Science & Technology Development Journal - Social Sciences & Humanities

Improving the quality of lecturers at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU-HCM

2021-04-14T08:07:53+00:00

The quality of education and training is determined by many factors including the quality of human resources, especially teaching staff. They do not only play the role of teachers, experts in the field of expertise, but also are advisors, lecturers who are also leaders in renovating the curriculum and teaching methodology to meet educational goals of the University and the society, etc. However, in addition to the achievements in human resource development, the quality of the teaching staff remains inadequate, failing to meet the needs of the University and the society in the context of globalization. Therefore, to overcome the limitations and improve the quality of education and training, it is urgent to need specific and comprehensive solutions to improve the quality of lecturers at higher education institutions in general and at USSH, VNU-HCM in particular. Therefore, in this article, the author presents: 1/ Some difficulties and limitations in improving the quality of teaching staff at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City; and 2/ Proposing some solutions to improve the quality of USSH lecturers to contribute to improving the quality of education and training to meet the needs of international integration in the current period.

Indigenous knowledge of Vietnamese cultivation in the Mekong Delta

2021-04-14T08:08:10+00:00

Being passed from generation to generation, indigenous knowledge is unique and confined to a particular culture or society. This knowledge is generated and transmitted through communities, over time, in an effort to cope with their own agro-ecological and socio-economic environments (Fernandez, 1994). Vietnamese residents in the Mekong Delta during the development of cultivation activities have accumulated a lot of folk experiences, creating a large amount of indigenous knowledge in daily life and farming production. This knowledge has supported the Vietnamese people to adapt themselves to survive for several hundred years. However, throughout the time, under the strong impact of scientific knowledge, indigenous knowledge nowadays is no longer applied as much as before. In the context of increasing climate change, understanding and reevaluating the correct value of this knowledge, besides preserving, also contribute to public policy implications in environmental change adaptation strategies in the near future. With an interdisciplinary approach to geography and anthropology, via long fieldwork methods, face-to-face meetings with farmers and group discussions, 10 in-depth interviews were conducted on issues related to this current production model and production experience. Indigenous knowledge has been and is being applied in flooded areas with representatives being An Giang and Hau Giang provinces. The author has systematized the indigenous knowledge of Vietnamese people on cultivating to better adapt to nature.

Understanding the hydrologyand weather knowledge of the fishermen in the Southwest coastal area: A case study of An Thuy commune (Ba Tri district, Ben Tre province) and Song Doc town (Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province)

2021-04-14T08:08:09+00:00

This paper aims to provide an indigenous knowledge system on the weather and hydrology system of the fishermen in the Southwest coastal area which is based on the research data in two specific communities: An Thuy commune (Ba Tri district, Ben Tre province) and Song Doc town (Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province). The research results show that this knowledge is rich, diverse, and has been accumulated by the community for generations, especially to enable them to forecast the weather to preserve assets and lives during fish processing activities. The knowledge of the community related to weather and hydrology includes the insight of monsoon, water and storms. Offshore fishermen mastering each of this knowledge items can predict the weather to avoid the risks of sudden storms by choosing an optimal or preventive plan. This study is based on the data collected from qualitative research methods, including ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews with experienced fishermen together with field notes in two areas of An Thuy commune, and Song Doc town. Besides, the paper recommends a proper proposal to preserve this knowledge in current conditions. The research results of this paper have shown the differences in local knowledge of those communities due to the weather and hydrological characteristics of the two Southeast and Southwest regions of the East Sea.

