THE FEATURES OF HA TIEN FOLK POETRY: RECONSTRUCTING NATURAL SPACE AND PRESERVING CULTURAL LIFE

Abstract

Folk songs (ca dao) authentically articulate communal emotions and worldviews; in a historically turbulent region such as Ha Tien, they also serve as a repository of local historical memory, though they have long remained underexamined. Drawing on folklore-based methods—fieldwork documentation, textualization, and the compilation, editing, and classification of materials, this study analyzes a corpus of 201 ca dao collected in Ha Tien. Through thematic statistical description and content analysis, the research identifies the distinctive features of Ha Tien ca dao within the broader framework of local folklore, highlighting its central role in the construction and preservation of regional cultural identity and historical memory. The findings demonstrate that Ha Tien ca dao function not only as expressions of attachment to place and landscape but also as a form of oral historiography. Local identity is articulated through three principal dimensions: (1) place-name ca dao as representations of natural and cultural space; (2) narratives preserving traditions of resistance and communal legends; and (3) reflections of maritime economic potential and characteristic local products. The study affirms vernacular ca dao as an indispensable source for cultural and historical research on regional societies.