Cultural Houses (nha van hoa)

From: Danielle Labbé

Date: Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 8:08 AM

Dear VSG-ers,

I am looking for information on Cultural Houses (Nha Van Hoa) in Vietnam. My rough understanding is that these are facilities provided by the state to shelter officially sponsored cultural activities. In Hanoi, I understand that one House of Culture is built for each district (quan) but that there might also be smaller spaces that serve residential groups' (to dan pho) needs. This leaves many questions unanswered:

When did the VN gov. start to built houses of culture and with what intentions?

Are there also houses of culture in rural districts (huyen)? If so, what is the difference between a House of Culture and a Communal House (dinh)?

What state agency/level of government is in charge of providing/managing these facilities (Min. of Culture and Info, UBND of the district, ...)?

What kind of activities are the Houses of Culture officially supposed to accommodate and what are they used for in reality?

I welcome any supplementary information/documentation on these facilities.

Danielle Labbé

______________

Danielle Labbé, PhD Candidate

School of Community and Regional Planning &

Center for Southeast Asian Research - UBC Vancouver.

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From: Mike High

Date: Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 9:08 AM

Dear Danielle,

I remember seeing a “nha van hoa” recently constructed in the Cham village of My Duc near Phan Rang. Like the modern water-tower that looms behind the entrance gate, I assumed it was a part of a government outreach to the Cham villages in Ninh Thuan province.

Of course, you can also get a “nha van hoa” certificate for your own house for a small sum. (As a familial version of the “ap van hoa” or “khu pho van hoa” designation.)

:: Mike High

Great Falls, VA

USA

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From: Dr Alexander D Soucy

Date: Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 5:25 PM

Dear Danielle,

I have always assumed that the Nha Van Hoa were introduced as a secular replacement for the communal houses (dinh), when the later were abolished, though I don't have any direct data to support this.

In the late 1990s I used to go to a nha van hoa to join a group that sang "quan ho" songs together once a week.

Alec Soucy

Saint Mary's University

Halifax, NS

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From: David Brown

Date: Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 5:55 PM

When I came back to Vietnam in January 2004, practically every village along Highway 1 from Hanoi to Saigon was building a 'nha van hoa' as a requirement of the Government's 'cultured village' campaign. Many if not most looked as though they were built because Hanoi said so, and not necessarily to really function as community centers.

A few years later, I asked a friend, a former deputy mayor of Ha Long City, what the campaign was all about. He said he thought it was worthwhile, primarily as a way of focusing village level officials on trying to hold 'social evils' down to a tolerable level. In order to get the right to hang a 'lang van hoa' banner on the village gate, he said, a village not only had to have a culture house but also had to be certified as reasonably free of vice.

Just before Tet, I was travelling in the hills and in a district town deep in Dien Bien province, Muong Luan, found a 'nha van hoa' that obviously was functioning well as a cultural center for the mostly ethnic Lao population. It was the center for a flourishing weaving co-op, and there was also evidence of its use for other Womens and Youth Union activities.

Last, apparently the campaign is not over -- this item appeared on the VietNamNews wire in January:

PM approves rural cultural development plan

The Prime Minister has approved a rural cultural development plan until 2015 with a view to 2020.

Accordingly, by 2015 in delta areas, half of rural people will regularly join in cultural and sporting activities, 70 percent of cultural and sport centres will meet standards set by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and 70 percent of families will be awarded the “cultural family” title.

About 60 percent of villages will promote the “cultural village” title, 80 percent of rural citizens will be updated on laws and cultural regulations, and 90 percent of cultural and sports officials will receive training.

In mountainous, island and border areas, the criteria will be 30 percent, 50 percent, 60 percent, 50 percent, 70 percent and 80 percent respectively.

By 2020, Vietnam will strive to raise those rates, with 100 percent of villages having cultural and sport centres meet national standards and 70 percent of the villages being awarded the title “cultural village”.

Regards, David Brown

VietNamNet Bridge

Hanoi

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From: Jason Morris-Jung

Date: Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 12:54 AM

Hi Danielle!

I can offer some anectdotal ideas, as I have just come back from visiting some of these nha van hoa in Bac Kan that were constructed as part of a women's empowerment activity for CARE Vietnam. In this case, the buildings were built primarily as a space for these women's empowerment clubs to hold their monthly meetings. But they were also made available to host other activities in the village, but, judging by their size, probably also for meetings more than anything else. In short, I think the translation of "cultural house" might be misleading, especially in the English deployment of the word culture. They seem to be used more as places to gather, meet, talk and perhaps organize things. Perhaps the notion of culture here is more akin to an idea of civilization or civilized society, as David was also referring to in "Lang van hoa" through the expunging of social evils (and which were described to me as no drugs, no gambling and no third children!). Maybe a meeting house or even community centre might be a more appropriate analogy. But I suppose that speaks only to the use of them in some contexts (e.g., my anecdote), but not necessarily to their history or initial designs.

I don't know much about Dinh, but I believe they are mostly religious, places of worship. What distinguishes them from a temple (mieu or chua) is that, in addition to Buddha, the Dinh may have been erected to worship an actual person or historical figure. They seem to me very different from nha van hoa, both in history and in actual uses.

I hope the writing is going well!

jason

****************************************

Jason Morris-Jung

PhD Program

Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management (ESPM)

University of California - Berkeley

Trudeau Foundation Scholar, SSHRC Doctoral Fellow

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From: Dan Duffy

Date: Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 3:29 AM

I have only visited one, sometime in 1994-1996, in the old revolutionary zone north of Ha Noi, in the company of old revolutionaries, visiting their old highlander friends. It was not a communal house, in a Vietnamese village, but struck me more like a reservation school here in the US. Take that for what it's worth, an American point of view. I was also struck that the traditional dances presented in colorful native garb were about identical to the cabaret-style versions of the same I was seeing at fashion shows in Ha Noi.

--

Dan Duffy

Editor, Viet Nam Literature Project

Chair, Books & Authors: Viet Nam, Inc.

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