Green GRDP calculation by total economic value methods: Case study in Cần Giờ mangrove biosphere reserve

2021-04-14T08:08:06+00:00

In the context that Vietnam develops for international integration, the government has oriented socio-economic development to develop in a sustainable way, not kind of development at all costs. This is clearly shown through the fact that ministries and governmental institutions have adjusted policies and target programs to achieve the millennium goal set by the United Nations to serve the action plan for the sustainable development of the entire nation. From the point of view of sustainable development, many countries around the world have calculated green GDP instead of normal GDP to see that economic development must be closely linked to social progress and environmental protection. Throughout many years of research on the total economic value of a system of environmental resources, especially the total economic value of the humanistic ecology system of Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, the author found that there are similarities in the calculation of green GRDP and that of the total economic value of a geographic area. This paper aims to present a conceptual framework to calculate the green GRDP for the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, using total economic value methods. The author also links the United Nations documents and the Statistics Law with the Government of Vietnam's guiding documents for implementing the law to formulate a green GRDP calculation conceptual framework using the methods of total economic value calculation. To calculate the Green GRDP of Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve by using the total economic value methods is an illustration to convince the validity of the Green GRDP Conceptual Framework. Hopefully there will be many comments from scientists and managers to be able to unify how to calculate green GRDP for mangrove areas and to move towards calculating green GRDP for the national economy, in order to manage the balance between "conservation for development" and "development for conservation" according to the trend of sustainable development.

Some points about Ho Quy Ly’s socio-economic reform policies

2021-04-14T08:07:57+00:00

Throughout the history of Vietnam, 10 socio-economic reformations have occurred. The size, level, nature and outcome of those reforms varied, but they all shared the same trait showing progress and revolution, especially ideology. Many leaders of socio-economic revolutions were talented people in the society who saw the cause leading to crises and the way to resolve them. They could be emperors, Confucian intellectuals, officials, etc. The reformation of Ho Quy Ly from the late 14th to the early 15th centuries is among them. It is a comprehensive and breakthrough reformation. Throughout 40 years, with his political position, Ho Quy Ly made some policies to change crisis status in terms of socio-economy in the late 14th century, especially economy. Over 600 years, many studies about Ho Quy Ly and his reform gave out many different opinions. In the feudal period, the Ho Dynasty and its reform received many negative reviews from historians who were affected by Confucianism. However, after 1954, this topic came back on research forums of modern historians in Vietnam. Those researches help researches about Ho Quy Ly's role in history become more positive than periods before. This paper will analyze the background of Vietnam society in the half-end of the 14th century to clarify reasons leading to Ho Quy Ly's changes. From the results, we can objectively judge the thoughts of the reform by Ho Quy Ly when facing the requests of his living period.

Education of French Colonialists with Ethnic Minorities in Cochinchine in the period 1862-1945

2021-04-14T08:07:59+00:00

In the beginning of the article, we presented the picture of ethnic minorities in Cochinchina and the educational policy of the Nguyen Dynasty to ethnic minorities in Cochinchine before the French colonial invasion as well as the process of invasion and process of imposing a new educational model of French colonialists in Cochinchina. In the main content, the author presents educational policies in general and French policies for ethnic minorities in Cochinchine in particular, expressed in documents and decrees of colonial authorities on goals, manner and measures to be taken. The article also reorganized the implementation of French educational policies in practice for the ethnic minority areas in Cochinchine during the French colonial period, such as the opening of schools, classes, and the process of organizing activities of the French school system, class and results achieved in areas with a large ethnic minority population. The author made the comments and assessments about the results and limitations of the educational policy for ethnic minorities of the French colonialists in Cochinchina from 1862 to 1945.

The process of renewal and development of cooperatives in Ho Chi Minh City (1986-2019)

