Representations of War: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis of the Vietnam War in High School History Standards

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Seventeen
  In Roundtable Session: UnSettling Social Studies: Difficult Knowledge and (Post)Colonial Legacies (Table 6)

Abstract

We conducted a content analysis on public high school history standards in Vietnam and the United States with regards to how each country included the other in their standards. We found that the United States standards had enormous differences between states, but generally framed Vietnam in the context of the Vietnam War, positioned the war as an extension of the Cold War, and focused on its effects on American policy and cultural identity. However, Vietnamese high school history standards framed the United States in a much wider context, positioned the Vietnam War as a war for national sovereignty, and focused on the role of national heroes in the war and its effect on national identity.

Authors

• Jonathan Lancaster, Bergen County Academies
  Presenting Author

• Jeremy Hilburn, University of North Carolina - Wilmington
  Presenting Author