Sixties Generations Conference

From Montgomery to Viet Nam 4-6 March, 1993

Fairfax, VA

Sponsored by Viet Nam Generation, Inc., and the American Studies, Film Studies and African American Studies Programs of George Mason University

Thursday, March 4

5:00-7:00pm

Welcome Reception, Cash bar

8:30-10:00pm

Play Reading: Cellophane Xerox

Friday, March 5

9:00-10:30am

Panel 1: Reinterpreting the Sixties I

• "Still Blowin' in the Wind: Reinterpreting the 1960s in the 1990s," Cathey Calloway, Arkansas State Univ;
• "The Sixties as Great Awakening," Dr. David Williams, GMU
• "Rewriting the Sixties: How Current Cable Television Program Guidelines Create a Revisionist Look at the Events of the Decade," James M. Forsher

Panel 2: Environmentalism in the Sixties: Association for the Study of Literature and Environment

• "Corporate Culture and the Commodification of Environmental Concern," Matthew Crane, Crozet, VA;
• "The Contrariness of Edward Abbey," Patrick Stejskal, Univ of Virginia
• "More Notes on 'Camp,'" Dan Philippon, Charlottesville, VA
• "You Say You Want a Revolution: Environmental Reform in the Literature of the 1860s and 1960s," Michael Branch, Univ of Virginia

10:45am-12:15pm

Panel 3: Reinterpreting the Sixties II

• "Pedagogy & Polarity: Understanding the Viet Nam War," Dan Scripture, UCSC
• "Paradigms Lost: How Higher Education Killed the Sixties in America," John Milam, GMU
• "Under the Counter Culture: Subtexts of the 60s, the 80s, and the 90s," Kim Worthy, Wagner College

Panel 4: Reinterpreting the Sixties III

• "Again: The Drug Culture of the Sixties," Carolyn Buckley-LaRocque, GMU
• "Lock and Load High School: The Landmark Battle Over the War in Vietnam and Free Speech at University High School, 1965-1970," Marc Jason Gilbert, North Georgia College
• "'68: Gendering the Face of Political Action," Leah D. Hackleman, Bowling Green State Univ

1:30-3:00pm

Panel 5: Gender, Sex, Nation: (Re)conceiving the Black Body Politic

Panel participants: Marita Golden, Marilyn Mobley, Robert Carr

Panel 6: Sixties Literatures

• "Officers Don't Cry: The Poetry of B.D. Trail," Dan Duffy, Viet Nam Forum, Viet Nam Generation, Inc.
• "Backwash Novels and the Vietnam War," Victoria E. McLure, South Plains College
• ""Laughing at Fathers and Titans: Thomas Pynchon's Masculinist Gigantism," Wes Chapman, Illinois Wesleyan Univ

3:15-5:15pm

Panel 7: International Perspectives

• "Five U.S. Wars in Asia," Renny Christopher, UCSC
• "American Countercultural Representations of India and Hegemonic Discourse," Mike Youngblood, Univ of Wisconsin
• "What Were Those Viet Cong Women Really Up To?" Lady Borton
• "The Role of the American Exile Community in the Viet Nam Era Anti-war Movement," Jack Calhoun

Panel 8: Reinterpreting the Sixties IV

• "Recollection or Recognition: Negotiating the 'Sixties' as Concrete Utopia," Tom Moylan, GMU
• "History, Popular Culture and the Viet Nam War," Andrew Martin, Univ of Wisconsin
• "The Other Sixties," Paul Lyons

5:30-7:30pm

Poetry Reading

• Jive Talk: Poems on Growing Up Filipino-American in the 60s
  • Vince Gotera
• Viet Nam and California
  • Renny Christopher
• Hippie Baseball
  • M.L. Liebler

8:15pm

Poetry Reading & Reception

• W.D. Ehrhart
  • W.D. Ehrhart is the author of several narratives, includieng Vietnam-Perkasie, Passing Time, and Going Back, as well as essays and poetry including Just for Laughs, Winter Bells, The Outer Banks, and To Those Who Have Gone Home Tired.
• David Connolly
  • David Connally 's first book of poetry, Lost in America, was published in 1994, by Viet Nam Generation, Inc.

