Scientific workshop “Research on Vietnam's highlands: History and interdisciplinary approaches”

The workshop was divided into 04 sessions: Northern mountainous region (02 morning sessions, with 12 presentations) and Truong Son - Tay Nguyen region (02 afternoon sessions, with 10 presentations). Attending and participating in the opening and chairing of the workshop were representatives of the school's leaders, the school's Trade Union, the French École Française d'Extrême-Orient in Vietnam, professors, scientists, lecturers, researchers inside and outside the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, along with a large number of scholars, postgraduates, graduate students and students.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Minh Hoa, Vice Principal of the School, delivered the opening speech.

In his Ho Chi Minh Prize-winning research work on Vietnamese History and Culture: A Partial Approach (2007, 2012), the late Professor, People's Teacher Phan Huy Le (1934-2018) summarized and proposed the Multi-Linear, Comprehensive and Complete principles of Vietnamese history and culture, especially the Ancient and Medieval periods. Accordingly, "Vietnamese history is perceived as the history of national communities, residential communities, and ethnic groups that have lived on the territory of present-day Vietnam and have contributed to the historical process of Vietnam, to the process of building and defending the country of Vietnam, to the process of creating and preserving Vietnamese culture". Over the past half century, modern Vietnamese History, especially the period of History in the Renovation and International Integration period from the 1990s onwards, has gradually realized this principle, especially supplementing the historical flows of Sa Huynh - Lam Ap - Champa in the Central region and Dong Nai - Oc Eo - Phu Nam in the South, so that Vietnamese history is no longer a single line, incomplete. However, a large historical and cultural space, the highlands and mountainous areas in Vietnam, have been and are being modestly presented in the overall stories and periods of Vietnamese history.

Representatives of the Organizing Committee and delegates took a souvenir photo at the opening of the workshop.

The territory of Vietnam today has mountainous terrain accounting for about ¾ of the area, structured in two main directions: Northwest - Southeast such as Hoang Lien Son mountain range and the mountains of the Northern Truong Son; arc direction such as the Dong Trieu, Ngan Son, Bac Son, Song Gam mountain ranges converging to Tam Dao. Especially the mountains in the North - South and Northeast - Southwest directions of the Southern Truong Son range, creating an ancient and mysterious historical and cultural space of the Central Highlands in the past. In the great family of Vietnamese ethnic groups, the majority of ethnic minorities live and shape their cultural identity on highlands, from the hillsides, midlands to the slopes and peaks of mountains. The communities and cultures of the Northwest, Northeast, Truong Son - Central Highlands highlands have integrated, contributing to the formation of the Vietnamese nation, preserving the cultural imprints of indigenous Vietnamese culture, contributing significantly to the cause of building and defending the country. The history of the Vietnamese highlands, a history of ethnic groups with no or very little writing, nevertheless needs to be considered and placed in the flow of Vietnamese history - a Multi-linear and Comprehensive history.

Dr. Do Thi Thuy Lan (Faculty of History) presented the introductory report to the conference.

Workshop scene at Session 1 (Northern mountainous region 1), morning of December 30, 2020