2021-04-14T08:07:45+00:00

Cooperatives are a major form of collective economy – an important economic component, the basis for the development of the national economy. The development of the collective economy has become a cross-cutting and consistent policy of The Communist Party and the State of Vietnam in the transition period to socialism. Since 1986, clearly defining that role and its importance, the Communist Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City proactively had supportive policies, at initial stage, in terms of facilities, legal matters and change of business production direction. In the first ten years after the renovation, the development of the cooperative faced many difficulties due to the change of policy and mechanism from the subsidized centrally planned economy to the market economy. Since 1996, when the Law on Cooperatives came into existence, it created a legal basis, contributing to promoting the development of cooperatives in many economic fields. On that basis, Ho Chi Minh City paid more attention to the development of cooperatives. Directives and specialized resolutions on cooperatives were formulated, and specific policies on cooperatives were formed. As a result, over the past 30 years, cooperatives have gradually recovered and developed in many economic fields, becoming an economic component in the economic structure of the city. In addition, the cooperatives also contribute significantly to creating jobs, increasing incomes and improving people's lives in the city. In the current context, cooperatives in the City need to innovate more strongly to adapt and to develop.

Factors impacting community’s prioritization towards the benefits of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems: A case study of Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe sub-basin, Ho Chi Minh City

2021-04-14T08:08:00+00:00

Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) includes various drainage techniques designed to reduce the run-off flow, improve the water quality, and provide amenity or landscape features. However, selecting the appropriate SUDS technique depends on not only the technical characteristics but also the community's perception and preference. Therefore, this study aims to determine the impact factors on the probability of households' prioritization towards SUDS benefits in the context of Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe sub-basin, including the benefits of flood reduction, environmental enhancement, and landscape improvement. Data processing methods used in this study consist of statistical tests and ordinal regression using SPSS software. The regression results show that the overall accurate prediction rate for the 3 priority levels of SUDS benefits ranges from 50% to 70%. Factors that statistically significantly influence the priority include household income, knowledge of SUDS, frequency of flooding, depth of flooding, the distance to the nearest park, the distance to the nearest water body, and the distance to the nearest flooded location. In particular, the proximity to the nearest park affects the priority choice for all SUDS benefits with the principle that households near the park will probably choose higher priority to SUDS benefits than those living further.

Women and rural tourism in the integration context – case study in Con Son, Can Tho

2021-04-14T08:08:05+00:00

Tourism is one of the most important sectors creating jobs for women. According to the Tourism Human Resource Development Program by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism in 2015, the proportion of women in tourism accounted for 56% of the general labor force. In rural areas, participation in tourism organizations helps to significantly improve incomes and spiritual life of women. Through the tourist benefits, there has been a positive change in the awareness of gender equality that women are not only able to enhance income for themselves and their family but also contribute to local socio-economic development. The research team has selected Con Son (Son Island) in Can Tho Municipality for the survey because women here participate in almost all rural tourist activities. With the help of ethnographic fieldwork, participative observation and in-depth interview, the objective of the study is to assess the status and role of women in organizing, managing and implementing tourist activities. The results show that through tourism, the position of rural women, in family as well as in community, is lifted up. In parallel, tourism offers women many opportunities to manifest their capacity and to affirm their values.

Effects of adapted language materials in teaching listening on improving students’ English listening skill

2021-04-14T08:07:52+00:00

So far the students of Le Hong Phong Junior High School, Phan Rang - Thap Cham City, Ninh Thuan province have been taught listening comprehension with textbook-based language materials which are too obsolete. Therefore, the students are often fed up with listening lessons; thus, their listening skill fails to improve after studying listening with textbooks for many years. Stimulated by this reality, the current study was carried out to investigate the effects of the adaptation of language materials in teaching listening on students' achievement of listening skill development. To obtain the above target, a conceptual framework of teaching listening with adapted language materials was developed. This framework was based on the theories of teaching listening and the implementation of language materials adaptation in listening skill instruction. Following the shaped conceptual framework, a training program with six listening lessons within the prescribed curriculum of ``Tiếng Anh 8'' by the MoET was conducted. The treatment lasted nearly four months from the middle of August 2018 to the end of November 2018 at Le Hong Phong Junior High School, Phan Rang - Thap Cham City, Ninh Thuan province. The results of the current study have shown that after the treatment of listening instruction with adapted language materials, students' achievement was proved to be significant in improving their listening skill. Also, teaching listening with adapted language materials got positive attitudes from the students. That is to say, adapted language materials were effective in improving students' listening skill development. Also, all the adapted listening texts and follow-up tasks highly met students' satisfaction. Accordingly, two major conclusions could be withdrawn from the findings that language materials adaptation was effective in (1) improving the students' listening skill, and (2) enhancing their interest in the listening lessons.

