Research about indigenous knowledge of ethnic minority peoples in the Central Highland and southern Vietnam – some theoretical issues

Research about indigenous knowledge of ethnic minority peoples in the Central Highland and southern Vietnam – some theoretical issues

Ethnic peoples during the course of their existence and progress have created their own cultural patterns adaptative to their natural and living environment. The knowledge accumulated is ambiguously known to academia as indigenous knowledge which makes neighboring ethnic peoples in one particular area culturally distinctive in terms of their productive knowledge, lifestyle, social interactions as well as experiences in disaster prevention and healing remedies. Indigenous knowledge of any particular people is accumulated and passed down from generation to generation which makes it one part of the people’s cultural distinctiveness. Owners of the knowledge are usually believed to be ethnic minority peoples who have continuously inhabited at the very same region for an extended period of time. However, the knowledge is not static; rather, it is constantly in the process of complementation through the people’s cultural exchange with others. Contemporarily, within the context of national industrialization and modernization, technological and scientific applications have been inserted into every aspect of economic and social activities of ethnic peoples in Vietnam. Consequently, indigenous knowledge of the peoples in the country has unprecedentedly been threatened. This paper presents my conceptualization of indigineous knowledge of ethnic peoples in the Central Highland and southern Vietnam, aiming at utilizing, preserving and promoting its positive aspects in the peoples’ economic and social life. Simultaneously, some scientific viewpoint and questions related to the study of indigenous knowledge in the region are proposed for further investigations.