The process of community construction and organization, and social management in southern Vietnam: advantages and challenges in integration context

Abstract

Southern region of Vietnam is located in the crossroad of different cultures. Historical and ethnic process as well as cultural acculturation is diverse, multifaceted and complicated due to the presence of many ethnic groups in the area. Diversity in ethnic structure leads to cultural diversity which reflects all aspects of life such as economy and socio-culture of the peoples. Community construction and organization and social management in southern Vietnam go hand in hand with the process of land reclaimation, settlement establishment, and sovereignty claiming, expanding and practicing. Although the ethnic peoples migrated to the region at different times, they all equally contributed to the exploration and development of this highly potential region and to the constitution of “Van Minh Miet Vuon” – literally, the civilization of orchard regions. However, each ethnic group obviously has their own cultural traditions which, when combined together, create a mosaic culture of the whole region. Despite commonality in the process of community construction and organization and social management, distinctiveness of each group still exists. Contemporarily, when integration and development are considered both common aims and motivations, advantages of each cultural tradition should be explored while its limitations, at the same time, should be identified in order to overcome disadvantages for good. As a result, scientific conceptualization about the process of construction and development of the region obviously contributes to maintaining and reinforcing ethnic solidarity for the cause of national building and developing. This paper, based on research outcomes of previous studies and field data in southern region in recent years, presents the process of community construction and organization and social management, both historically and contemporarily. Also, the author aims at identifying advantages and challenges of traditional culture (in this case, traditional social structure) in the current integration process in the southern part of Vietnam.