Charles McClain participated in a workshop on American Studies held at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), Vietnam National University (VNU), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 20-21. The workshop brought together faculty teaching the subject from universities around the country. McClain, vice chair of the Jurisprudence and Social Policy and Legal Studies Programs and lecturer in residence, gave talks at the workshop on the American legal system and on the teaching of undergraduate legal studies at American universities. He also consulted with the USSH/VNU faculty on ways of incorporating interdisciplinary law teaching into American Studies courses and spoke on aspects of American law and legal history to American Studies classes at the university. In addition, McClain gave a lecture on American legal culture at the Institute for International Relations, a division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that trains future diplomats, and a public lecture on Asian Americans and the law at the National Library of Vietnam. McClain’s visit marks one of the first contacts between Boalt faculty and faculty in Vietnam.
The trip was sponsored by the Asia Foundation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco which collaborates with private and public partners to support programs in Asia promoting leadership and institutional development, exchanges and policy research. The Asia Foundation was also one of the co-sponsors of the faculty workshop.