2018 Volume 17 Issue 2 Pages 180-206
This paper aims to reconsider the ethnic category of the Han in Vietnam, focusing especially on the Ngai people, a Han ethnic group from South China. In 1979, the government of Vietnam officially recognized them as the Dan Toc Ngai, one of the country’s 54 ethnic groups. Therefore, the Ngai people were considered to be the aboriginal ethnic group of the Dan Toc Ngai in previous studies. Based on fieldwork, however, I found that the Ngai people are not completely equivalent to the Dan Toc Ngai, because some Ngai people in Vietnam belong to other ethnic groups, such as the Nung, Hoa, or San Diu. In this paper, I explicate the ethnic category of the Ngai people, clarifying their migration patterns, identity politics, and the formation of a global network since the end of the 1970s. In doing so, I emphasize that the Ngai people are identified as a definite trans-border ethnic group, and that the group’s ethnic categories and identities may vary according to the socio-political situation. I will then highlight the necessity of understanding the Ngai people in the context of studying the Dan Toc Ngai and other Han people in Vietnam.
