In 2009, among the 17 training majors of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Anthropology is a new major, attracting the interest and attention of many candidates. The Department of Anthropology (Faculty of History - University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi) would like to introduce an overview of the anthropology major at the Department, hoping to help candidates understand more clearly about this major.Internationally, Anthropology is a science that integrates knowledge from the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and arts to comprehensively study humans. Born in the 19th century, anthropology has a particularly important academic position and profound practical significance, and has been taught in many universities in the region and around the world.
| ASSOCIATION NAME |
NUMBER OF MEMBERSHIP |
| American Anthropological Association |
11,000 |
| Japanese Society for Cultural Anthropology |
2,060 |
| Russian Ethnological and Anthropological Society |
1,500 |
| Brazilian Anthropological Society |
1,200 |
| European Association for Social Anthropology |
1,000 |
| Indian Anthropological Society |
750 |
| British Social Anthropological Association |
600 |
Source:Gustavo Lins Ribeiro 2006. 'World Anthropology: Cosmopolitics for a new global scenario in anthropology'. Critique of Anthropology, Vol. 26 (4), page 369.
After more than a century of development, most universities in the region and around the world train anthropology at all three levels: bachelor, master and doctorate with different scales. Many Anthropology departments are invested by the State to become prestigious and quality research, training and consulting centers, having an important influence on society in general, and on the cultural, social and development policies of the State in particular. According to the common structure in many universities in the world today, Anthropology is a science that includes many different sub-disciplines such as human physical anthropology, cultural and social anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology. Recently, in many universities, a new sub-discipline has appeared, called applied anthropology, mainly training staff working in the fields of development research and community health care. In Vietnam, just like in China and many former Eastern European socialist countries, anthropology is not organized into a common field of study as is often seen in other European and American universities, but has developed into separate fields of study such as linguistics, archaeology, cultural studies, ethnology, etc. Recently, most of these countries have also shifted to a model of training and researching anthropology in the direction of combining sub-disciplines into a common science under the name of Anthropology or innovating and expanding the research objects of traditional ethnology and calling it the science of Anthropology and Ethnology.
The Department of Anthropology (University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) is currently basically built on the basis of inheriting the tradition of ethnology, which has been taught at Hanoi University since 1917 under the French colonial period, combined with the absorption of the quintessence of modern European and American anthropology. In this direction, anthropology is basically a science that uses ethnographic materials to study and explore the diversity of cultures and the principles of human social organization both in history and at present. The opening of the undergraduate training program in anthropology is the result of a multi-faceted preparation process by the Department and the University over the past 10 years, including the development of training programs, staff and other necessary material conditions. This is part of the strategy to develop the Department of Anthropology into a leading center for research, undergraduate and postgraduate training in Vietnam, with potential for cooperation and competitiveness with anthropology training centers in the region and the world.
The Department's undergraduate training program in anthropology aims to provide students with basic and in-depth knowledge of various fields of anthropology, creating the premise for anthropology graduates to be able to work in research and training institutions on culture and society, domestic organizations, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, state agencies and other organizations that need to use anthropological knowledge. Graduates from the Department of Anthropology will be equipped with a solid knowledge base to teach culture and society at universities and colleges, or continue to study master's and doctoral training programs at universities in the country and abroad. [img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/02/17/img_7264.jpg" border="0" alt="Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Ba Nam - Vice Principal of the school, former Head of the Department of Anthropology" title="Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Ba Nam - Vice Principal of the school, former Head of the Department of Anthropology" width="280" height="223" align="right" ] The highlight of the training program is that it will inherit a long tradition and training experience of the Department over many decades. When building the training program, the Department pays special attention to the unity and harmony between theory and practice, between basic research and applied research, between industry knowledge and interdisciplinary knowledge with other social sciences, humanities and arts, aiming to train anthropologists who are able to apply well the knowledge acquired during the learning process to practical work and life. With a team of lecturers trained in Russia, the Netherlands, Australia, including those who have taught in the US, Singapore and other countries, the Department also selectively absorbs the quintessence of knowledge from anthropology in developed countries, combined with the training and research foundation of Vietnamese ethnology, to build an anthropology that is suitable for the political, economic, cultural and social conditions of Vietnam while still ensuring the ability to integrate with anthropology in the region and the world. Thus, the Department's undergraduate training program in anthropology not only aims for high quality but also aims to integrate, cooperate and link training with domestic and international training institutions. [img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/02/17/img_8676.jpg" border="0" alt="The meeting assigning tasks to the Council for compiling the Anthropology curriculum framework of the Ministry of Education and Training" title="The meeting assigning tasks to the Council for compiling the Anthropology curriculum framework of the Ministry of Education and Training" width="280" height="187" align="left" ] As mentioned, the Department of Anthropology (University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi) is the successor of the tradition of the Department of Ethnology established in the 1960s of the last century under Hanoi National University. After several decades of development, the Department has trained thousands of cultural researchers and achieved remarkable achievements in research, undergraduate and postgraduate training, and made important contributions to consulting for the planning and implementation of economic, political, cultural and social policies of the Party and State. The country's renovation has set out requirements for innovation in training and research on humans and human culture and society to develop and integrate with the region and the world. Opening the anthropology training major allows for expanding the research subjects and training a team of anthropologists capable of meeting the requirements of innovation, development and integration of the country.
