The international workshop "Preserving and Promoting National Identity for Sustainable Development," organized by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in collaboration with Bansomdej Chaopraya University (Thailand), was inaugurated on the morning of December 17, 2010.Through an interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approach, the workshop focused on clarifying the role of culture in general and traditional national cultural identity in particular for the sustainable development of each country, region, and cultural space in the context of regional and global integration trends and requirements. The workshop also highlighted the experiences of several countries in formulating policies to preserve and promote national cultural identity for sustainable development. At the opening session, Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh – Rector of the University – emphasized in his opening remarks and introductory report: The strong trend of regionalization and internationalization today has brought many development opportunities to nations but also poses numerous challenges and difficulties in choosing policies, development paths, and preserving traditional cultural values. Under the impact of globalization, each culture cannot exist in isolation but must always interact with and be influenced by external cultures. In multi-ethnic countries, preserving and promoting national cultural identities with their unique lifestyles and characteristics, linked to cultural diversity and sustainable development, has become a pressing issue. Furthermore, Professor Nguyen Van Khanh expressed his hope that this conference would provide many insightful academic interpretations and propose practical solutions for formulating long-term sustainable development policies.
Following the plenary session, the conference was divided into two subcommittees to discuss specific issues: The subcommittee on culture and sustainable development discussed the formation and exploitation of indigenous knowledge, culture and regional cultural nuances, customs, and language. In particular, it focused on the preservation and promotion of traditional cultural values to serve the sustainable development of each nation. The subcommittee on lessons and experiences in planning and implementing policies for the preservation and promotion of national cultural identity for sustainable development focused on proposals, solutions, and community-based policies in cultural preservation. One of the issues that received significant attention at this conference was the formation and exploitation of local knowledge, with over 10 reports focusing on this topic. For example, the paper "Exploiting Local Knowledge of Ethnic Minorities for Sustainable Development – An Anthropological Approach" by Associate Professor Dr. Lam Ba Nam provided a common and very specific definition of local knowledge: any system of knowledge about the world created by a community, developed and linked to the community's history as well as the specific conditions of each locality where that community lives... Associate Professor Dr. Lam Ba Nam argued that local knowledge should not be underestimated but should be exploited to serve sustainable development. Several other reports also detail various aspects of local knowledge, such as: "Indigenous knowledge for the preservation and development of the Thai language and script in the Northwest region" by Nguyen Trung Hoa (Center for Research and Development of Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Regions), "Indigenous knowledge about traditional food of the Bangkradee community, Bangkok, Thailand" by Jamnong Trinumit (Bansomdej Chapraya Rajabhat University), "The issue of indigenous knowledge and sustainable development in the Truong Son - Central Highlands region" by Dr. Nguyen Thi Hoa (Institute for Sustainable Development of the Central Highlands)... In addition, many other issues have become central topics of many international conferences and forums, attracting significant attention from Vietnamese and international scientists from China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia, such as customs and languages. Particularly, one of the most pressing issues today is the preservation of the customs and languages of ethnic minorities. numbers, community policies and strategies for cultural preservation, the role of mass media in preserving and developing traditional cultural values…
