4/29/2018

Vietnam’s National Identities

Emeritus Professor Carlyle A. Thayer

Talking points prepared for delivery to
‘Weaving a Realm’
Vietnam Centre Inaugural Event in Australia
Redfern Town Hall, New South Wales
April 27, 2018

Definition of National Identity

• Key word is nation – a group of people who share

a common language, culture, traditions and is
geographically rooted
• National identity – belonging to a nation-state or
other identifiable political system
– Multiple identities
– Political affiliation contested
• Viet Nam a multiethnic state
– 85% kinh + ethnic minorities

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Have you come across the concept

national identities in your research?
• At Yale Dr. Trương Bửu Lâm: Can there be
nationalism prior to the Industrial Revolution?
– Revolt against Chinese overlordship in 939CE is
example of formation of nation identify
• 1970s –Lê Duẩn and new socialist man
• Ben Anderson – imagined community
• Communist Party of Viet Nam protect national
identity

Is Viet Nam’s national identity well-

defined among its neighbours?
• ‘we’ versus ‘them’
• Viet Nam is only political system on mainland
Southeast Asia to be heavily influenced by
Imperial and Communist China
• Vietnam a so-called tributary state of Imperial
China – within Sino-centric civilisation
• Laos, Cambodia and Thailand are Indianized
states – Hindu and Buddhist influences

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What was Viet Nam’s national identity

in the 1960s & 70s? Has it changed?
• Core values of language, culture and tradition
basically intact in South Vietnam
• Regional differences mitigated by influx of
refugees from northern/central Viet Nam
• Stark differences over political allegiance
– Change: reunification restored a common
narrative
– Still loyalists to the former regime

Who defines national identity?

• The people – family, clan, tribe and then the
state
• ‘Mother’s milk’ – family all important
• Associational and religious groups
• Artists, literati, poets, musicians
• The State – Ministry of Education, Ministry of
Information and Culture
– Text books, holidays, national anthemn

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What role do organisations play in forming

the perception of national identity?

• Mass organizations
– Women’s union, peasants’ union, youth,
– Friendship societies
• People’s organisations
• Associations of Overseas Vietnamese
• Cultural-Art-Music groups

What is your advice to promote Viet

Nam to the world?
• Unite overseas Vietnamese socially
• Promote national language
– Việt kiều and foreigners
• Promote Vietnamese culture
– Observe traditional holidays – Tet
– Cuisine, music, literature, poetry
• Reach out don’t be reclusive
– Translate!

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 4/29/2018

Vietnam’s National Identities

Emeritus Professor Carlyle A. Thayer

Email: c.thayer@adfa.edu.ay