Ethnic issues in the development orientation of the Faculty of Anthropology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

1. Introduction

The Faculty of Anthropology was established in May 2015 on the basis of the Department of Anthropology under the University, which before March 2010 was a department of the Faculty of History of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Although it is called a new unit, the Faculty of Anthropology has a tradition of more than 55 years of training and researching ethnology in the cradle of the prestigious Hanoi National University. From this tradition, the Faculty of Anthropology was established and became the only unit in Vietnam that is systematically implementing anthropology training at all three levels, from undergraduate to doctoral (undergraduate since 2009, master's since 2013 and doctoral since 2014). With a structure of three departments, the Faculty has a staff of 15 permanent staff, including 13 lecturers and 2 assistant specialists. In addition to the permanent staff, the Faculty gathers and exploits the contributions of nearly 20 scientists with professional qualifications and prestige to participate in the training and research work of the Faculty.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Suu - Head of the Faculty of Anthropology presented flowers to thank generations of teachers and leaders of the School on the occasion of the announcement of the decision to establish the Faculty of Anthropology. Source: Photo courtesy of the Faculty of Anthropology.

In order to plan a highly sustainable development strategy for a new stage of the Faculty, looking back at history and assessing the current situation is a necessary but not easy task. This article is a reflection, sketch and positioning of the ethnic issue.[1]in the development orientation of the Faculty of Anthropology in the period 2015-2020 and vision 2030. This article is a continuation of the two articles we presented at the Ethnology Announcement Conference organized by the Institute of Ethnology in 2012 and 2014, aiming to clarify the history, current status and development orientation of an anthropological research and training unit in Vietnam over the past half century as well as in the coming period.

2. Ethnic issues: Historical practice

From a global perspective, anthropology exists with traditions that have different names in different countries (Nguyen Van Suu, 2014: pp. 15-51; Aleksandar Boskovic and Thomas Hylland Eriksen, 2010: pp. 1-19). Soviet ethnographic tradition[2]and its legacy in Vietnam[3]As in some former socialist countries, ethnic groups are identified as the object of research, or as author Dang Nghiem Van affirmed: it is a specialized field within the category of historical science, ethnology studies ethnic groups and ethnic cultures (Dang Nghiem Van [editor-in-chief], 1998: pp. 3 and 6). The practice of Vietnamese ethnological history in the second half of the 20th century affirms that ethnic groups occupy a central position in all research, teaching and policy application activities.[4]As the first unit of research and teaching of ethnology in the Soviet ethnological tradition in Vietnam, the Department of Ethnology[5]The Faculty of History of Hanoi National University also focuses on research and teaching about ethnic groups in Vietnam and has made important contributions to the State and society.[6]

International Conference on Anthropology in Vietnam, September 2015. Source: Photo courtesy of Faculty of Anthropology.

Entering the 21st century, in the process of innovation and international integration, the training program system and research activities as well as the organizational structure of the Department of Ethnology have been transformed according to the North American anthropological tradition. As a result, the Faculty of Anthropology was established and is implementing the task of researching and training in anthropology at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

3. Ethnic issues in development orientation

The determination of the development orientation of the Faculty of Anthropology needs to be placed within the framework of the general development orientation of Hanoi National University and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under this university. In recent years, a number of university rankings in the world have positioned Hanoi National University at the number one position in the university system in Vietnam and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under Hanoi National University is at the top of the list of higher education institutions in the field of social sciences and humanities in Vietnam.[7]The vision for 2030 of both Vietnam National University, Hanoi and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities sets the goal of becoming a research university with an even higher ranking in the regional and global university rankings.

As a basic science training unit, the Faculty of Anthropology has a proud tradition, has grown from tradition, relied on tradition, promoted tradition, and at the same time clearly recognized the responsibility to innovate to stay ahead of reality, pioneer in implementing the mission of integration, improving the quality of research and training in the context of many changes taking place not only at the national and regional levels but also on a global scale.

Workshop on Cultural and Social Changes in Urban Areas, March 2014. Source: Photo courtesy of the Faculty of Anthropology.

This viewpoint guides the main activities of the Faculty of Anthropology in the development period 2015-2020 and vision 2030. On that basis, the goal of the Faculty of Anthropology is to continue to become an anthropological center.There is a harmonious combination of theory and practice, qualitative and quantitative methods, basic research and applied research.[8]to train professional anthropologists with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Within the framework of the general orientation and specific development goals of the Faculty, ethnic issues are identified as having an important position in the research, training and policy application of the Faculty. Continuing to place ethnic issues in an important position in many activities of the Faculty of Anthropology is both an inheritance and continuation of tradition,[9]both demonstrates the concern of the Faculty of Anthropology for the practical needs of the country's life,[10]and partly reflects the common interests of anthropology in countries in the region.[11]

4. Action solutions

To achieve the above goals, the Faculty of Anthropology has been implementing a series of action solutions that are both synchronous and have breakthroughs in key areas of activity.The firstand first is to determine the position of ethnic issues in the overall structure of the Faculty. As introduced above, anthropology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi has the status of an independent field of study, implemented in the Faculty of Anthropology, with three departments named after the specialized fields of the field of study: Department of Cultural Anthropology, Department of Economic and Social Anthropology, Department of Development Anthropology.[12]In such organizational structure of the Faculty, ethnic issues are identified as one of the research directions, teaching contents and practice areas, policy application of each department in particular and the whole Faculty in general.

