Art on the Edge of Politics - Travel to Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand
January 1 - January 25, 2009
Art on the Edge of Politics: Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand
Course Number 3800-02
Three credit hours in history, social science, literature, or liberal arts open elective in combination for no more than six credits.
Art on the Edge of Politics is a mobile class conducted in the field in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. All three countries offer a wide range of geographic diversity; mountains, beaches, jungle, rugged coastline, and in Vietnam the huge rice producing Mekong Delta studded with floating villages. This trip provides a once in a life time educational opportunity to become familiar with the history, literature, art, geography, anthropology, archeology, and the economies of this fascinating area. This is an experience you do not want to miss. The class will spend one day in Kansas City, on December 31, and then depart for Vietnam January 1. We will begin our return on January 25, flying from Bangkok and on to USA.
You will get around “in country” mostly by plane and you will be in the field everyday with native speaking guides, but you will also take two bicycle tours and many walking tours, as well as cyclos, tuk tuks, etc. In Hanoi and Phnom Penh you will meet with art students.
Special emphasis is placed on the long terrible war that afflicted the United States and Vietnam; a war that left a profound imprint as well on France, Cambodia, and Laos. Battlefield tours include Dien Bien Phu, Khe Sanh/DMZ, Hue, the Cu Chi and Vinh Moc Tunnels, as well as the Hanoi Hilton and various military sites in Ho Chi Minh City. In Phnom Penh you will tour the Genocide Museum (Toul Sleng/S21) and visit the killing fields from Pol Pot’s grizzly reign that murdered some two million human beings. Other highlights include two evenings with the Black Thai in the mountains of Vietnam, a day boat tour of Halong Bay, the Cham museum in Danang, an afternoon and night in a small town beach hotel, the national art museum in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, a day hydrofoil trip from Phnom Pent to Siem Reap, and a full day at Angkor Wat.
Faculty:
Dr. Hal Wert, Ph.D.: Dr. Wert is professor of history in KCAI’s School of Liberal Arts and an expert on foreign relations and military history. He has written extensively on refugees, displaced persons, and U.S. relief efforts in World War II and after.
Dr. Jim Willbanks: Dr. Willbanks is Director, Department of Military History, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He has written three books on Vietnam, served in Vietnam, and was combat wounded at the Battle of An Loc.
Cost:
6 credit hours: $7,100 includes tuition, hotels, airfare, breakfasts and lunches
3 credit hours: $6,590 includes tuition, hotels, airfare, breakfasts and lunches
0 credit hours and associated with KCAI: $5,670 includes hotels, airfare, breakfasts, lunches and trip fee
0 credit hours not associated
with KCAI: $6,070 includes hotels, airfare, breakfasts, lunches and trip fee
Deadlines:
Application and $250 deposit due: September 19, 2008
First half of total amount due: October 3
Final payment due: October 22
Spaces are limited so please apply as soon as possible. Selections will be completed by September 26.
For more information contact Dr. Hal Wert: hwert@kcai.edu