Identities of Vietnam's Southwestern People: Perception and Content from Their Own Perspectives

Abstract

The study was conducted to discover the identity of people living in southwestern Vietnam in the current new development context. With quantitative and qualitative methods, data was collected through semi-structured interviews of 1,731 household heads from 17 communes, towns, and wards in the eight southwestern provinces, namely Ben Tre, Can Tho, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, An Giang, Dong Thap, Ca Mau, and Kien Giang. The questionnaire listed 46 characteristics of human identity arranged in pairs of opposite nature and asked respondents to identify the characteristics of the people in the region, and at the same time to explain why those characteristics were selected. The results of the quantitative analysis showed that 23 characteristics were identified with a very high concentration from respondents on five identity groups, covering relationships with society, politics, culture, nature, labour, and oneself. The qualitative descriptions listed the intrinsic manifestations of each characteristic. The results showed that people living in southwestern Vietnam recognised many identity features that were similar to their traditional characteristics, but also pointed out that those features that had changed and their implications had new contents in the current period.