The Faculty of History, University of Social Sciences and Humanities is one of the leading units in research on the highlands of Vietnam, such as the scientific achievements on Tay Son Thuong Dao right after the Liberation in 1975. In the years 2009-2010, the Department of Anthropology (formerly the Department of Ethnology, under the Faculty), following the general trend of international academia, separated into an independent unit under the University. Scientific topics on ethnic minorities and mountainous areas, therefore, become a gap for Vietnamese History. Moreover, in the current multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary trend, from the pedestal of History, or taking History as the basis, inviting and gathering experts from the fields of Anthropology, Archaeology, Cultural Studies, Literature, Han Nom Studies, Linguistics, Political Science... to build knowledge on the same common topic is very necessary and completely feasible. Meanwhile, in the world and in the country recently, many researchers have been interested in and have made scientific achievements about the highlands of Vietnam, such as Oscar Salemink, John Kremers Whitmore, James A. Anderson, Andrew Hardy, Philippe Le Failler, Johann Grémont, Momoki Shiro, Trinh Sinh, Trinh Nang Chung, Tran Anh Dung, Nguyen Tien Dong... to younger scholars such as Catherine Churchman, Kathlene T. Baldanza, Bradley Camp Davis, Christian C. Lentz, William B. Noseworthy, Kazuki Yoshikawa..., as well as young Vietnamese scientists who have been trained at home and abroad: Pham Le Huy, Vu Duong Luan, Dang Hong Son, Nguyen Van Anh, Nguyen Thi Hai, Nguyen Manh Tien, Ho Thanh Tam, Nguyen Dang Anh Minh, Nguyen Huu Manh, Lu Thi Thanh Le, Nguyen Phuong Lien... In the past 3 years, with their efforts and passion, young lecturers of the Faculty of History have organized a series of scientific seminars on the topic of highlands such as Catherine's. Churchman with Dang Hong Son, Pham Le Huy (2017), James Anderson and Nguyen Quang Ngoc, Do Thuy Lan, Tran Anh Dung (2019), Andrew Hardy with Dao The Duc, Ho Thanh Tam, Dang Hoai Giang (2020), Andrew Hardy and Nguyen Quang Ngoc, Phan Phuong Thao (2020).
 

Prof. Dr. Vu Minh Giang & Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vu Van Quan (Faculty of History) chaired Session 1

However, up to now, there has not been a prestigious forum for scholars and research experts to gather and exchange academic knowledge and research experience, form working groups, and aim for common products to serve science and practice.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh & Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Phuong Thao (Faculty of History) chaired Session 2 (Northern mountainous region 2)

With that meaning, the Intensive Scientific Workshop "Research on Vietnam's Highlands: History and Interdisciplinary Approaches" was organized by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, with the Faculty of History assigned as the focal point in terms of expertise. In the context of less than half of the second half of 2020 Covid-19, the Workshop received 22 scientific presentations from 23 researchers who can be considered young and/or middle-aged, from the main scientific institutions in Hanoi: the Faculty of History (University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi); the Faculty of History (Hanoi National University of Education) with 03 reports; the Faculties in the School of Humanities (Anthropology, Oriental Studies, Literature, Vietnamese Studies); member Universities and Institutes of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (Vietnam-Japan University, Institute of Vietnamese Studies and Development Sciences); Research Institutes under VASS (Institute of Literature, Institute of Cultural Studies, Institute of Imperial Citadel Studies); and especially the papers from agencies outside Hanoi such as Thai Nguyen University and Nghe An Culture Magazine.

Dr. Nguyen Manh Tien (Institute of Literature, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) presented a paper "From H'Mong personality to the mountainous power system"

The 22 papers are therefore the result of research from many different fields and specialties of social sciences and humanities: History (11 papers), Archaeology (04), Anthropology (03, including 01 report on both History and Religious Anthropology), Literature (03), and Cultural Studies (01 paper).

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Kim (Faculty of History) & Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Truong Giang (Faculty of Anthropology) chaired Session 3 (Truong Son - Tay Nguyen Region 1)

Most of the papers are the authors' long-term, "internal" studies, demonstrating their expert academic knowledge. The scientific contents presented and discussed are rich in religion, politics, state policies, national defense borders, territorial development directions, local power, mining economy, trade networks, ethnic processes, migration issues, and cultural space; spanning from the Northern mountainous region (12 papers, including 01 report going further west of North and Central Vietnam) to the Truong Son - Tay Nguyen region (09 papers) and the West of the Mekong Delta (01 paper); throughout the time process from the origin of ethnic groups to the contemporary, especially over the past millennium (10th-21st centuries). During those 1000 years, different spaces/sub-regions, in different stages and steps, joined the Vietnamese nation-territory, completing a modern Vietnam around the 18th-19th-20th centuries.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Manh (Faculty of History) presented a paper "The Central Highlands in the history of the Champa Kingdom through archaeological documents"

Emerging from all reports is a dynamic, proactive, rich and connected Vietnamese highland:

MSc. PhD student Vu Thi Xuyen (Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language) presented a paper "Looking back at Lord Nguyen's policy towards the Central Highlands in the 16th-18th centuries"