The trend of technology application in tourist behavior

2021-04-14T08:07:51+00:00

In the context of the digital era, the role of technology in the field of tourism is vital and apparent. Technology has made traveling and tourism easier and more interesting; Internet and mobile devices have changed the way people plan and experience their trips. Tourist behavior is an underlying factor impacting the tourism services development. Understanding tourist behavior becomes prerequisite for tourism policy makers and practitioners, bringing practical values for stakeholders. Study on the impacts of technology on different stages of the travel cycle has been attracting scholars' attention. From the survey of 500 respondents living, studying or working in Ho Chi Minh City, this paper aims at mentioning the trend of applying technology in consume behavior in tourism, indicating level of technology use in different steps of the travel cycle ranging from information searching, booking, experiencing to sharing. The result showed that most of the respondents used technology at different levels in different stages of their travel cycle in which destination information searching and memories capturing were the most popular. Some implications and suggestions were also been indicated.

Korea’s and Vietnam’s Encounter and Reaction towards Western Ideas in the Flux of Western Intervention: Focusing on Selective Factors from the Seventeenth to mid- Nineteenth Century

2021-04-14T08:07:54+00:00

This paper is a comparative research on how Vietnam and Korea struggled to accommodate and interact with Western ideas in the advent of Western intervention in the East Asian region, based on the closely related cultural and historical background between the two East Asian countries. The author specifically focuses on the rise of Western ideas, i.e. Catholicism in the two countries within the dominant impacts of Confucian Sino-centric perception adopted by Confucian scholars and rulers for centuries. The research indicated significant resemblance in the pattern of Korea and Vietnam's reception and reaction toward the influences and challenges inflicted by the West, which was predominantly driven by the Sino-centric world view. In this light, both countries struggled through consistent social and political unrest and finally commenced to close the gates to the outside world in an attempt to protect the ruling powers. Vietnamese rulers, however, were by far less conservative and aggressive against the presence of the West in their domains due to their dependence upon Western advanced military technology, particularly during the internal conflicts between the Trinh and Nguyen factions. However, after the unification under the reign of Nguyen family, despite previous contacts with the West, Vietnam gradually become a fervent Confucian state. Meanwhile, in the same period of the Western provocation in East Asia, Korea was a full-fledged and unified kingdom under the rule of Yi family, Choson was more alerted about the rise of new ideas brought in by the West; thus, their reaction toward Western ideas were more brutal and merciless in order to protect the kingdom's correct ideology. Conclusively, no matter how Vietnamese and Korean scholars and rulers were fascinated by Western advancement in technology, owing to their commitment to the Sino-centric worldview they were reluctant to regard Western ideas in positive ways; thus, gradually failed to adapt themselves to the road to modernization which historically contributed to the decline of the nations in the following periods.

Indigenous knowledge in Vietnamese animal husbandry in the Mekong Delta

2021-04-14T08:07:49+00:00

Indigenous knowledge is an extremely valuable asset in the process of adapting to nature in different areas. Vietnamese residents in the Mekong Delta during the development of cultivation activities have accumulated a lot of folk experiences, creating a large amount of indigenous knowledge in daily life and farming production. This knowledge has supported the Vietnamese people to adapt to exist for several hundred years. The Mekong Delta is a land affected by natural disasters and epidemics, showing that the need to learn about indigenous knowledge for livelihood adaptation overthere is very necessary. To understand the indigenous knowledge in Vietnamese animal husbandry in the Mekong Delta, the author mainly uses a participatory survey method with 10 indepth interviews related to current production models, seasonal calendar, production experience, etc. and to indigenous knowledge which has been and is being locally applied in the floodplain (An Giang), brackish and salty waters (Ben Tre). From the collected results, combined with the grounded theory from secondary data, the author does the synthesizing and analyzing to produce comments related to the result which is the indigenous knowledge of the Vietnamese in animal husbandry, cattle, poultry, and aquaculture.

