The concerns of Nguyen Van Chinh, the only candidate to meet the professorship standards in Ethnology.

Associate Professor Nguyen Van Chinh is currently the Head of the Department of Development Anthropology, Faculty of Anthropology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

I was fortunate to hear him share his life and career as a researcher and lecturer in Ethnology. Despite his advanced age, he still harbors deep concerns about ethnic studies and training younger generations who share his passion for the field.

Approaching Ethnology through a Lifetime Journey

Associate Professor Nguyen Van Chinh was born and raised in Thuong Son village, Thuy Duong commune, Thuy Nguyen district, Hai Phong city.

In 1974, Mr. Chinh passed the entrance exam to Hanoi University, majoring in History (now the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi). He graduated in 1978.

According to Professor Chinh, the regular training program at the University at that time was four and a half years, and at the end of the course, students had six months to do an internship and write their graduation thesis.

The professor recounted: "I enrolled in the Ethnology major, but now I can't remember the biggest reason I chose it. I only know that studying Ethnology will give me the opportunity to travel to new lands, learn about unfamiliar ethnic groups, discover their customs, beliefs, and even the unexplored mysteries of their lives."

Speaking about his path to becoming an educator and scientific researcher, Professor Chinh said that his life has three very important milestones.First,He studied at the History Department, University of Hanoi (1974-1978) and was then retained as a lecturer (in 1979).Secondly,Served in the military (1980-1982).Third,Participated in an internship and completed a doctoral dissertation at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands (1989-2000).

While university provided opportunities to access new knowledge, his years in the military helped him cultivate discipline, patience, and a spirit of listening. And his years of dedicated study at the University of Amsterdam opened the door to the academic world, enhancing his knowledge and research skills.

Professor Nguyen Van Chinh participated in the 2020 Ethnology Conference. (Photo: Provided by the subject).

Recalling his early days at university in Europe, he said: “In September 1989, the university sent me to the Netherlands for an internship at the University of Amsterdam under the Vietnam-Netherlands cooperation program (VH25). There, I was accepted as a postgraduate intern at the Center for Asian Studies - Amsterdam (CASA). Professor Jeremy Kemp was my scientific advisor.”

I was able to participate in the sessions.speakerThe (workshop) of the Center for Asian Studies utilized the university's vast library and online internet system. This allowed me not only to connect with international scholars and friends but also provided an opportunity to access new and interesting academic issues and interests related to Asia.

I still remember the heated discussions about village life, Asian and Vietnamese farmers, migration and social welfare in rural areas, and the endless debate among researchers surrounding the question: Are Vietnamese farmers rational or emotional, initiated by American scholars?

After completing his postgraduate internship, Mr. Chinh participated in the selection process and was chosen as a doctoral research student at the University of Amsterdam, focusing on child labor in rural areas.

Professor Chinh (standing in the middle, holding a red document tube) officially defended his dissertation, "Unnamed Tasks: Child Labor in the Transitional Economy of Rural North Vietnam," at the Aula Chapel of the University of Amsterdam. The dissertation was highly regarded and awarded the Outstanding Dissertation Prize in 2000 by the Dutch Social and Cultural Society. This is a rare photograph taken at that time, which he has preserved to this day. (Photo: Provided by the subject).

Later, he was introduced by Dutch professors to the Southeast Asian Studies Program at the National University of Singapore (NUS) for postdoctoral research.postdoctoral research). From here, it paved the way for a new step forward in Professor Chinh's process of accumulating knowledge about countries in the region.

“Until I left Amsterdam for Singapore, I didn’t know much about the Southeast Asian research network. It was during my postdoctoral research at the National University of Singapore (NUS) that I began to broaden my horizons and build a network of relationships with researchers in the region.”

"At the National University of Singapore, emerging researchers and renowned professors from around the world are regularly invited for academic exchanges, and new issues in science are always kept up-to-date," Professor Chinh shared.
 

Scientific results contribute to adjusting and formulating policies for national and human development.

Looking back at the more than 40 years of scientific research by Associate Professor Nguyen Van Chinh, it can be seen that his research mainly focuses on three areas: Development Anthropology; Cultural and Ethnic Identity; and the History of Ethnology/Anthropology of Vietnam.

Nearly half of Professor's published scientific works focus on the field of Development Anthropology. It's difficult to summarize the vast amount of research he has produced in this short article!

When asked about the most profound and influential memories on his journey into ethnology, he answered without hesitation that it was his first ethnographic field trip to western Nghe An province in 1978. At that time, he was assigned to research the Tho people in Nghia Dan district.

According to the teacher's account, after leaving the bus station in Thai Hoa Town, he carried a backpack on his shoulder and followed a dusty red dirt road to Nghia Quang commune - the first stop on his journey, and then extended his trip to other communes in the Lam La area and Nghia Tien commune.

