Exploring the Role of Religious Places in Sharing and Producing Knowledge in Rural Communities: A Case Study of the Kinh People in Soc Trang, Vietnam

Abstract

AbstractSoc Trang province is located south of the Hau River in the Mekong Delta region. The province is home to ethnic groups including Kinh, Khmer, and Hoa. Each ethnic group has different cultural values, contributing to enriching the local cultural diversity; the Kinh people are the most dominant ethnic group of the total population in the region. In the cultural institutions of the Kinh people in Soc Trang, temples and pagodas have been an integral part of residents’ daily lives for centuries. In addition to their main role as a place where people share their cultural beliefs and religious practice, temples and pagodas are also sites where people meet and share agricultural knowledge. To gain further insight into this phenomenon, this study used both in-depth interviews and questionnaires to examine how different forms of intellectual assets and agricultural practice knowledge have been explicated and passed down from generation to generation within the examined communities. Moreover, this study also attempts to explore the importance of cultural and religious sites for local communities, and their critical impact on the community attachment and management system.