Public film and discussion series “Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath” announces spring 2018 offerings
By Ellen Gwin Burnette
Posted Feb. 9, 2018 at 10 a.m.
BOONE, N.C. — “Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath” announces its second discussion series, to take place during February, March and April on Appalachian State University’s campus. This discussion series, funded by a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), brings together community and student veterans, their families and interested community members to discuss the experience of military service, particularly as it pertains to wartime deployment.
Part of the NEH’s “Dialogues on the Experience of War” program, the “Blurred Boundaries” interdisciplinary project was developed by Dr. Valerie Wieskamp, assistant professor in Appalachian’s Department of Communication; Dr. Lynn Searfoss, associate professor in Appalachian’s Department of English; and Dr. Clark Maddux, director of Appalachian’s Watauga Residential College.
The program is organized around novels, films and photographs about the Civil War and the Vietnam War. Conversations focus on military and social history, personal experience and the role of stories in helping individuals understand historical and personal events. Discussions explore ways in which clear boundaries between home and alien territory, friend and enemy, and right and wrong often become blurred during war.
Discussions will be led by veterans Mel Falck ’14, Joe Hough and Philip Weiner ’16, and by military family member Adam Williams — all students at Appalachian.
Photo by Ellen Gwin Burnette
Mel Falck ’14
Falck, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq, is a doctoral student in Appalachian’s educational leadership program and is an administrative support specialist with Appalachian’s Reich College of Education. He holds a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Appalachian, with a focus in expressive arts therapy and addictions counseling.
Photo submitted
Joe Hough
Hough, who serves in the North Carolina National Guard, has deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq, and is a student in Reich College of Education’s educational administration program at Appalachian. He is the assistant superintendent of Buncombe County Schools.
Photo by Ellen Gwin Burnette
Philip Weiner ’16
Appalachian alumnus Phillip Weiner ’16 served in the U.S. Navy for four years before obtaining his bachelor’s in criminal justice at Appalachian in 2016. Weiner is an officer in Appalachian’s Student Veterans of America chapter and a student in the Master of Public Administration program at Appalachian.
Photo by Ellen Gwin Burnette
Adam Williams
Williams, a sophomore English major at Appalachian from Blairsville, Georgia, is the son of a U.S. Army Ranger. He has interned with the VALOR Clinic Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping veterans, particularly those with injuries, return to civilian life.
These leaders will use selected passages drawn from films, books and photographs centered on the Civil War and the Vietnam War to spark conversation about military service. Discussion participants will receive free copies of the books discussed in the series.
All series events, including film screenings, are free and open to the public. Veterans and their family members, as well as interested community members are encouraged to participate.
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
Feb. 17, 2018
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
421 Belk Library and Information Commons
Discuss “Cold Mountain” and ”The World Made Straight.” Think about how Frazier presents the Home Guard. Does a familial, social, or historical relationship to the border area of the Civil War encourage other attitudes toward the militia units in this area during the Civil War?
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
March 1, 2018
5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
421 Belk Library and Information Commons
Discuss “Time of Drums” and the Liljenquist Family Collection. Some points to consider: What role does the border conflict play in shaping character in this novel? What questions of morality and sacrifice emerge from the novel? What do the Liljenquist photographs reveal about the soldiers who fought in the War? What do they indicate about the nature of the war as an expression of social class and social identity?
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
March 24, 2018
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
421 Belk Library and Information Commons
Discuss “The Sympathizer.” Things to think about: What types of borders does the protagonist navigate and how does that impact his relationships with friends, his homeland, and his political orientation? How does Nguyen’s novel differ from representations of the Vietnam War in “Apocalypse Now?”
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
April 7, 2018
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
421 Belk Library and Information Commons
Discuss “American Daughter Gone to War.” How does Smith negotiate the terrain of military bases ill-equipped for female service members? What different dangers and stressors does she face as opposed to her male counterparts? How do Smith’s definitions of family change once she is deployed to Vietnam? How do Smith’s ideas of moral superiority and patriotism shift over time, both while she is in Vietnam and once she returns stateside?
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
April 13 - 14, 2018
The Appalachian Veterans Arts & Humanities Collective, in collaboration with Blurred Boundaries, will host “Women, The Military, War & Its Aftermath” to explore the importance of women’s voices regarding military service, war, its aftermath, and the nearly invisible role of women and families left stateside. The keynote speaker and workshop facilitator will be award-winning poet Jehanne Dubrow, whose collections of poems “Stateside” and “Dots and Dashes” examine her own experiences as a Navy wife looking at the before, during and after of her husband’s deployment.
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
April 28, 2018
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
421 Belk Library and Information Commons
On this, our final meeting, participants will share their own stories of the experience of war and are encouraged to create their stories through a variety of written and/or visual media.
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
Feb. 15, 2018
5 - 9 p.m.
Greenbriar Theatre (Plemmons Student Union)
In the waning days of the American Civil War, a wounded soldier embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina to reunite with his sweetheart.
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
Feb. 27, 2018
5 - 7 p.m.
Greenbriar Theatre (Plemmons Student Union)
In a rural Appalachian community haunted by the legacy of a Civil War massacre, a rebellious young man struggles to escape the violence that would bind him to the past.
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
March 22, 2018
5 - 9 p.m.
Greenbriar Theatre (Plemmons Student Union)
During the Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe.
Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath
April 5, 2018
5 - 7 p.m.
Greenbriar Theatre (Plemmons Student Union)
This 60-minute documentary by Fred Milano, professor emeritus of sociology at Appalachian, examines a controversial topic that was largely ignored --- the role of American women in the Vietnam War, 1964-1973. The film consists entirely of interviews with female nurses and Red Cross volunteers.
Since 2010, Victory Media, the premier media entity for military personnel transitioning into civilian life, has awarded Appalachian the designation of Military Friendly School. The designation places Appalachian in the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools in the country that are doing the most to embrace military students, and to dedicate resources to ensure their success in the classroom and after graduation. For 2018, Appalachian made Victory Media’s Top 10 list, ranking No. 9 among large public universities.
Appalachian has a debut ranking on the Military Times Best: Colleges 2018 list, an annual survey now in its eighth year. The survey assesses two- and four-year colleges, as well as online and nontraditional colleges and career and technical schools, based on their suitability for service members, military veterans and their families.
The National Endowment for the Humanities funds Appalachian’s “Blurred Boundaries: The Experience of War and Its Aftermath” discussion series, which explores how the humanities affect our understanding of armed conflict.
Part of the NEH’s “Dialogues on the Experience of War” program, this grant project was developed by Dr. Valerie Wieskamp, Department of Communication; Dr. Lynn Searfoss, Department of English; and Dr. Clark Maddux, Watauga Residential College.
As the premier public undergraduate institution in the Southeast, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls nearly 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.
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Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.
The migration of materials from other sites is still incomplete, so if you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:
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