Agritourism business model in Ben Tre – Present and future

2021-04-14T08:07:48+00:00

Ben Tre is an emerging destination in the Mekong Delta and known as ``Vietnam's coconut kingdom''. The number of visitors to Ben Tre has been continuously increased, but the revenue per visitor is still quite low compared with other destinations. In the current, the tourism product of Ben Tre is mainly agritourism which mostly supplied by traditional agricultural production sites. Very few agritourism practice hi-tech agricultural productions. Most visitors visit Ben Tre are from HCMC and neighboring provinces. Due to the small scale of agritourism business sites, they have not been reached the large and high-end markets. This study aims to identify the current agritourism business models and then proposed future business linkage models. Qualitative method is used to conduct this study. Data is collected through observation techniques and combined with faceto- face interviews at Phu An Khang Tourist, Hai Van Farm- Van Ho Bird Sanctuary, Bay Thao Durian Garden, and Ecotourism cooperation of Thanh Phong community. This study proposes that in the future, Ben Tre should link agritourism business sites based on horizontal integration model to promote tourist products into a new market with large scale and high-end customers. The models of horizontal integration should be implemented as the association model as similar to "Bienvenu à la ferme" (France) and the corporation model as similar to Marahastra Corporation (India) because Ben Tre has the similar conditions conduct and develop these models.

Impact of Urbanization on Household Economy Development in Sa Dec Flower Village, Dong Thap

2021-04-14T08:07:47+00:00

Sa Dec Flower Village provides flowers for southern Vietnam and as a result makes an important contribution to the socio-economic development of the region, especially via tourism. This article aims to discern the factors affecting the economic and social changes of the Sa Dec Flower Village to establish appropriate development strategies. The impact on the economic changes of the flower village based on the following five key factors (1) Local orientation, (2) Urbanization, (3) Market economy, (4) Agricultural cooperative model, and (5) Traditional Flower Village engagement. There have been many previous related studies examining the relationship between these factors and household economic development in the context of urbanization; however, each study was done separately without combining all analyses in the same study. To test this impact, the paper applies the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) model to find out which factors have the most impact on the dependent variable Household Economic Development. The study surveyed 350 cases in two areas of Tan Quy Dong ward and Tan Khanh Dong ward which have strong urbanization rate and a long history of development of ornamental flower craft villages as well as the largest flower production areas in Sa Dec flower village. The results show that factors of Urbanization, Market economy and Traditional Flower Village engagement (of which Urbanization is the strongest one) have the impact on the household economic development. The two left variables Local Development Orientation and Agricultural Cooperative Model do not have a significant relationship or impact on the dependent variable and are excluded from the regression model. Based on the research results presented, this paper suggests possible solutions to improve the efficiency of the economic development of Sa Dec flower village.

Research on the behavior and activities of Vietnamese female travelers before and during outbound trips

2021-04-14T08:07:46+00:00

In 2020, more than 33 million people in Vietnam, over 50% of whom are women, join the middle class, living in large cities. Tourism, especially outbound tourism, is one of the 3 main spending needs of middle-class women. The female traveler market in Vietnam is gradually increasing in scale and considered to be a unique segment. In this research, based on the theory of planned behavior and diagram analyzing the process of visiting destinations, the author classified 4 groups of behaviors including destination selection, destination activities, destination spending, and reference information from 270 Vietnamese women on outbound trips by using descriptive statistics methods. The result showed that they share the common desires of culinary discoveries, the prevalence of self-sufficiency, technology proficiency, and the need to expand the geographical scope of destinations outside of Asia. From that, the research assisted international tour operator groups in Vietnam to formulate tour programs, PR and marketing strategy development proficiently, to offer the female travelers segment an excellent traveling experience.

