Researchers talk about communal houses in cities

Speaker Hiếu Y will conduct a talk on Vietnamese communal houses in the south on August 17. Photo idesign.vn

HÀ NỘI — A talk show conducted by researchers Hiếu Y and Vương An Nguyên will be held looking at Vietnamese communal houses in the south, with their focus on architecture, landscape, and people. 

In the landscape of a Vietnamese village, communal houses are not just physical architecture, but also a hybrid space that fuses daily life and sacredness.

It is a place to gather and exchange memories of settlement, life building, as well as to venerate ‘deities’.

In the talk, on August 17, two speakers Y and Nguyên will present their work which surveys the system of communal houses in the south aiming at raising questions about the changes in the relationship between city dwellers and communal houses – deities.

With impact from the dizzying speed of urbanisation and the constant influx of people migrating from the countryside to the city, how has the role of the communal houses, in terms of its sacredness and symbolic power, changed. 

Y’s academic interests primarily focus on visual anthropology, arts and architecture. He has organised various community programmes, including talk shows, field trips and workshops with the vision of engaging diverse communities across different cultures and disciplines.

Nguyễn is a writer, researcher and event manager. He currently focuses on the fields of memory studies, comparative art studies and spiritual ecology.

In 2021, he co-founded a project based on data collection and connecting the public with contemporary art. They have organised knowledge-sharing programmes with art organisations such as Nguyễn Art Foundation, Heritage Space and Sàn Art. 

The event will begin at 10am on Saturday at EMASI Vạn Phúc, in Vạn Phúc City, Thủ Đức, HCM City. — VNS