30, 2000, will serve as the 25th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. "I discussed this with my Mom. We had never talked about the war, but she was interested in what I was taking. When I talked about a person who set himself afire in front of the Pentagon and about the eight Buddhist monks who immolated themselves, she started to cry," recalled art history major Chad Reumann who plays the role of Robert McNamara, former Secretary of Defense.

While some students like Doherty find a fit with their role, others find the role-playing more illuminating by virtue of the contrast to their own personalities. Pre-med major Garry Parks disagrees with the methods and attitudes of anti-war activist David Harris even while he must faithfully portray them. "What he said about the soldiers was wrong. He was arrogant. The anti-war activists acted like they were on a mission from God to name all other people as bad," criticized Parks.

The intense three hours of each course session, combined with the research, writing, debate and guest speakers, brings out the complexity of a time the students say they previously knew little about. "You can't say one side is right or wrong. I'm appalled about My Lai, but I know where those soldiers were coming from. I don't know who to feel sorriest for," stated English major Maggie McNerney, who plays the role of a reporter at My Lai. "All were subjected to horror. You can't be hasty to say you're against the war if you don't delve into it. I'm surprised to hear myself say that. The vet know that though. It's a lot more complex than I thought."