Military cooperation between the United States of America and the Republic of Vietnam (1969-1973)

2021-04-14T08:07:42+00:00

President M. Richard Nixon took office in the context that the United States was being crisis and deeply divided by the Vietnam war. Ending the war became the new administration's top priority. The top priority of the new government was to get the American out of the war. But if the American got out of the war and the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) fell, the honor and and prestige of the U.S will be effected. Nixon government wanted to conclude American involvement honorably. It means that the U.S forces could be returned to the U.S, but still maintaining the RVN government in South Vietnam. To accomplish this goal, Nixon government implemented linkage diplomacy, negotiated with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in Paris and implemented "Vietnamization" strategy. The aim of the Vietnamization was to train and provide equipments for the RVN's military forces that gradually replace the U.S. troops, take responsibility in self-guarantee for their own security. By analyzing the military cooperation between the United States and the RVN in the implementation of "Vietnamization", the paper aims to clarify the nature of the "allied relationship" between the U.S and the RVN. It also proves that the goal of Nixon's Vietnamization was not to help the RVN "reach to a strong government with a wealthy economy, a powerful internal security and military forces", served the policy of withdrawing American troops from the war that the U.S could not win militarily, solving internal problems but still preserving the honor of the United States.

Japanese Technical Intern Training Program: Problems and Recommendations

2021-04-14T08:07:41+00:00

Labor export is acknowledged as a socio-economic development strategy of Vietnam. Since 2017, the number of Vietnamese intern trainees in Japan has been rapidly increasing, making Vietnam the top country that sends interns to Japan. The increase benefits both countries. However, in addition to the benefits, a number of problems related to the implementation of the program are remaining, particularly the increasing number of overstaying of Vietnamese trainnees. Previously, several research has examined the reasons of this phenomenon but mainly focused on economic aspects. This paper aims at exploring the causes of this phenomenon by examining the ambiguity of the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP). The paper firstly introduce the primary goals and implementation of the TITPcontributes to the overstaying of Vietnamese interns. Secondly, the paper examines the differences between the TITP's goals and its implementation as well as how the inconsistencies contribute to the illegal stay of Vietnamese intern trainees. Finally, the paper will propose some practical solutions to minimize the flee and illegal stay of Vietnamese trainees in Japan hence, improving the effectiveness of this program.

Role of Duong Van Minh’s Administration to the end of the Vietnam war

2021-04-14T08:07:40+00:00

During the history of the government of the Republic of Vietnam, the administration of president Dương Văn Minh was established on April 29, 1975, which had the shortest ruling time. This government cabinet consisted of many progressists who were representatives for the ideal of ending the war and national reconciliation. They gathered with general Dương Văn Minh to establish a new government at the end of the war. Although the government only lasted for a short time, it made an important contribution to the end of the Vietnam War. The establishment and regulation of Dương Văn Minh's Administration at the end of the war bore a really special meaning. It was the result of a process of advocacy and preparation by Vietnamese patriotic forces which tended to end the war humanely with less sufferings. Those contributions to this government's national history need to be acknowledged. In this article, the writer focuses on the contributions of Dương Văn Minh's administration to the end of the Vietnam War. Based on that, the article contributes an additional perspective on the technique to end the war of the Vietnamese people.

