2019 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Buddhist charitable practice, Old-age experience and personhood of Vietnamese elderly
| Project/Area Number |
19K13476
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| Research Institution | Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University |
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Principal Investigator |
LE HoangAnhThu 立命館アジア太平洋大学, アジア太平洋学部, 助教 (70828384)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | philanthropy / old age / social stratification / civil society / post-socialism / Vietnam |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
For FY2019, my plan was to conduct two field research trips to Vietnam, and to present a paper reporting my initial findings at a conference.From April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, I have completed these goals for my Grants-in-Aid project:
- I conducted two field research trips among charity givers and organisers in southern Vietnam. The first field trip was in July and August 2019. I joined my informants in their charity events in hospitals, lepers' colonies and rural villages inside and outside of Ho Chi Minh City. The second field trip was in February and March 2020. I talked to a few people, whom I had met in the first field trip, and got their updates about their coming charity projects. However, I had to cancel several meetings, because of the outbreak of Covid-19 in Vietnam and the enforced social distancing and lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City.
- I presented a research paper titled "Doing Bodhisattva's work: Charity and the Working class in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)" at the 17th Asia Pacific Conference which took place in Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in December 2019.
- I submitted a paper titled "Doing Bodhisattva’s Work: Charity, Class, and Selfhood of Petty Traders in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)" to the Journal of Vietnamese Studies (Center for Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley). This paper has been provisionally accepted for publication.
- I submitted a paper proposal to the conference "Leisure Activities for Older Adults in Asia" (organised by the National University of Singapore) and was accepted for presentation.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Even though I managed to achieve the items stated in the section above, my data collection process has been affected by the outbreak of Covid-19 in Vietnam which led to enforced social distancing in the entire country, and lockdown in several neighbourhoods and suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City. Several charity trips that I planned to join with my informants were also cancelled. Besides, most of my informants were in their senior age, so I felt hesitant to visit them during the pandemic time, given that they belonged to the "vulnerable group" to Covid-19. I managed to talk to some of them on the phone, or visit them at their home where possible. Therefore my research did not proceed as smoothly as expected.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Fieldwork: I have made some adjustments to my field research plan, taking into account the uncertain situations caused by the Covid-19 outbreak:
- Explore Vietnamese media coverage about philanthropic activities during the pandemic: I am following the news about charity events conducted by companies, organisations and individuals in big cities in Vietnam during the virus outbreak. I plan to participate in post-pandemic relief in my future field research trips in 2020.
- Conduct two field research trips in southern Vietnam in 2020: Besides meeting with my current informants, I hope to expand my informant network, and participate in post-pandemic reliefs in Ho Chi Minh City and southern Vietnam provinces. I hope to conduct interviews with the people who organised food distribution events during the social lockdown.
Publication and conferences:
- I will make final revisions for the paper titled "Doing Bodhisattva’s Work: Charity, Class, and Selfhood of Petty Traders in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)" to meet the production requirements of the Journal of Vietnamese Studies.
- I will participate in the conference "Leisure Activities for Older Adults in Asia", organised by the Asian Research Institute of the National University of Singapore in September 2020. I will present a paper titled "Journey in the Impure Land: Pilgrimage and Transcendence of Old-age self of Vietnamese women" at this conference.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, I returned to Japan from my second field research trip in Vietnam later than scheduled and was not able to submit the receipts for my travel and proofreading cost for one academic paper in late March in time for reimbursement in FY2019. As such, said expenses will be included under FY2020's expenses.
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Research Products
(1 results)
