From Fixed Identity to Negotiated Identity: Cultural Transformation in Globalizing Vietnam

Author's Information:

Tran Minh Duc

Thu Dau Mot University, Vietnam

Vol 03 No 06 (2026):Volume 03 Issue 06 June 2026

Page No.: 444-457

Abstract:

This article examines the transformation of cultural identity in contemporary Vietnam under conditions of globalization, migration, urbanization, digital communication, and transnational cultural interaction. Drawing upon interdisciplinary perspectives from cultural anthropology, globalization studies, cultural studies, and sociology of identity, the study argues that cultural identity in Vietnam is increasingly shifting from a fixed and territorially bounded form toward a negotiated and dynamic process shaped by interaction between local traditions and global cultural flows. Using qualitative document analysis and theoretical synthesis, the article explores how labor migration, urbanization, transnational media, social media platforms, and market integration reshape social relations, community structures, and symbolic practices in Vietnamese society. The findings indicate that globalization does not lead to complete cultural homogenization or the disappearance of local identities. Instead, Vietnamese communities actively reinterpret and localize global influences through selective adaptation, cultural hybridization, and symbolic negotiation. The study further demonstrates that contemporary identities in Vietnam increasingly reflect multidimensional forms of belonging associated with mobility, digital participation, and translocal interaction. By emphasizing the negotiated and context-dependent character of identity, the article contributes to broader debates on globalization, hybridity, and cultural transformation in rapidly changing societies.

KeyWords:

Cultural identity, Cultural transformation, Globalization, Negotiated identity, Vietnam.

References:

  1. Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso.
  2. Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization. University of Minnesota Press.
  3. Basch, L., Glick Schiller, N., & Blanc-Szanton, C. (1994). Nations unbound: Transnational projects, postcolonial predicaments, and deterritorialized nation-states. Gordon & Breach Science Publishers.
  4. Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203820551
  5. Boyd, D. (2014). It’s complicated: The social lives of networked teens. Yale University Press.
  6. Coxhead, I., Nguyen, V. C., & Vu, L. H. (2015). Migration in Vietnam: New evidence from recent surveys. SSRN. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2752834
  7. Cu, C. L. (2005). Rural to urban migration in Vietnam. Institute of Developing Economies (IDE–JETRO).
  8. DataReportal. (2023). Digital 2023: Vietnam. Kepios.
  9. DataReportal. (2024). Digital 2024: Vietnam. Kepios.
  10. Hall, S. (1990). Cultural identity and diaspora. In J. Rutherford (Ed.), Identity: Community, culture, difference (pp. 222–237). Lawrence & Wishart.
  11. Hall, S. (1992). The question of cultural identity. In Modernity and its futures. Polity Press.
  12. Hall, S. (1996). Introduction: Who needs “identity”? In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 1–17). Sage.
  13. Hannerz, U. (1996). Transnational connections: Culture, people, places. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203131985
  14. Levitt, P. (2001). The transnational villagers. University of California Press.
  15. Levitt, P., & Glick Schiller, N. (2004). Conceptualizing simultaneity: A transnational social field perspective on society. International Migration Review, 38(3), 1002–1039.
  16. Luong, H. V. (2010). Tradition, revolution, and market economy in a North Vietnamese village, 1925–2006. University of Hawai‘i Press. https://doi.org/10.4000/moussons.218
  17. Madianou, M., & Miller, D. (2012). Migration and new media: Transnational families and polymedia. Routledge.
  18. Marcus, G. E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24(1), 95–117. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.24.100195.000523
  19. Michaud, J. (2012). Hmong in Vietnam: State and ethnicity relations under and after socialism. In N. Tapp, J. Michaud, C. Culas, & G. Y. Lee (Eds.), Hmong/Miao in Asia (pp. 179–210). Silkworm Books.
  20. Miller, D. (2011). Tales from Facebook. Polity Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580912452374
  21. Miller, D., & Slater, D. (2000). The Internet: An ethnographic approach. Berg Publishers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003087007
  22. Nguyen, K. T. T., Murphy, L., Chen, T., & Pearce, P. L. (2023). Let’s listen: The voices of ethnic villagers in identifying host–tourist interaction issues in the Central Highlands, Vietnam. Journal of Heritage Tourismhttps://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2023.2259512
  23. Pink, S., Horst, H., Postill, J., Hjorth, L., Lewis, T., & Tacchi, J. (2016). Digital ethnography: Principles and practice. SAGE Publications.
  24. Robertson, R. (1995). Glocalization: Time–space and homogeneity–heterogeneity. In Global modernities (pp. 25–44). SAGE Publications.
  25. Salemink, O. (2003). The ethnography of Vietnam’s Central Highlanders. RoutledgeCurzon.
  26. Salemink, O., & Nguyen, T. A. (2019). The pursuit of happiness in Vietnam. In Y. Contreras-Vejar, J. Tice, & B. S. Turner (Eds.), Regimes of happiness (pp. 201–218). Anthem Press.
  27. Tran, M. D. (2025). The transformation of indigenous power: A study on the role of village elders in the social life of ethnic minorities in Vietnam's Central Highlands after 1975. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 14(2), Article 0038. https://doi.org/10.36941/ajis-2025-0038
  28. Vertovec, S. (2009). Transnationalism. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203927083
  29. Vu, A., & Satzewich, V. (2022). The Vietnamese diaspora in a transnational context: Contested spaces, contested narratives. Brill.
  30. Zhao, L., Lee, S. H., Li, M., & Sun, P. (2022). The use of social media to promote sustainable fashion and benefit communications: A data-mining approach. Sustainability, 14(3), 1178. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031178