BẢO TÀNG DÂN TỘC HỌC VIỆT NAM MUSÉE D’ETHNOGRAPHIE DU VIETNAM - VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOLOGY
4TH QUARTER
Mosque Drum from the Philippines to be Displayed In order to diversify the types of objects in the exhibition Southeast Asian Culture and better serve the visitors, the VME is finalizing its preparatory work to display this drum in the lobby on the first floor of the Kite-wing Building at the end of 2016. This one-head drum was used in a mosque in Tagaya, Lanao del Sur, Mindanao Islands of the Philippines. On some occasions, such as the beginning and the end of the Ramadan, a prestigious man, often the Sultan, was invited to beat the drum to call on Muslims to the mosque for prayers. An important man of the Maranaos had this drum made in the 1960s. Being carved from a single big tree trunk, the drum is 3.86 meters in height and the drumhead’s diameter is 1.2 meters. Artisans hollowed the wood, carved motifs over the entire barrel of the drum, and covered the drumhead with wild buffalo skin. In the mosque, it was suspended horizontally to be hit with two mallets wrapped with pieces of cloth. Today, this type of drum is replaced by modern instruments.
The drum collected from the Philippines
Project on Doing Research and Collecting Objects of 54 Ethnic Peoples Việt Nam to be Drafted The VME is currently storing and preserving a great number of objects, documents, photographs, films, video tapes, and CDs about the lives and cultures of 54 ethnic peoples in Việt Nam. However, recently deteriorated storage facilities and limited storage area have more or less influenced on the quality of these objects and documents. Especially, many unique objects displayed in the permanent exhibition Việt Nam’s 54 Ethnic Peoples that has been maintained to serve the visitors for almost 20 years have been recently degraded and need to be replaced. Moreover, since the last several decades, rural area in Việt Nam, both in the delta and in the mountainous areas, has gone through drasmatic changes. Traditional elements of cultures of the ethnic peoples have been gradually falling into oblivion. For this reason, collecting objects, especially typical ones of the ethnic peoples, has become more and more difficult. In order to supplement and update information on the lives and cultures of the ethnic peoples in the current context, a project proposal on Doing Research and Collecting Objects of 54 Ethnic Peoples in Việt Nam has been drafted on the base of the consultancy and a number of discussions among museum experts. The VME plans to carry out the project in five years and will submit the project proposal to the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences for approval.
Mid-Autumn Festival of 2016 in Review The Mid-Autumn Festival Colourful Culture of Bạc Liêu has attracted more than 15,000 visitors to the museum to participate in and experience activities in two days, September 10th and September 11th. Nearly 200 news and articles about the program have been published on newspapers, television channels, and radios. Different cultural forms from Bạc Liêu have made this year’s program more diverse and lively. Visitors had a chance to watch excited unicorn dance with unique techniques and appealing mai hoa thung pole staging (dancing on wooden poles arranged like a valley of mai flowers), enjoy the music and lyrics of Đờn ca tài tử (the Southern style folk songs), and taste popular dishes of Bạc Liêu land right in the heart of Hà Nội. Many people loved and enthusiatically participated in specific MidAutumn activities such as making lanterns, paper doctors, sticky rice cake, pounding young rice grains to make cốm, kneading coloured dough into fruits, decorating iron ships etc. Thousands of children with their family members have experienced these activities according to the guidance of the artisans, museum staff and museum volunteers. Besides, active visitors also discovered and played many folk games inside the campus of the museum.
The VME’s annual Mid-Autumn Festival is an opportunity to introduce and promote cultures of different areas in the country. The museum hope this activity will enhance the opportunities for cultural bearers to self introduce about their culture whilst visitors explore culture through experience and exchange with artisans. This is a meaningful work to stimulate the awareness of preservation and promotion of Việt Nam’s cultural heritage values in the context of integration.
