Kim Phuc gained international fame in 1972 when she was photographed being burned by napalm bombing in her hometown in South Vietnam." Her address is part of the forthcoming conference of the Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies, to be held at York University from October 14-16, 2005.

A roundtable discussion on “The Indochina War: Memories and Meanings after Thirty Years” will commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the end of the war marked by the U.S. pullout from Vietnam in April 1975, and the subsequent victory of anti-U.S. forces in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The roundtable discussion will be open to the public. With more than 100 participants expected to attend, it will be the largest Canadian gathering of scholars and activists on Southeast Asia.

“It is a great honour for York to be hosting this important gathering of Canadian and international experts on Southeast Asia,” says Dr. Peter Vandergeest, Director of the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR), which is organizing the conference on behalf of the association.

Titled Re-visioning Southeast Asia: Conflicts, Connections and Vulnerabilities, the conference will explore topics as diverse as Southeast Asia’s history, democratic movements, migration and trans-nationalism, popular culture, urban and rural development, environment and livelihoods, contemporary conflicts, regional political issues, and the interface between social activism and scholarship.

Now a UNESCO goodwill ambassador who lives in Ajax and who founded Kim Foundation International, an international charity to help child victims of war, Phuc recently received the Order of Ontario and an honorary degree from York University in October, 2004.

The discussion will be chaired by Dr. Julie Dai-Trang Nguyen of the University of Toronto. Other speakers on the panel will include Robert Winder, a Canadian Vietnam veteran; Toan Bui, who will speak about growing up in North Vietnam during the war; Toronto lawyer Lloyd Duong, author of ‘Boat People’; Thanh Tie, a Cambodian Canadian who lived through the Khmer Rouge genocide period and escaped to Thailand; and Chau Du, a young Vietnamese-Canadian, whose parents were among the tens of thousands of Vietnamese Boat People who eventually settled in Canada. 

Senior scholar David Wurfel of YCAR, one of Canada’s leading authorities on Vietnam, will give an overview of the 30-year platform in the U.S. and reflect on his experience as an anti-war participant in both Canada and the U.S.

During the conference, Prof. Penny Van Esterik of York’s Anthropology Department will screen a series of films about the war and its aftermath.

While registration is necessary for most parts of the conference, there will be no charge for attending the roundtable retrospective. The public is welcome to attend. 

The roundtable discussion will be held from 2:30 to 4:30 pm, Friday October 14, 2005 at York University, in the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Building.

For more details about the conference, participants, presentations and events, contact Rhoda Reyes at YCAR, 416 736-2100 ext. 44068, or visit the conference website.
 

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For more information, contact:
Melissa Hughes, Media Relations, York University, 416-736-2100 x22097/mehughes@yorku.ca