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Participating in this conference were the Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Trinh Thi Thuy; Deputy Minister of Ethnic and Religious Affairs Y Thông; representatives of central and local ministries and agencies; researchers and experts in ethnology, heritage and tourism; as well as dignitaries and monks of Theravā da Khmer Buddhism and influential personalities of the Khmer community.
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| Course de bœufs à An Giang. |
| Photo : CTV/CVN |
The Khmer community currently numbers more than 1.3 million people, living mainly in the South of Vietnam: An Giang, Cà Mau, Cân Tho, Dông Nai, Dông Thap, Tây Ninh, Hô Chi Minh City and Vinh Long.
This community, established for a long time in the region, has shaped an original cultural space with a strong identity, playing an important role in the unified Vietnamese culture.
Currently, the southwest of the country has more than 450 Theravā da Khmer Buddhist pagodas. These temples occupy an essential place in community life: they are not only religious and spiritual centers, but also places of preservation and transmission of language, writing, moral education and traditional cultural values to the younger Khmer generations.
Traditional festivals such as Chôl Chnăm Thmây, Sene Dolta, Oóc Om Bók or even canoe races Ngo continue to be celebrated in localities where a large Khmer population lives.
These events are not only community cultural and spiritual activities, but also spaces for practicing and transmitting many traditional artistic forms such as Dù kê theater, Rô băm, music It’s âmsinging Applicantthe dances Chăn, Rom vong or Lâm thôn.
Several forms of Khmer cultural heritage have been included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, including: the art of Dù kê Southern Khmer, theater Rô bămla fête Oóc Om Bókfolk music Ngå© Ã¢mthe traditional craft of manufacturing cốm dẹp or even popular Khmer dances.
According to the vice-chairman of the People’s Committee of Cân Tho city, Nguyên Thi Ngoc Diêp, the province of Sóc Trang currently has many renowned TheravÄ da Khmer Buddhist pagodas. Among them, two pagodas – Kh’leang et DÆ¡i are classified national monuments. Many artisans from the region’s ethnic minorities have also received the titles of “People’s Artist” and “Distinguished Artist” in the field of intangible cultural heritage from the Vietnamese President.
Among the intangible cultural heritages of the South is a heritage recognized at the level of humanity: the art of don ca tà i tu (amateur singing) from the South, as well as numerous heritages registered on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, including the folk art of Khmer Aday singing.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Diep stressed that localities have long paid particular attention to the preservation and promotion of traditional Khmer culture.
Municipalities also implement national ethnic policies in a coordinated and effective manner, including the National Target Program for the Socio-Economic Development of Mountainous Regions and Areas Populated by Ethnic Minorities.
Several provinces with a large Khmer population are intensifying their efforts to preserve and promote the cultural values of this community.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister Trinh Thi Thuy stressed that, thanks to the Party’s guidelines and state policies in ethnic and cultural matters, the preservation and enhancement of Khmer culture had achieved many positive results.
However, the current reality still poses many difficulties and challenges. Certain traditional cultural forms risk disappearing; craftsmen are getting older; and cultural transmission within communities, particularly among younger generations, remains difficult.
In addition, urbanization, labor migration and the market economy are gradually transforming the traditional cultural space of ethnic minorities in general, and of the Khmers in particular.
So that Khmer culture continues to shine
For Nguyên Hoà ng Hà nh, head of the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs, the most worrying problem today is not only the risk of cultural erosion, but even more profoundly that of a breakdown in cultural transmission among the younger generations.
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| Danse des tambours Chhay-dăm à An Giang. |
| Photo : CTV/CVN |
He also felt that some policies remained scattered and lacked coordination, while some conservation actions remained too administrative or symbolic. Certain cultural values even risk being commercialized or “staged”, to the detriment of their original cultural environment.
In this new context, it therefore becomes necessary to profoundly renew cultural governance as well as ethnic and religious policies, in particular by developing integrated, interdisciplinary policies adapted to the new realities of development.
Nguyên Hoà ng Hà nh a insistedé sur la nécessité de passer d’une logic de “pure cultural preservation” to an approach of “development management based on cultural values”. The State must play a role of facilitator of development, while the community must become the true central actor in preservation, creation and cultural dissemination.
“Digital transformation is not only about digitizing cultural data, but also about digitizing the capacity to disseminate cultural identity and reconnecting young generations to their roots through modern and attractive means.”underlined.
In the educational field, the Dr. Ngô Sô Phe, rector of the School of Southern Khmer Languages, Cultures and Arts and Human Sciences (CLASKA) under the University of Trà Vinh, considered that it was necessary to continue to strengthen the role of educational establishments in the training of cultural and artistic human resources, the training of teachers as well as the development of intellectuals and artists mastering the Khmer language and culture.
According to him, the development of scientific research and the digitalization of cultural values of Khmer regions will help create more resources to preserve and promote cultural identity in this new phase of development.
The participants in the conference also shared the idea that, in the current context, the preservation of Khmer culture must be considered in a broader perspective, not only as a safeguard of heritage, but also as a lever for socio-economic development and improvement of the living conditions of the people. communities.
Minh Thu/CVN