Mondayis the issue of ethnicity in research orientation. In the process of transforming and developing the anthropology industry and building the Faculty of Anthropology, we do not consider extensive research on ethnicity as a limitation. Instead, in the context of a multi-ethnic country like Vietnam, and similar to other countries in the region, extensive research on ethnicity (not race as in some multi-ethnic countries) has been giving researchers a unique academic position, an important policy voice compared to scientists in other fields. The list of current and future research directions of the Faculty of Anthropology in Table 1 below clearly identifies this orientation. Accordingly, ethnicity, which is the identity of tradition, continues to be a part of the identity of the present and future of the Faculty of Anthropology.

Table 1: Main research directions of the Department of Anthropology

However, in a long-term vision, research and training on ethnicity need to overcome the limitations of tradition, which focuses on studying ethnicity and ethnic culture within the framework of national borders. In the history of world anthropology, besides the trend of anthropology in developed European and American countries paying attention to studying ethnic groups and cultures outside national borders, there is another trend popular in developing countries: anthropology at home, which mainly studies ethnic groups and cultures within the country with the goal of contributing to the process of building the nation-state and national identity (Aleksandar Boskovic and Thomas Hylland Eriksen, 2010: pp. 13-15). In the context of increasingly strong globalization, Vietnam has been constantly integrating with the region and the world. Vietnamese anthropology in general and the Faculty of Anthropology at Hanoi National University in particular need to reconcile these two trends by paying more appropriate attention to ethnic groups and ethnic cultures in countries in the region.[13]especially when East Asian and Southeast Asian countries have had and are having close relationships with Vietnam in the fields of politics, economics, security - defense, science - education, etc.

In that perspective, the ethnic research direction of the Faculty of Anthropology cannot be limited to traditional research areas, but needs to reach out to cover countries in the region. In this direction, expanding the research area is one of the priorities for both lecturers and students, especially postgraduate students. For the teaching staff, implementing topics related to cross-border spaces and exploring ethnic groups and ethnic cultures in countries in the region not only opens a new chapter in the ethnic research of the teaching staff, but also guides the research of students, especially in the context of the increasing number of international students of the Faculty of Anthropology. On that basis, ethnic research not only continues to occupy an important position but also develops in the direction of expanding the research area, creating a new feature in ethnic research in the Faculty of Anthropology.

Tuesdayis the issue of ethnicity in training. In the context of building a research university, one of the basic principles according to the Humboldt model is that research and teaching are a unified entity (Ngo Bao Chau, Pierre Dariulat, Cao Huy Thuan, Hoang Tuy, Nguyen Xuan Xanh, Pham Xuan Yem, 2014), so research activities must be associated with training, serving training. In the process of building, adjusting, updating and implementing undergraduate and postgraduate training programs, the Faculty of Anthropology is steadfast in its goal of providing basic and in-depth knowledge of anthropology, emphasizing ethnic content in the training program.[14]and in specific training activities so that learners have sufficient knowledge and capacity to do research, teach about ethnic groups and do ethnic work.

Table 2: Ethnic issues in some training activities

Wednesdayis the ethnic issue in the strategy of building the teaching staff. In order to achieve the goal of continuing to put ethnic groups at the center of the activities of the Faculty of Anthropology, it is clear that the issues of planning, training and investment so that the Faculty has a team of lecturers, especially department heads who are experts on ethnic groups, are of due concern to the Faculty. At the same time, the Faculty of Anthropology continues to strengthen the team of part-time lecturers, expand the network of visiting lecturers, collaborators and partner units interested in ethnic issues.

5. Conclusion

Up to now, the Faculty of Anthropology has a tradition of more than half a century of research, training and policy application. In the history of the establishment and development of the Faculty, the ethnographic tradition is the premise and foundation for the birth and development of the anthropology industry and the Faculty of Anthropology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

In the process of transition from ethnology to anthropology, from the Department of Ethnology to the Faculty of Anthropology, the staff and lecturers of the Faculty are always aware of the importance of looking back at history, assessing the current situation, and on that basis positioning themselves in a national, regional and global vision to outline the development orientation for the future. In this entire process, the ethnic issue is positioned in an important position in the key activities of the Faculty of Anthropology in the period of 2015-2020 and the vision to 2030, not only because it is the identity of tradition, but also because this is an issue of important academic significance with a close relationship with the nation - ethnicity. Ethnic issues play an important role in the development orientation of the Faculty and are concretized into action solutions in key areas such as organizational structure, research, training and policy application of the Faculty in the period 2015-2020 and vision 2030.

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