Saturday, March 6

10:00am-1:00pm and 2:00-5:00pm

Roundtable Discussion: "On the Sixties in the Nineties"

The day long Roundtable will feature participants who were activists in the 60's and continue to be so now. People who were active in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Panther Party, the Yippies, various racial/ethnic formations, antiwar formations, political formations, or women's groups, as well as cultural workers will be part of the Roundtable.

The intention of the Roundtable is to get beyond the ideological traps of nostalgic reminiscences or cynical dismissal of the movements of the 60's. Rather, we hope to achieve a serious reflection on what was fought for, learned, lost, and gained in those years. Yet, we also hope for a further discussion centered on the dreams and the means of the 60's as they continue today--older, wiser, and multiple and diverse.

The morning session will focus on recollections and reflections on people's involvement in movement work in the 60's. The afternoon session will focus on the value of the lessons and the continuing agendas and methods of the 60's movements as they affect the work of social justice in the 90's.

We encourage conference participants to drop in on the Roundtable and join the ongoing discussion. Roundtable participants are also urged to visit other conference events and to join us for a cash bar, reception, and concert at the conclusion of the discussion.

Conference Panels

9:00-10:30am

Panel 9: Viet Nam War Film I

• "Viet Nam War Film," Cynthia Fuchs
• "The Heart of Darkness Motif in Vietnam War Texts," David L. Erben, Univ of South Florida
• "Warren Beatty and the Draft," Katherine Kinney, UC Riverside

10:45am-12:15pm

Panel 10: Sixties Popular Culture

• "Folk Songs and Allusions to Folks Songs in the Repertoire of the Grateful Dead," Josephine A. McQuail, Tennessee Tech Univ
• "Beatles, Beach Boys, Leave It To Beaver, Mustangs, GTO's Freedom Marches, a sexual revolution, a war and PTSD," John Ketwig

1:30-3:00pm

Panel 11: Performing Arts

• "Planet Shakespeare: The Bard in Cold War America," Susan Fox, Washington, DC
• "Shakespeare, Kerouac & Hedrick," Donald K. Hedrick, Kansas State Univ
• "West African Dance and Race/Culture and Gender Identity in Los Angeles African American Communities," Phylise Smith, UCLA

Panel 12: Reinterpreting the Sixties V

• "Peace Through Law: John Seiberling's Vision of World Order," Miriam Jackson, Kent, OH
• "Reverend Malcolm Boyd and Bishop Paul Moore, Jr.," Michael B. Friedland, Boston College
• "Eros on the New Frontier: The Limits of Liberal Tolerance," Louis J. Kern, Hofstra Univ

3:15-4:45pm

Panel 13: The Viet Nam War

• "The National Liberation Front in South Viet Nam," Ton That Manh Tuong
• "The Tet Offensive and Middletown: A Study in Contradiction," Anthony O. Edmonds
• "The Impact of the American Antiwar Movement on the South Vietnamese Urban Youth Struggle Movement," Nguyen Huu Thai

Panel 14: Viet Nam War Film/Drama II

• "Decentering Genre: Vietnam War Films and Portrayal of Reality," Catherine E. Richardson, Chattanooga, TN
• "The Death of the Sixties: Easy Rider & and Deliverance," Margie Burns, Cheverly, MD
• "Luis Valdez and Teatro Campesino," Dave DeRose, Yale Univ

5:00-6:30pm

Panel 15: Music

• "Folkore of the Viet Nam War," Lydia Fish, SUNY-Buffalo
• "In Country Songs," Chuck Rosenberg
• "Pilot Songs of the Viet Nam War," Chip Dockery

7:30pm

Concert & Reception

• O.V. Hirsch
• Chip Dockery
• Chuck Rosenberg

All three musicians are Viet Nam veterans. Their styles range from rock and roll to country and western. O.V. Hirsch and his band play in clubs in New York City. Chip Dockery and Chuck Rosenberg have recorded songs which have appeared on the In Country compact disc from Flying Fish Records, and recently were featured on an Austin City Limits concert of Viet Nam war veteran musicians. Chuck Rosenberg's one-man show, Jody Got His Cadillac has toured the country.