A big congratulations to Sarah Beth Hopton! The Humanities Scholars Fellowship committee has recommended her to receive one of the College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Scholars Fellowships. The proposed project "Communication Science and Engaging the Public in the DaNang, Vietnam Remediation Effort" will provide strong opportunities to build continued partnerships in Vietnam and with colleagues in Texas and at USAID.
About the Research Project
From 1961 to 1971 the United States and the Republic of South Vietnam used chemicals to defoliate the coastal and upland forest areas of Vietnam. High concentrations of dioxin, a toxic byproduct of the manufacture of 24D and 245T, later nicknamed “Agent Orange,” remained in the soil and sediment in and around Danang and other former U.S. military commands after the US military evacuated in 1976. Agent Orange has been attributed to the death, disease, or disfigurement of some 2 million Vietnamese and tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers (Aspen Institute).
In 2014, at the request of the Government of Vietnam (GVN), the United States Government agreed to remediate the environment in and around the Danang Airport. Though all agencies involved in the effort agree long term success requires stakeholder and community engagement (indeed, some 55 meetings, site visits, and workshops have been held between the US and Vietnamese governments), including the Vietnamese public and surrounding community has proven difficult. Much of this difficulty results from cultural, institutional, and political practices that conflict with western ideals of participatory communication and stakeholder inclusion.
A key research question then becomes: how can western organizations, grounded in democratic ideals of public participation and communication, better facilitate stakeholder engagement and scientific communication in Communist contexts?
The aim of this research project is threefold:
● To more fully understand how cultural, institutional, and political practices in Communist contexts revise the western concept of “stakeholder”
● To document the scope, scale, and limitations of stakeholder engagement in Communist contexts
● To adapt, remap or remodel theories of stakeholder engagement and participation for Communist contexts
Way to go, Sarah Beth!