Unicorn dance
Workshop Preservation of Collections and Museum Building by Integrated Pest Management over Southeast Asia to be Held in Indonesia The workshop, which was funded by the National Museum of Indonesia, took place in Dipa, Jakarta, from July 24th to July 31st, 2016. The workshop aimed to enhance knowledge for museum staff in management of pest, insects, and mould. A conservator of the VME participated in the workshop with other ones from 11 national museums in Southeast Asian countries. The workshop also involved a number of experts in chemistry and entomology from the Forestry Research Centre of Indonesia and different universities in Indonesia. After five working days, the workshop was successful in raising awareness of conservators in Southeast Asian countries about environment of conservation, various types of insects, mould, and pest as well as ways to prevent and treat damaged objects. This was also an opportunity for museum workers in the region to exchange and share experiences with each other.
Participants of the Workshop
Training Activities to be Continued in 2016 In 2016, two museum staff successfully defended their doctoral disertations in Anthropology; one studied at the Graduate Academy of Social Science, Viᝇt Nam, the other took his Ph.D. program in the University of Toronto, Canada. Besides, four staff successfully defended their master thesis in Ethnology, Cultural Studies and Public Policy at the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences. At present, seven staff continue to complete the doctoral training program; seven persons are studying master’s program, two of whom started their study this year. These numbers show that the VME has facilitated its staff in different job positions and different professions to participate in long-term trainings, seminars, and short-term trainings inside and outside the country so that they have opportunities to exchange and share experiences with the colleagues in order to improve their professional capacity and effectively apply the knowledge in the Museum’s work.
The Project Impacts of Television on the Changes of the Thái’s Families in Việt Nam to be Completed This project will be finished at the end of 2016. According to the plan, the VME’s staff and the members of the Project Office carried out 2 trips in May and August to do a photovoice program. Besides, the project also collected data for the research topic Gender Difference in Continuance to High School Education in August and October. Respondents were high school teachers, high school students, students who left school at the age of 16 to 18, and their parents. Within the framework of the project, the VME will organize a summary at the end of this year. In this occasion, the results gained through 5 years the project was operated in Quế Phong District will be reported and presents will be given to 7 Thái’s villages in Quỳ Châu District.
Research and Regional Forum on Capturing & Sharing Traditional Methods in Textile Preservation in Southeast Asia to be Organized in Thailand From March to July 2016, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SEAMEO SPAFA) and the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles, Bangkok, Thailand, formed a research team to participate in the program Doing Research and Sharing Methods in Textile Preservation in Southeast Asia. Team members include conservators and researchers of museums from Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viᝇt Nam.
Sharing traditional methods to clean textile products
At the completion of the research, a forum was organized from August 23rd to August 25th, 2016, in Bangkok, Thailand. At the forum, members of the research team reported their fieldwork results and together tested and adjusted the formulas to clean traditional textile products in order to find standard formulas, which will be introduced in a book expectably published in 2017. A conservator from the VME participated in this research and presented at the forum about folk experience of some ethnic peoples in Viᝇt Nam in cleaning their costumes by using ash with water, soapberry fruits, and fruits of locust-trees.
The Museum & Anthropology Review to Proceed Its Publication The year 2016 is the fourth year of publication of the VME’s Museum & Anthropology Review. Research articles and information published in the first three volumes of the Review covered different fields and provided some updated knowledge about Museology and Anthropology. Noticeable articles of some experts in museology and anthropology were concerned with museum conservation, graphic design, the employment of some object collections on training and doing research, the experience in engaging communities in some museum activities; folk knowledge about the Tà ôi’s traditional weaving, Thái people’s health care, Dao people’s fermented food, water puppetry arts, and ethnic relations in markets in the border areas. A special issue on the preservation of cultural heritage in Việt Nam with articles that analyze the preservation work in general and some case studies will be expectably published in the fourth quarter.
