Standing at the Earth's equator

After returning home, I was assigned to collect ethnographic objects and materials for the Southeast Asian Exhibition of the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. INDONESIA! That was the first time I worked abroad with a SCA view! A number of new challenges came to me and urged me to present what I had had learned from the VU. It was great that I overcame them and made the trip enjoyable! The following is the photo at the equator of the Earth (in Kalimantan island), I am proud to be the one who experienced how hot it was!!! ;)

Shark!

Finished a period in Holland!

After almost 2 years staying, studying and enjoying my life in the beautiful Netherlands, it's now the time for me to go home and start working. The first photo shows how I changed through a "hardship" in my life!

The next photos are some moments that will always in my mind! Thanks to you all, my friends! Without you, my time in Holland would be very boring...

Drinks afterwards

Beauty and the Beast

Artist: Angela Landsbury

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauties and the Shark ;)
...

Keeping Inspiration for the Thesis...

Shark!

Break up with the Master's thesis for Queen's Day

I thought that I needed to take a deep breath before working on the main chapters of my Master's thesis. Fortunately, Queen's Day came and I had my day off, enjoyed the life in Amsterdam and making my blog more colorful!!!

This is the second year of my stay in the Netherlands. Learning, reading, writing and enjoying the life in Amsterdam is an endless cycle here.






Visiting museums is an interesting "task" beside the hardworking hours. This time, I visited the Torture Museum. :) Really impressive!

Being in the 21st century and witnessing the activities of human beings hundred years ago seemed to take me to the past.

What will be the next? It might be the Sex Museum! Only three months left in Amsterdam, the city of freedom, I should not miss the opportunity to explore a long history of an activity since the dawn of humankind.



One more discovery, the sign XXX in the City Arms has different meanings than "sex sex and sex" as most of the tourists often thought. The sign means as you can see in the left side.

More things will come soon...

Leaving the field...

Hi all,

Three months has passed, like all of you, I am leaving the field and return to "academic settings". Many events happened during the fieldwork period provide me a great deal of knowledge. Let's get drunk with your informants. Cheers for the knowledge we have obtained, for the close relationship between you and your informants. Make them feel that we not only extract information from them, but also bring something to them in return.

In my case, I invited my informants to visit the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology where I work. They were very glad to see the ethnological objects and especially the exhibition about the Subsidy Economy period (1975-1986) in which they found their images themselves in every exhibited item.

I hope, in future, in an exhibition of urban life, I can let them present their life and the process of struggling for fairness in the Renovation(Doi Moi) period (since 1986).

















But first, I need to write a thesis on their perceptions of land, livelihood and security.

Ok, I am leaving for the VU in 20 minutes, I have to prepare something else!

See you soon

Shark!

Solving the difficulties

Until now I have realized that gifts play a role in making the relationship between a researcher and her/his informants stronger.

As I described my situation few weeks ago, after few times talking with me, my informants seemed not like to talk to me because they received nothing in return. Although some informants kept talking with me when I asked, many of them tried to run away. I have read an article saying that giving gifts can reinforce the relationship between the researcher and the informants. However, I could not find any chance to present them some small gifts. It would be very strange to give them some gifts without any special time. And giving gifts at the end of the fieldwork would be very late. I was puzzled.



Fortunately, my country's traditional New Year (Tet) is in the middle of our fieldwork period. Therefore, I used this occasion to "exchange the gifts". I collect information and giving gifts, my informants give information to me and receive my thanks. In that circle, of course, I receive more benefits. However, the point is to reinforce the relationship, and it works!




Few days before the New Year Eve, I visited my key informants' house, asking how they prepared for the Tet, observing their preparation and participating in some activities, such as wrapping sticky rice cakes or help to clean their house and so on. Before leaving, I presented them some small gifts with a reason of the New Year. They gladly received my gifts. Some of them gave me their food in return or asked me to join their dinner. I joined some and had a feeling that we became closer after the "gifts exchange".





