Vietnam - What's in a Name?
Introduction:
As Tom mentioned, I'm the International Program Director at the Center of Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History. The
Center was created in 1993 in response to the growing concerns in the museum
about the biodiversity crisis. In the international arena, we bring the museum's expertise in zoology, anthropology, education, and exhibition to bear? on issues of biodiversity and conservation. Our approach is multidisciplinary and collaborative, as we believe this is the most productive way for us to meet the challenges in conserving the earth's natural resources.
An example of our strategy is our program in Vietnam where we are in the
middle of a three year conservation project. You may have noticed that I called
my talk "Vietnam: What's in a Name?" I chose that because most of us think of
the 1960's when we hear the word Vietnam. We think of scenes from "Platoon" and
"The Deer Hunter". We think of marches on Washington. And most of us
inevitably shutter. But what I'd like to do today is to show another perspective on Vietnam and perhaps inspire you to give another perspective to your
students about it and places around the world where we have maybe a single
vision of those areas.
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