Museums and minority communities in Vietnam: Diversity, development, and politics in Southeast Asia

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The relationship between museums and their communities has become one of themajor subjects in museum studies and museum practice nowadays, resulting in agrowing scholarly interest in the social functions of museums in the social life ofcommunities, especially regarding education and community development (i.e.Golding & Modest, 2013; Iorio & Wall, 2011; Levin & Adair, 2017; Palumbo, 2001;Silverman, 2014). Museums have been viewed as social institutions (Silverman,2014), attractions (Iorio & Wall, 2011), and social agents (Palumbo, 2001) thatreflect the socio-cultural life of local communities, including conflicts and politicalissues and present local and global knowledge, including cultural values, to thepublic.In the current globalization context, ethnic minority groups face many challenges inpreserving their traditional cultural values, especially under the influence ofacculturation and lifestyle change. This is especially evident in developing countries,including those in Southeast Asia, a multicultural and multiracial region. Thiscontext requires museums, which are considered as "contact zones" (Clifford, 2005)to show and affirm more strongly their role in preserving culture in general andconnecting and preserving the culture of minority and ethnic groups in particular.This research will focus on the relation between museums and minority communitiesin Vietnam, a country with 54 ethnic groups. Although there are many studies onmuseums and communities, most research has been based on case studies in Westerncountries while museum systems in Asian countries are given less attraction. Muchresearch on Vietnamese museums tends to assume the authoritarian nature ofmuseums (Tai 1998). This research project aims to fill the gap in the literature formuseums in Southeast Asia while providing an in-depth analysis of the social roleof the museum in supporting the cultural values of minority groups. This is also animportant research project in exploring how museums with different managementmechanisms and forms of governance (state, city, and private) introduce, preserve,and connect to ethnic minorities - their source community.