Let me tell you about the situation in my field. My research area is in a place that are going to be cleared to build a overpass. The people living there are going to be relocated in a new place. They are struggling to request a higher compensation price by many ways, such as protesting against the executive decisions, demonstration and so on. It is now in the traditional New Year period, so all the activities are postponed. They said "we temporarily postpone the war for the sacred Tet holidays, after it we will continue the war at higher and more intensive levels!".

They agreed to let me join them when they are going to do that "rituals". I am very glad to participate in some of their rituals.












I hope that after the "gifts exchange" and the Tet, I will have more chances to study their collective action. I wish my informants succeed in expressing their opinions.

Shark!

Facing Difficulties

After almost one month, I have obtained some important contacts in the field. However, I am facing some difficulties, such as ethical issues, relationships and so on.

My research question is how local people perceive and react to state's relocation programmes in Hanoi. They are facing a great deal of hardship at both kinds of security: physical security and existential security. They are being forced to relocate to a new place with an amount of money. However, they think that the compensation rate is not fair and not high enough for them to relocate. They are struggling for a fairer and higher rate.

I have found that they have used a number of methods to express their aspirations, for example they used Newspapers, Television programs and Demonstrations as means to express. However, their efforts seem to be ignored by the local authority.

The main problem I am facing is that I am only a researcher, I can not help them to raise the compensation rate. When I first met them, they thought I was a cadre who was collecting their aspirations to report to the authority (although I made it clear that I am only a researcher from a research institute). But after few times talking with me, they realize that I am only a small cadre who is useless for them. They seem not to like to talk to me as much as the times before.
What can I do now? I think the only thing I can do is to be patient! Is it right?

The first ethical issue is that I am conducting fieldwork in their home area. I go to my informants' house and interview them. After few times, I have felt weird to do that, because I only interview them, collect their information, sit in their house, drink their tea without giving back to them anything. Do you also have that feeling? Have any suggestions?

The second ethical issue is that I am collecting information about their life and most of them are suffering from the relocation project. Some of them have asked me: What do you want from us? We are suffering from the project, our life is bad, very bad now. We only want to hide it but you come here and keep asking things. Why do you want to reveal our sufferings? I am puzzled when facing that kind of questions. Do you have any suggestion for me?

Anyhow, I have had some key informants who have provided me a great deal of information.
Hope it will be ok!

Good luck to you all!

Hoang Shark!

After the Arrival

Sorry for not updating my blog! There have been so many things happened after my arrival, i.e. the Earthquake in Taiwan cut the internet cable of Vietnam, i have to get used to living in the severely cold weather in Vietnam. It made me sick for a week. I also had to arrange the permission to conduct fieldwork, find the way to access the field and people...


Yeah, I arrived in Hanoi at 11a.m. on the 31/12/2006. As some of you expected, my mother and my uncle received me at the airport with great hugs. We then took a taxi to get home. My big family had been waiting for me there and I was flooded in kisses and hugs. All of my nephews (younger than 4 years old) could not recognize me and made a distance from me. However, in the evening, they all reminisced about me and started to play with me.


After a small snack at 3 p.m, my father and I rode a motorbike to go to my research settings. It was a great feeling to see Hanoi after one and half year away. For me, everything seems to be the same, but the air is more polluted. At my research settings, life still continues although a number of houses have been destroyed. Trucks and lorries traveling at very high frequency makes the area more dusty.

The next day was the New Year's Day, I went to the field and took some photos. I have tried to approach the local people and I now have some contacts already. Some people seemed to be suspicious about me. Fortunately, one day I sat in the kiosk of a head of a quarter. By talking informally with the woman, I found out that here is the house of the head of this quarter. The woman seemed to be friendly with me and I felt that "this would be my key household!" I wanted to exclaim with joy but I tried to calm down, kept the story going on and explored more information about the project. Finally, I met her husband who is the head of the quarter and presented my research project. He agreed with me and promised that he would provide me information and relationships as much as he could. It was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to cry because I have gained access to the research setting!

See you later!

Hoang Shark!

P.S: I also visited some friends of mine. Joined the wedding of a friend. It was also great! Please see the photo above ;)