"I became addicted to eating chili peppers after this trip! Locally, the people are very poor, and it's the lean season, with very few families left with food to eat while the corn and potatoes haven't been harvested yet. To combat the torment of hunger, people have to search for roots, fruits, bamboo shoots, and vegetables in the forest to survive."

The flour made from the core of the sago palm tree was the most sought-after by the indigenous people because it was a source of starch, replacing grains or cassava. Even the brown tubers in my hometown, which were only used for dyeing cloth, were transformed into food. People chopped up these tubers, put them in baskets, soaked them in streams to remove the bitter sap, then simmered them until soft to eat. This dish was very difficult to swallow, but if you added a little salt mixed with wild chili peppers, you could swallow the food faster. Besides, the locals also said that eating chili peppers every day could prevent malaria. And so, we ate chili peppers every day, and over time, it became a habit…,” the teacher recounted.

Those first years of ethnographic fieldwork in western Nghe An left a deep impression on him regarding the local people. Despite their impoverished lives and countless hardships, they readily shared everything with him, from cassava roots to corn cobs during times of scarcity, helping him understand the meaning of mutual support and love between people. This genuine affection nurtured his love for his profession and his determination to dedicate himself to researching ethnic groups.

Scientifically speaking, Professor Chinh explained that the defining characteristic of ethnographic research is fieldwork. Researchers must go to the field, live with the people, immerse themselves in their lives, observe, interview, and discuss issues of interest to them in order to understand the ethnic culture from within.

The outstanding research of ethnologist Nguyen Van Chinh on ethnic groups includes both basic and applied research, that is, using basic knowledge about ethnic groups to serve development programs and projects and analyze development issues in ethnic minority areas.

His most cited research includes studies on the use of customary law in the conservation of natural resources; local knowledge in maternal and newborn care; the use of cultural resources for development; policies supporting ethnic minority groups; and the manifestations of ethnic discrimination to propose appropriate policies for government policy-making bodies.

Professor Nguyen Van Chinh (right) conducting research at the Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, October 2011. (Photo: Provided by the subject).

In addition to his published research, Professor Chinh also directly advises development projects of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, and the UK Department for Overseas Development (DFID) in Vietnam. These activities primarily utilize ethnographic knowledge to research and propose practical solutions for specific projects.

He changed long-held perceptions about the Ngai ethnic group.

Vietnam is a multi-ethnic country with incredibly rich cultural characteristics. For Professor Chinh, cultural diversity is not only a resource for development but also a challenge in building a national community. Exploring the identity and cultural boundaries between ethnic groups is both fundamentally important for academic purposes and urgently crucial for practical work. Therefore, he directs his research to delve into both theory and practice, thereby making significant contributions to the field of ethnology in Vietnam.

Most significant among these contributions is the research on understanding the identity of the Ngai people in Vietnam. According to statistics, this is a very small ethnic group with a population of just over a thousand people, and they are on the verge of extinction.

Who is the sole candidate for the interdisciplinary Professorship in History-Ethnology in 2022?

Teacher Chinh spent many years traveling to most of the areas inhabited by the Ngai people to investigate their population, lifestyle, language, family history, and life stories about their homeland, ancestral roots, and transnational relationships. Professor Chinh's research indicates that the Ngai are a community with historical origins in Southern China who migrated to Vietnam during and after the Taiping Rebellion in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions in the latter half of the 19th century, becoming a large Ngai-Hakka speaking community in Vietnam.

The professor also pointed out that statistics on the number of Ngai people in Vietnam are many times higher than those published by the General Statistics Office. The results of the research project have contributed to changing long-held perceptions about the Ngai ethnic group, providing a scientific basis for changing policies regarding the Ngai ethnic group.

One of the key issues that Professor Chinh focused on when researching ethnic groups was how to transform cultural resources into a driving force for development, with culture participating more deeply in the process of sustainable development. He believed that incorporating cultural capital into socio-economic development also meant accepting and utilizing the elements of that culture. Development strategies, therefore, needed to understand the dynamism and diversity of culture, mobilizing cultural resources into the development process instead of relying solely on material resources or imposing will from outside the community.

The heartfelt concern ofscientists involved in training

Sharing his concerns as a scientist involved in education, Professor Chinh mentioned three points.

First, regarding university teaching methods.

Professor Chinh persistently pursued the philosophy of "not creating parrots" in social sciences.

"If there's anything noteworthy about my teaching methods, it's two points I've tried to accomplish. These are guiding students in a research-based learning approach."project-based learning"Teaching doesn't depend on pre-prepared curricula or lectures, but rather on providing learning materials that are updated annually, explaining, illustrating, and helping students develop creative thinking and independent thought," Mr. Chinh shared.

