The making of ethnic boundaries between the CIL and the K’HO (SRE) in Ninh Gia Commune, Duc Trong District, Lam Dong Province, Vietnam Author - Affiliation: Pham Thanh Thoi - University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University HCMC. , Vietnam Corresponding author: Pham Thanh Thoi - kim.npt@ou.edu.vn

Abstract

In Vietnam, and probably in many other countries, ethnic groupings according to State official lists are not entirely identical with the actual ethnic affiliations in local contexts. Since 1979, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has officially counted and documented the names of the 53 ethnic minorities. This information was based on the report of the ethnic composition of the people living in Vietnam made by Vietnamese ethnologists. In the ethnographic discipline in Vietnam, the perspective that views cultural characteristics as having an ethnic identity defining quality is apparently a popular view. In reality, one can have deep ethnic differences without correspondingly important cultural differences; and one can have cultural variation without ethnic boundaries.
During my field research from 2004 to 2011 in Lam Dong province, I overheard some Cils talking to one another that the Cil in Dang Sron hamlet, Duc Trong district have already become the K’ho (Sre). In some interviews with officials in charge of cultural and ethnic affairs in Duc Trong district, they also reported that there was no Cil in Dang Sron and it was an area of the K’ho. Some even said that the Cil in Dang Sron have been “K'ho Hoá (K’ho-nized)”- turned into K’ho. Are there still ethnic boundaries between the Cil and the K’ho in the area?
In terms of administrative space, the Cil and the K’ho (Sre) in Dang Sron shared a common lived space. Over time, under particular circumstances, the Cil in Dang Sron bon might have adopted an ethnic label imposed upon them by outsiders. And it is from this social phenomenon that an ethnic community can develop a second identity in addition to their local ethnic identity. I believe that the Cil in Dang Sron are a case in point. The purpose of this paper is to explore the process, social changes and the making of ethnic boundaries between the Cil and the K’ho (Sre) in Dang Sron in Lam Dong province, Vietnam.
Therefore, in Vietnam, ethnic classification was done by scientists by their objective research and analysis based on some criteria such as same territory, same language, same subsistent economy, same culture and ethnic awareness. Accordingly, in Dang Sron, if ethnic awareness was considered as the most important criterion, the Cil were still themselves. However, if culture was to be the most significant feature, the Cil in Dang Sron should be identified as the K’ho (Sre).