“The reparative process is care”: Affective care-relational ethics as the reparative methodology in engagement work with Ethnic Minority communities in Vietnam

Abstract

Vietnam is a multi-ethnic country with 54 ethnic groups recognized by the Vietnamese government, with the Kinh or Viet being the majority. From the past to the present day, ethnic minority people have been marginalized in social and political participation, culturally appropriated, had ancestral lands taken away for national infrastructure projects, and stigmatized for their cultural practices and unique ways of living. Despite the absence of a formal reconciliation process, many efforts have been made to celebrate “diversity in unity” or “multiculturalism,” such as national dialogues, multi-ethnic schooling and the inclusion of ethnic minority features in the media. Setting aside the adverse effects resulting from good intentions but wrong implementation, it is evident that most interventions established by the ethnic majority align with their convenience, their set of principles, and their ways of interpretation. Having said that, beyond mere critiques of what has been happening, it is equally crucial is the imagination otherwise. This paper examines affective care-relational ethics as such an “otherwise” counterbalancing the Vietnamese dominant morality shaped by Confucianism and Socialist ideologies. The paper synthesizes the feminist approach in ethics of care and affect theories to furnish an ample space to develop care ethics to work with ethnic minority people in Vietnam.