The “rise” of China in the early years of the twenty-first century and its impacts on Viet Nam

2021-04-14T08:08:07+00:00

The "rise'' of China is the most mentioned phrase in nearly the first two decades of the 21st century. The emergence of China in many fields (politics - diplomacy, economy, military security, etc.) is considered a prominent phenomenon which attracts the attention of Asian countries and of the whole world. In addition, this "rise'' has a strong influence on the development of the world, changing the distribution of global power. As a close neighbor and having many similarities with China, Vietnam bears significant impacts caused by the "rise'' of this Asian power. In the process of developing the country, Vietnam has favorable conditions to receive favorable factors and inevitably faces the challenges from China's "rise'' in many aspects. It can be affirmed that, from the strong development of China today, the relationship between China and Vietnam is an "asymmetric relationship''. The asymmetry in China - Vietnam relationship takes place in almost all major areas of cooperation, including politics, economy and military security. Within the scope of this article, the author mainly focuses on analyzing the basic issues surrounding China's "rise''; some of the major impacts of this issue are on security and development of Vietnam in recent years.

Vietnam’s university culture in the present context viewed from the requirements of identity construction (the case of USSH, VNU-HCM)

2021-04-14T08:08:03+00:00

Education is the foundation and motivation of development of a country. In the current context of globalization, facing the demands of development and integration, the important role of education is most evident in the field of higher education. In higher education, a university, which is considered to be strong and is expected to fulfill its mission, must be a university with a strong culture and a distinctive identity. Upon that criterion, in this article, the author investigates Vietnamese universities from the perspective of organizational culture, emphasizing the requirements of constructing cultural identity in both subjective and objective aspects. This issue is relatively new, especially in the context of studying university culture in Vietnam; therefore, the article mainly introduces the theoretical framework of constructing cultural identity, in the case of university cultural identity from the perspective of organizational culture. The paper chooses the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (USSH, VNU-HCM) -- one of the major humanities and social sciences training centers in the country -- as a case study with the hope that it can help to understand university culture in Vietnam from the requirements of identity construction in the context of globalization and cultural integration today.

Epidemics and pandemics in human history: Origins, effects and response measures

2021-04-14T08:07:58+00:00

Epidemics and pandemics are kind of the regular disasters that not only threaten human health, but also affect economy, social and politic life of many societies and civilizations. In the timeline of human history, there have long been a lot of catastrophic epidemics, rapidly spreading all over the world, leading to massive deaths and becoming horrible challenges to human existence. They included the plague of Antonine in Ancient Rome; the Justinian pandemic and ``the Black Death'' in the Medieval period; the pandemic of cholera and the Asian plague in the modern age; the 1918- 1919 flu pandemic, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the influenza pandemic in 2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-2020. The main infectious diseases that cause pandemics in human history are plagued, smallpox, cholera and flu. By approaching the macrohistory and environmental history, the article made some overviews of epidemics and pandemics in human history from ancient ages to modern ages. Firstly, the article researches the terms ``epidemic, pandemic" and their levels. Next, the article analyzes the origins of epidemics and pandemics, the causes of their appearance, including biological factors, natural conditions and social conditions. Then, the article presents the outbreaks, spreads and impacts of some significant epidemics and pandemics in human history. Hence, the article also initially evaluates some response measures to epidemics and pandemics in history.

Migration in the context of environmental change (Case study of the Mekong Delta)

2021-04-14T08:07:44+00:00

In the context of environmental change in the Mekong Delta, households have different livelihood strategies such as maintaining current livelihoods, changing to new livelihoods and migrating to find jobs. The migration strategy for finding jobs in major cities is a research topic of interest from different fields of study such as geography, sociology, economics, culture, and anthropology, etc. In spite of that, there are many issues that still need to be studied. When discussing migration and the environment, researchers have divided their opinions into two groups. Some of the researchers recognize the environment as the main driver of migration. Meanwhile, the other emphasize the complexity of this process. They consider that migration is a decision driven by different reasons; one of which is the environment. Using a rich source of secondary data from scientific journals and monographs, the author of this article focuses on exploring the questionable relationship between migration and environmental change: Is environmental change a driving force for migration, and is migration a strategy to adapt to environmental change? The findings from this article will serve as a basis for conducting further studies to understand driving forces and migration tendency of household.

