tailieunhanh - Communal Houses in the Central Highlands at Present: Actual Changes and Influential Factors

In the contemporary social context with a lot of changes in the Central Highlands, however, cultural heritage generally and communal houses particularly in the Central Highlands have been changing variously and causing multi-interactions with social life and development. The article based on the current situation and fieldwork data in 5 provinces of the Central Highlands in 2013 and 2014, we are describing the actual changes as a follow-up and essential supplementation to the source of literature on communal houses in the Central Highlands. | Vietnam Social Sciences, (172) - 2016 LINGUISTICS – LITERATURE – CULTURE Communal Houses in the Central Highlands at Present: Actual Changes and Influential Factors Nguyen Thi Phuong Cham * Abstract: In the contemporary social context with a lot of changes in the Central Highlands, however, cultural heritage generally and communal houses particularly in the Central Highlands have been changing variously and causing multi-interactions with social life and development. The article based on the current situation and fieldwork data in 5 provinces of the Central Highlands in 2013 and 2014, we are describing the actual changes as a follow-up and essential supplementation to the source of literature on communal houses in the Central Highlands. Key words: Communal house; Central Highland communal house; Highland cultural heritage; Cultural change on Central Highland. 1. Introductory At present, the Central Highland Region is composed of 5 provinces, including Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak - Lak, Dak - Nong, and Lam Dong, covering a total area of 54, km2, making up of our country. In 2012, the population of the Central Highlands was 5,379,600 persons. It is an area of ecological diversity with a lot of landscapes and natural resources involved with soil, forest, rivers/streams, falls, mountains/hills, plateaus, and climate ,etc Besides, it is also a multi-ethnic region with habitations of almost all 54 ethnic groups, which are divided into 3 main categories, including: the category of local ethnic minorities (accounting for about 25% of the total population in the Central Highlands); the category of ethnic minority migrants (accounting for about 8%); and, the category of Kinh people (accounting for about 67%). This has created a particularly ethnical diversity of the Central Highlands. In addition to the 74 ecological and ethnical diversity, it is also much diversified in terms of regional characteristics, livelihoods, means of production, history, choices and