The important role of a teacher is to create and nurture inspiration for research and creativity, not to memorize pre-existing information. The research-based learning method is developed based on studies of educational models and teaching philosophies in Vietnam, combined with the experience of advanced universities around the world.

Observing the current teaching methods of Social Sciences in Vietnam, Professor Chinh commented: "To this day, the teaching of Social Sciences and Humanities at the university level still relies on transmitting knowledge through textbooks or pre-prepared lectures. Perhaps this is because it's safe for the teacher, and students don't need to be creative, but the training effectiveness is very low. The consequence of this teaching method is that students tend to passively absorb knowledge and recite answers by rote. This is a risk that stifles students' creative inspiration."

Conversely, the PBL (Project-Based Learning) teaching method helps overcome students' passive learning, fosters a proactive spirit, encourages exploration of new discoveries, and ultimately creates a passion for science.

Secondly, there is concern about the declining scientific interest in ethnic groups in Vietnam.

According to Professor Chinh, previously, Vietnamese ethnology research followed the Soviet ethnology research model, primarily focusing on the cultural characteristics of ethnic groups, and generated a valuable body of knowledge about the various population groups in Vietnam. Since opening up and integrating deeply into the global academic landscape, this subject has gradually shifted towards an anthropological approach, with a focus on the cultural differences and diversity of humankind.

In addition to traditional societies, anthropology has also expanded its research interest to include peasant and rural communities, as well as urban and city communities in modern society.

Specifically, in university-level training programs, ethnic studies now occupy only a modest proportion, while other issues receive more attention. Research on ethnic groups requires fieldwork, but resources for student internships are becoming limited, leading to a situation where students learn more theory than practice and lose opportunities to apply their research methods. Furthermore, students are often reluctant to travel to remote areas, home to many ethnic groups, where living conditions and transportation are still difficult.

Thirdly, a fairly common mindset today is concern about the "politically sensitive" aspects when studying ethnic groups.

Specifically, issues such as poverty, cultural differences, and the transnational connections of ethnic groups are sensitive topics that receive little research. This situation has serious consequences, not only because it no longer produces the rich knowledge about ethnic groups that it once did, but also because social and development policymakers lack crucial information to formulate practical solutions, while societal understanding of ethnic cultures risks being distorted, leading to increased ethnic discrimination.

Fourth, the number of leading experts on ethnic minorities is gradually decreasing and becoming scarce.

Professor Chính expressed his concern: "Looking back at more than half a century of development in this field of study, to date, only two people in Ethnology have been awarded the title of professor."

The first person is Professor Phan Huu Dat - who was recognized as a professor 10 years after his retirement. He was formerly the Rector of Hanoi University, and passed away more than 3 years ago.
 

The paradox of universities and departments lacking professors, and the concern about "doctoral degree factories."

The second person is Professor Ngo Van Le - former Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. He is also over 70 years old and has been retired for many years. Looking at the pool of successors, Professor Chinh speculated that, within the next five years, it's uncertain whether anyone in the field of Ethnology/Anthropology in Vietnam will meet the criteria to be recognized as a professor. The professor analyzed that raising the standards for professors to be closer to those in other countries helps improve the quality of leading experts in their fields, but on the other hand, it creates significant challenges for those conducting research in social sciences.

Furthermore, the erratic and inconsistent policies regarding retirement age are creating immediate difficulties.

For social sciences, researching and publishing scientific works in world-class journals is not easy. It requires researchers to accumulate knowledge and information and integrate into global theoretical trends and research methods, while Vietnam's training programs and content have not yet integrated these trends.

Furthermore, publishing a scientific paper takes a considerable amount of time. Not including the research time, a scientific paper, from the moment it's submitted to a journal, must go through two or three rounds of peer review, revisions, and editing before it can be published. These processes often take one to two, or even three years. This means researchers need time to publish their work, and by the time they meet the publication standards, they may already be nearing retirement age.

Furthermore, unlike natural sciences or engineering, social science research requires hands-on experience and engagement with real-world situations. Young people may have the enthusiasm and energy, but they lack life and social experience. Therefore, achieving top-tier scientific publications is difficult for young people when they lack this experience.

Therefore, the mass retirement of professors and associate professors under Decree 50 could cause many social science departments in universities to struggle due to a shortage of leading experts and insufficient resources to recruit postgraduate students and train the next generation.

At the end of our conversation, Professor Chinh confided that Vietnam is a multi-ethnic country. Studying the cultural diversity of ethnic groups, regions, and localities, and transforming it into a resource for sustainable development, is a challenge that needs attention.

It is evident that, despite his advanced age, Professor Chinh remains dedicated to teaching, contributing to education, training, and scientific research. Professor Chinh, and the generation of leading educators and scientists in general, are considered "talented individuals" who have made and continue to make significant contributions to the development of education and science both domestically and internationally, deserving recognition and honor from their students and colleagues.