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International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 28 (2021) 645-665

Phan Tan

Doctor of Sociology, Graduate Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Social Sciences of Publishing House of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences,

Hanoi, Vietnam

phantanxh@gmail.com

Le Thi Thuy Ly

Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Studies, Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Cultural Studies of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

Researching public opinion in ethnic minority areas of Vietnam in general and ethnic minority area of Northern Vietnam in particular to understand what people are desiring is essential.

Ethnic minorities in Northern Vietnam are not only concerned with the urgent issues associated with their daily lives, but also diverse social issues in an age where communication is strongly developing. People always show dynamism and activeness in practices related to public opinion. And remarkably, in this picture, there is no clear slice between modern elements of the globalization context and traditional elements. Views that ethnic minorities are always passive need to be revised. It is necessary to create conditions for people to participate more effectively in the policy making process.

Keywords

ethnic minority areas – public opinion – globalization – Northern Vietnam – prejudice

1 Introduction

Socio-economic changes are a major concern in the studies of ethnic minori- ties in Northern Vietnam in the period from after Doi Moi (Renovation) to the present; however, public opinion to what is happening to the people them- selves has not been investigated in-depth and comprehensively. Therefore, the study of public opinion here to understand what people are looking for and struggling is essential.

Our article is constructed by material collected from our research trips in Northern provinces of Vietnam (Lang Son, Ha Giang, Lai Chau and Son La) from November 2018 to April 2019 within the framework of the State-level Science Topics Theoretical and Practical Issues of Public Opinion in Ethnic Minority Areas in the Context of Globalization chaired by the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences.1

2 Approach

The highlands are not marginal and have no influence on Vietnam’s political events, but on the other hand play an important role for the whole country.2 However, in the simplified view of many Kinh people (i.e., ethnic majorities) of the highland, it is considered as a land abandoned by history. In addition, and more importantly, many other false and negative perceptions of the Kinh peo- ple about highland residents also exist, namely: the ecological environment in this place has been damaged by the ignorance of the people through shift- ing cultivation, local customs are filled with superstitions, the self-sufficient economic system is still the main choice, and they prefer to live in the past rather than transform themselves towards marketization, etc.3 Such a view of essentialism – which believes that there is a pre-existed and inherent ‘iden- tity’ in contemporary ethnic minorities that constantly dominates those com- munities – has led to a long-term prejudice and a lot of bad consequences for ethnic minorities. Around the collective behaviour of ethnic minorities, including the formation and dissemination of public opinion, there have been many opinions that they have limited awareness and easily become objects for evil forces to provoke and take advantage of. Such an approach eliminates the diverse possibilities of reality and it unlikely to give us a true understanding of ethnic minorities, whereas humans are always complex and tend to act in a meaningful way. It is necessary to realize and grasp the ‘web of significance’ in which they are placing themselves.4 We are aware that, if we maintain a prejudice that ethnic minorities are incapable of answering why they did what they did, we will lose the chance to understand what is happening in relation to public opinion in ethnic minority areas. Our study, therefore, is carried out on the principle of focusing on the view of the insider. With the grounded the- ory approach, this study uses research results from specific places to discuss existing theories.