Dana Sachs

Dana Sachs first traveled to Vietnam in 1990 and she has been visiting the country and writing about it ever since. Her first book, The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam, chronicles her experiences living in Hanoi in the 1990s. Her novel If You Lived Here tells the story of the friendship between two women, one a Vietnamese exile in the United States and the other a North Carolina native, who travel together to Vietnam. In 2010, she published The Life We Were Given: Operation Babylift, International Adoption, and the Children of War in Vietnam, the result of a Fulbright Foundation Fellowship that allowed her to conduct extensive research in Vietnam. Dana’s love of literature and Vietnamese culture led her to translate, with Vietnamese partners, many Vietnamese short stories and to co-edit Crossing the River, a collection of short fiction by the acclaimed writer Nguyen Huy Thiep. With Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Bui Hoai Mai, she compiled a collection of Vietnamese folktales, Two Cakes Fit for a King, which includes beautifully illustrated versions of some of the country’s most beloved stories. Dana and her sister, documentary filmmaker Lynne Sachs, also produced Which Way is East, a documentary film about contemporary Vietnam. Her journalistic articles and essays on Vietnam have appeared in numerous places, including National Geographic, The International Herald Tribune, Travel and Leisure Family and the Huffington Post. She lives with her family in North Carolina.

Ronald Wixman

Professor Ron Wixman was one of the founders of the Asian Studies Program at the University of Oregon where he taught courses on culture, ethnicity, nationalism, religion, and geopolitics. As such, he has done research on the people and cultures of South East Asia, which included numerous trips to throughout this diverse culture region. As a specialist on these topics he has been a lecturer and tour leader to all of the countries of South East Asia. His research focused on the diversity of cultures, religions, and ethnicities of all of Southeast Asia, which included not only the majority peoples that form the bases of the current countries of the region, but also on the numerous minorities in the highlands. Vietnam is one of the most diverse and interesting of these countries and has played a major role in the cultural history of its neighbors as well. Included among the topics he will discuss with you are: ethnic and religious diversity of Southeast Asia; traditional versus modern agricultural development; the impact of colonial rule by the Chinese and the French; and modern geopolitical issues in Vietnam. Not only will you enjoy the friendly and welcoming people of Vietnam, but also the fabulous cuisine of this country, which is becoming a world-wide phenomenon with restaurants now becoming popular throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Jonathan GoldbergBelle

Jonathan GoldbergBelle serves as Director of Study Away Programs at the University of Illinois at Springfield. He holds a Ph.D. in South Asian Language and Literature from the University of Wisconsin with a focus on the study of the great epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, both in their classical and present-day forms. Jonathan remains a student of South Asian Literature, particularly contemporary fiction, and of Asian Philosophy and Religion with an interest in the development and spread of Buddhism from India throughout Asia.

His most recent university courses include “Colonial and Post-Colonial Identity in South Asia," “The Pacific War: World War II in East Asia,” “Nationalism and Identity in Vietnam” and “Spaces of Encounter in East Asia.” He has also collaborated on courses focusing on Japan, China, Thailand and Vietnam with other faculty at his university.

Jonathan has served as a Smithsonian Journeys expert on programs to India and Vietnam and will be returning to both countries in this capacity in 2020.

He has a broad interest in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. He is particularly fascinated with the way the region was influenced by South and East Asia while developing its own separate and unique cultures. He is currently teaching an Honor’s course on Vietnam and preparing a short term study abroad program there for his university. His experience with Smithsonian Journeys study program has informed his decisions regarding both the course and study abroad program and, at the same time, he will bring his current research on Vietnam to the Discovering Vietnam program. He has also been enjoying the opportunity to explore Vietnam’s varied cuisine which will be a highlight of the Smithsonian Journeys program.

Jonathan has been in the field of International Education for over 30 years. He has organized and led study programs to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Most recently he has taken groups to China, Korea, Japan, India, England, Rome/Malta, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Lawrence Butler

Dr. Butler received his BA and MA from Oberlin College and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.  Trained as an art historian of Medieval Europe, the Mediterranean and Islamic world, Butler’s teaching and scholarly interests now range across pre-modern Eurasia, including the Silk Road connections between the Mediterranean world and East Asia. While at George Mason University he served as director of the Art History program, and as Coordinator of the Ancient Mediterranean Art and Archaeology minor.

Dr. Butler has taught at GMU and Hiram College and has also held research positions at a number of museums. He was a Fulbright Research Fellow in Turkey in 1982-83. He has been an active participant in the Semester at Sea program, taking students on academic study tours around the world.  He was the visiting lecturer in Art History on the Fall 1999, Summer 2004, and Fall 2009 voyages.  On the Summer 2011 voyage, he was the Global Studies lecturer.

In 2004, Dr. Butler was awarded George Mason University’s Teaching Excellence Award and in 2005 he was elected to Phi Beta Delta, the honorary society for international education.  He lectures frequently for the Smithsonian Associates on the arts and cultural history of Spain and Portugal, Turkey, China, and many other places in between.