Marriage, Family and Kin Relationship of Multi-Ethnic Communities in the Southwestern Region of Vietnam

Abstract

The Southwestern region (or Cuu Long delta) of Vietnam is the residential concentration of the Kinh, Khmer, Hoa (Chinese-Vietnamese) and Cham ethnicities which have linguistic and cultural differences. Since a long time ago, besides the co-ethnic marriage relationship, the ethnic communities in the Southwestern region also have had the marriage relationship with other ethnicities. Therefore, there have been the ethnic and cultural mixed families with complicated kin relationships. Passing the different historical stages, the interethnic marriage relationship has expanded increasingly which has made the ethnic relationship in the Southwestern region increasingly diverse. Based on the survey of quantitative samples of one thousand of households among the ethnicities, this writing deeply investigates the practical situation of marriage, family and kin relationships in communities of Kinh, Khmer, Chinese-Vietnamese and Cham ethnicities in the Southwestern region and cross- and trans-national border. Based on that, it makes contribution to identify and forecast the ethnic questions towards the sustainable development in the Southwestern region in the background of integration and globalization