Officially, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has a total of 54 ethnic groups, including the majority Kinh and 53 ethnic minority groups. This book examines the history of the ethnic group determination process, highlighting some of the challenges the official policies pose to both the state and the affected peoples. Vietnam has proudly embraced its multiethnic identity, seeking the equality of all ethnic groups in the interests of national unity. Yet, among other things, it appears that the total number of ethnic categories was rather arbitrarily determined initially, and then fiercely defended by influential politicians and academics. Furthermore, the extensive field surveys reveal that ethnic policies are frequently manipulated at the regional and local levels in pursuit of economic interests, and not infrequently, to the detriment of those they were intended to benefit.

Reviews

"Professor Ito has succeeded admirably in juxtaposing her study of official documents, interviews with officials and academics, and the results of her own excellent first-hand field work to demonstrate why ethnic classification in Vietnam has been far more a political than a scientific project. Her book deserves to be read not only by those interested in Vietnam but also by others interested in the politics of ethnicity more generally." - Charles Keyes, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 4, December

About Editors and Authors

ITO Masako is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University. She specializes in Vietnamese studies and the contemporary history of Vietnam. She graduated from the Department of Oriental History, Faculty of Letters, University of Tokyo, in 1988, and after working at the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, earned a PhD from the University of Tokyo in 2003. She has held her current position since 2006.