Some survey results about the change of gods in myths to gods in the fairy tales of Vietnamese ethnic minorities

2021-04-14T08:08:04+00:00

Gods appear in a wide variety of myths and fairy tales around nations in the world. This is one of the central images, showing a multidimensional awareness of the ancients on the nature and society. Understanding the transformation of the system of god characters in a process of sequences, the system from the myths to the fairy tales of ethnic minorities in Vietnam, we will see the development of awareness levels in thinking, in the spiritual life of the society and of Vietnamese people. From there, we see the development in the thought process and artistic performances of the ancients which were romantic and high-soaring. We also see the similarities and differences in the art of character building in ethnic minorities' myths and legends. The research outcome is to understand the origin, the way to reflect the world, the people, the process of changing according to the thought and the art process of the divine character from myth to fairy tales of the Vietnamese ethnic minorities through the following steps: 1) Describing and surveying the divine characters in 181 myths of ethnic minorities in Vietnam; 2) Describing and surveying god characters in 150 fairy tales of typical Vietnamese ethnic minorities; and 3) Giving comment , evaluating the transformation of mythical characters from myths to fairy tales through the survey results.

The dictator – A specific figure of modern Latin American novels

2021-04-14T08:08:02+00:00

heroic pages of her own. Latin America is an area encompassing countries historically ruled by the Spanish and the Portuguese under their colonization time throughout the centuries.After hard struggles to gain independence, the region continued to face many new challenges and difficulties in which violence and military dictatorship were the most common situation dominating Latin American politics in the 19th and 20th centuries. Since then, the topic of dictatorship has been written in novels in that region. Márquez has stated in an interview that, the fact that brutality ran from one end of the continent to the other made the history shaped by brutality. Writing about this topic, modern Latin American writers have "entered" the deepest into the reality of their continent, wherever they are, no matter what narrative method they use. This helps modern Latin American literature express its own literary themes, not being mixed with other literatures. In Vietnam, over the past 50 years, a lot of Latin American novels have been translated and well received by Vietnamese academic and popular readers. Such authors as A. Asturias, L. Borges, Carpentier of the Latin American Vanguardia, Márquez, Llosa of the Latin American Boom have become familiar names to Vietnamese readers. Understanding the image of the dictator – an important image of the tradition and identity of Latin American literature will give a better understanding about this literature.

Vuong Huu Quang and his poems inspired on the ambassador trip to China

2021-04-14T08:07:56+00:00

Vuong Huu Quang 王有光, with courtesy name Dung Hoi用晦 and poetic name Te Trai 濟齋, was a high-ranked mandarin of the Nguyen Dynasty. He was born in Tan Duc Village, Tan Long District, Phien An Town, Gia Dinh Province, Southern Vietnam, into a family of the Ming-Dynasty immigrants who originated from CangZhou County, Fujian Province. Vuong Huu Quang held many important positions in the imperial court across various localities and traveled to China for diplomatic mission twice in the fifth year of Thieu Tri Emperor (1845) and from the seventh year of Thieu Tri (1847) to the first year of Tu Duc Emperor (1848). His name, however, is unfamiliar to Vietnamese modern readers due to his limited written legacy, most of which was lost in history. Researchers have known of only two steles poems he left in China, one engraved on a stele in Wuxi and the other in the Yue Fei Temple. Upon reading the old collection Viet Nam Han van Yen hanh van hien tap thanh 越南漢文燕行文獻集成, I discovered that Vuong Huu Quang and his co-worker Pham Chi Huong enjoyed writing and responding in poetic form during their diplomatic trips to China. This article introduces several more poems of Vuong Huu Quang to expand our understanding of another Southern Vietnamese poet who have been mostly covered by time, and provides a brief analysis on the poetic style that Vuong Huu Quang and Pham Chi Huong applied in portraying historical figures.