Project Brief: Exploring the Montagnard Connection to the Vietnam War.

I find the circumstances revolving the Montagnard expulsion from their native Vietnam and the explusion's relation to the Vietnam war to be interesting.  Over the next few weeks I will be exploring what their culture was like before the war and how it related with mainstream Vietnam and the country's history with the French.  Then I will move to an exploration of how the country's political split affected these people, and how the war, with an ever-advancing North Vietnamese presence, affected life, and how the American presence worked with the Montagnards.  Finally I will research how the Montagnards arrived in the United States as a result of the war.

A lot of raw data can be mined from libraries, databases, and the web, but to give emotional meaning to the research I have to look at the personal aspect of the time, and the most effective way would be to work with a Montagnard who has lived thorough the war. Finding these emotional responses what I still need to learn to make my project successful.

I already have several resources at my disposal. Helpful so far has been Vietnam Military Studies site, which explains the Montagnard connection to the Americans in the war. Another site on the Montagnards as Viewed by American Soliders gives personal information on their relation to the war, as well as basic information on the people, and how they live.