Politically: these are the indigenous entities/institutions that existed from the beginning until the Modern period, such as the mountainous power system not only based on space but also on terrain elevation, such as the local chieftainship regime in the North; such as the Upper Champa, Thuy Xa, Hoa Xa Gia Rai in the Central Highlands, such as the Bahnar local chieftaincy regime in Kon Tum until the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century. The inherent nature of these highland polities has been the focus of territorial development, power and economy of the Ly - Tran - Le - Nguyen monarchies, as intermediary partners for religious propagation, and the cultural - social traces of these entities have been and are the concerns and policies of the Communist Party and the State of Vietnam today.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Ngoc (Institute of Vietnamese Studies and Development Sciences, VNU) & Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Ngoc Huyen (Hanoi National University of Education) chaired Session 4 (Truong Son - Tay Nguyen 2 Region)

Economically: contrary to traditional perceptions of a backward, passive and unproductive highland, studies on mining, the medicinal trade network of the contemporary Dao people in the North, to a system of historical riverine exchange networks in the South, all show a highland that connects and plays an important, even decisive role in the entire network. Moreover, mining in the highlands may have been the driving force rather than the consequence of the socio-economic changes in Northern Vietnam in the Early Modern period.

Dr. Nguyen Dang Anh Minh (Institute of Cultural Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences & Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CASE), Paris) presented a paper on “Alliance with local leaders in establishing and developing the Kon Tum missionary area (1850-1900)”

In terms of culture and society: the highlands are not only places that preserve ancient, indigenous imprints such as gong culture, such as the "dual-integration" cultural characteristics of the Ede people, but also material traces of polities from the lowlands such as Champa in the Central Highlands, such as pagodas, stele inscriptions, furnaces, and Buddhist wharves in both the Northwest and Northeast of Dai Viet during the Ly - Tran period (11th - 14th centuries). A question arises: is the presence of those material traces simply a one-way influence from the central state of the lowlands, or are there other ontological aspects? In terms of society, studies on migration through myths and legends in history, on social mobility and migration waves in the 20th - 21st centuries show a highland region that moves, across space, under the influence of state policies and has even transformed the traditional social structure within the past century.

Dr. Ho Thanh Tam (Faculty of History) presented the paper "Waves of Kinh migration to the Central Highlands in the 20th century"

Therefore, a major contribution that the 22 scientific reports today have shown and will show is: The history of the highlands here is not just a mechanical addition to the problems, the discrete spaces of the regions in the territory of Vietnam, especially in comparison with the Central region (ancient books call it "Trung Ha"), the Red River Delta, or the low-lying plains downstream, the Central coast. But it is a matter of approach: a view from the mountains, from the highlands (complementing the one-sided views from the central and lowlands), but in a network connecting diverse regions within and even outside the territory of modern Vietnam. These are issues of cross-border migration, a Champa Thuong/An Khe transit between Khmer and South Central ports, a historical and contemporary trade network, a sea-forest connection in the Ede consciousness... In particular, there are studies that have really immersed themselves in the approach from the highlands, such as mining, Cao Bang local chiefs, Bahnar local power and other discussions.

     Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Van Quan (Head of History Department) delivered a closing speech at the conference.

Entering the mountainous and highland regions, one of the arguments that has been raised recently, causing scholars to continue to ponder and move forward, is the role of the Highland Valleys, the “Dynamic World” of the Thai-speaking tribes in the North as proposed by John Whitmore and James Anderson, and the Hre valleys of Quang Ngai in the Central region in the research of Andrew Hardy, Nguyen Tien Dong and Dao The Duc. At the Workshop, scientists proposed “A View from the Valleys”? And more than that, many reports show that, although the concept of an “anarchist” Zomia region in mainland Southeast Asia by Willem van Schendel (2002), and especially by James C. Scott (2009), is a great, general and influential argument; however, the case studies in the highlands of Vietnam show that it is necessary to ponder further and/or supplement this attractive theory!

Professors, scientists, and delegates took a souvenir photo at the closing ceremony of the conference.

This is the first time there has been a comprehensive discussion on the highlands, especially in an interdisciplinary approach, combining historical science with other branches of social sciences and humanities. After the conference, scholars will publish quality scientific publications, as well as aim for future international research and publication collaborations on the same topic.