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HO CHI MINH C. David Thomas This event took place on Sunday, March 19th 2000 "HO CHI MINH: The Forbidden Icon" Panelist information for HO CHI MINH: The Forbidden Icon a panel discussion and public forum Sunday, March 19th from 1:00 — 4:00 PM in the James Moore Theatre at the Oakland Museum of California. The panel will discuss Ho Chi Minh from artistic, historical and social perspectives. John Dzuong Nguyen is executive director of the American Viet League. Peter Zinoman is an Assistant Professor of Southeast Asian History at UCB. Born in Bangkok, he grew up in various parts of Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Thailand and Laos. In 1996, he completed the requirements for a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian History from Cornell University. His major research interests include modern Vietnamese history and literature. In Fall 2,000, the University of California Press will publish his first book entitled: The Colonial Bastille: A Social History Of Imprisonment in Vietnam, 1862-1940. The book examines the history of the Indochinese prison system and the relationship between colonial penal institutions and the development of communism, anti-colonialism and nationalism in Vietnam. He has also published numerous translations of contemporary Vietnamese fiction and articles about literature and political dissent in modern Vietnam. He is currently researching the life and work of the colonial-era writer, journalist, and social critic Vu Trong Phung (1911-1939). David Thomas joined the U.S. Army in 1969 and was sent to Pleiku, South Vietnam, as a combat engineer/artist. In 1987 he returned to Vietnam for the first time. Since then he has made more than thirty trips to Vietnam to do research and conduct programs of cultural exchange between the United States and Vietnam. Thomas has curated three exhibitions: As Seen by Both Sides: American and Vietnamese Artists Look at the War (the first major cultural exchange between the U.S. and Vietnam since the war), An Ocean Apart: Contemporary Vietnamese Artwork From The United States and Vietnam, and Seven Pillars: The National Treasure Artists of Vietnam. In 1999, Thomas became the first foreigner to receive the Vietnam Art Medal, Vietnam's highest art award. Since 1987 Thomas has done extensive research on Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese culture and has collected hundreds of pictures of Ho Chi Minh, stamps and other images from Vietnamese history. Nguyen Qui Duc Since coming to America in 1975, Nguyen Qui Duc has been involved in radio and television both in mainstream and ethnic media. He is also the author of "Where The Ashes Are, The Odyssey of a Vietnamese Family" and co-editor of "Vietnam: A Traveler's Literary Companion". In the mid-90s, Nguyen Qui Duc helped acquire and curate a collection of artworks from Vietnam for Cyclo Gallery in San Francisco. He was co-curator in 1995 for the San Jose Museum of Art's companion show to the Smithsonian's An Ocean Apart, an exhibition of works by Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American artists. He also was a co-curator for the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery and helped organized an exhibition for Vietnamese American artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is currently the executive editor of Omely.com, a website built for Vietnamese and people concerned about Vietnam and Vietnamese culture.
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