Data of Museum Interns in the Forth Quarter The VME is not only a fascinating tourist attraction to domestic and international visitors but also a place where interns from colleges and universities in Hà Nội are welcomed. In September, the museum received two cohorts of interns. Eight students of the Faculty of Music (Central College of Pedagogy) took their internship at the Educational Department from September 26th to October 23rd, 2016. The Faculty of Ethnic Minorities’ Culture (Hà Nội Culture University) sent twenty one students to practise at the Department of Open-air Exhibition and five students to be trainees at the Department of Communication & Public Relations from September 27th, 2016 through February 25th, 2017. The students are keen on enhancing their professional knowledge in a real working environment, their teamwork capability as well as their understanding about cultures of different ethnic peoples in Việt Nam and Southeast Asia.
Data of Visitors in the Third Quarter
Visitors at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
In the third quarter of the year, the VME received 90,296 visitors, of whom were 60,800 Vietnamese (67%) and 29,496 foreigners (33%). International visitors came from many countries, most of whom were from France, USA, Germany, Korea, and Australia. The number of visitors coming to the museum was 6,705 people more than that in the same period last year. Especially, the Mid-Autumn Festival Colourful Culture of Bấc Liêu attracted over 15,000 visitors.
Guided tours : In Vietnamese, French and English; group, special and topic-based tours by appointment (84.4- 37562193) Activities for children : Discovery room (Dong Ho wood-block printing, weaving, dyeing and creating patterns on textiles, making toys, etc.) Annual events : Tet holidays, International Children’s Day and Midautumn Festival Living traditions : Craft performances by artisans of different ethnic groups, regular performances of water puppetry and traditional arts Souvenir shop : Introducing handicraft products (in collaboration with the Craft Link) Book store : Books, exhibit catalogues and postcards of Vietnamese culture and history, especially the cultures of different ethnic groups Services : Organizing cultural events at the Museum or at a requested place for tourism companies, institutions, family groups (including traditional art perfomances such as ca tru traditional singing, water puppetry, xoan traditional singing, gongs and drums performing; and hand-on demonstrations such as making pottery, Mid-autumn lights, masks, traditional cakes, conical hats, traditional fans and weaving etc. Three permanent exhibitions : • Ethnic groups in Vietnam – introduction about the 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups
• Southeast Asia – introduction about the cultures of Southeast Asian ethnic groups • Architectural garden – the outdoor exhibition introducing the traditional architecture of ten ethnic groups in Vietnam Every Saturday and Sunday : Traditional water puppet performances for free
Hoang Quoc Viet
Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
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Nguyen Van Huyen
Nguyen Phong Sac
To Noi Bai international airport
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Daewoo hotel
VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOLOGY Nguyen Van Huyen Road, Cau Giay, Hanoi Tel : (84. 4) 3756 2193 | Fax : (84. 4) 3836 0351 information.vme@gmail.com | www.vme.org.vn — Opening hours: 8:30 – 17:30, closed on Mondays and Tet holidays — How to come: by bus numbers 7, 12, 13, 14, 38, 39 Access for the disabled
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© Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
Folk water puppetry performances Every Saturdays and Sundays – at 10:00, 11:30, 14:30, and 16:00
• October
Luy Lâu water puppetry troupe (Bắc Ninh Province)
• November
Tế Tiêu water puppetry troupe (Hà Nội)
• December
Đào Thục water puppetry troupe (Hà Nội)
Exhibitions A Glimpse into Asia, Around the World, Indonesian Glass Paintings, Display of a dug-out drum from the Philippines Activities in 2017: • Program in New Year’s Holiday: Enjoying the Year of the Chicken Saturday, February 4th and Sunday, February 5th, 2017 8:30 - 17:30
• Program on the Occasion of the Capital Liberation Day (April 30th) and the International Labour’s Day (May 1st)
Thursday, April 30th; Friday, April 31st; and Saturday, May 1st, 2017, 8:30 - 17:30
• Program on the Occasion of the International Children’s Day (June 1st) Saturday, May 27th and Sunday, May 28th, 2017, 8:30 - 17:30
• Mid-Autumn Festival
Saturday, September 30th and Sunday, October 1st, 2017 8:30 – 12:00 and 14:00 – 17:30