Museums, ethnology and the politics of culture in contemporary Vietnam

This dissertation explores the role of museums and ethnology in the construction and transformation of national identity in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Ethnologists and museums have constructed, represented, and re-constructed the diverse ethnic cultures and their place in the national narrative of the modern nation and thus have participated in the national struggle to transform the country from a colony to a modern, independent, multi-ethnic nation. During the colonial era museums were used as ways to shape the identity of the colony. Since 1954 and the successful military campaign against the French, museums and ethnology have been tools for the establishment of a national imaginary that entails the historical tradition of resistance against foreign aggression and the vision of the nation as a unified front of the diverse peoples in the territory. More recently this has been envisioned as a national cultural heritage which must be preserved in the face of increased globalization and opening to foreign markets.;Although museums in Vietnam today typically keep to the general outlines of the national narrative, one museum has pioneered new approaches and new storylines since its opening in 1997. The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi is thus the focus for this study. Although ethnologists and museologists there continue to be entwined with state policies, key projects and individuals have articulated ideas and values somewhat divergent from the norm. As the primary national ethnographic museum, this state-run institution represents both the discipline of ethnology and the mode for representing the nation's 54 ethnic groups and their cultural heritage. This dissertation explores the politics of cultural heritage, the ethnological and museological practices which inscribe ethnic identities in public spaces, and the changing identity of the field of ethnology itself. It queries the intersection of museums, people and the state in a postcolonial, communist country undergoing rapid transformations, using ethnographic and historical approaches based on fieldwork and ongoing engagement in contemporary Vietnam.