Making Families Across Ethnic Divide: Khmer-Kinh Intermarriage in Viet Nam

Abstract

This thesis investigates intermarriages between ethnic Khmer and Kinh people in a province of southern Vietnam. Khmer-Kinh interethnic marriage raises paradoxes, for the very possibility of such unions is sometimes questioned owing to the socio-economic gaps and assumed differences in cultural practices between these groups, their historical tension, and mutually unfavourable stereotypes. Nevertheless, this type of marriage is real and has been increasing in recent years. This thesis aims to explore the facilitating factors behind this type of marriage; how Khmer-Kinh couples experience their relationship with eachother and with their families; and how ethnic identity is transmitted to the children of such unions. It demonstrates that Khmer and Kinh couples engage in a dynamic process of negotiating multiple constraints and adapting to differences to make their marriages viable. This thesis draws upon in-depth interviews and observations from a field study undertaken by the author in 2012 in An Giang Province. Thirty-five Khmer-Kinh interethnic couples took part in the study that examined marriages in rural and urban areas as well as ethnically segregated and ethnically mixed settings. The participants were drawn from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and included couples made up of individuals of similar and dissimilar socio-economic standing. The findings highlight that geographical and socioeconomic disparities are significant barriers to Khmer-Kinh interethnic marriage. Historical tensions also have led to the development of pejorative stereotypes between the ethnic groups, which significantly impede the formation of such intimate unions. The findings unpack the complex factors and conditions facilitating the incidence of Khmer-Kinh interethnic marriage, highlighting the significance of modernization and development factors in bridging the geographical, social, cultural and psychological gaps between groups, and the role of new marriage markets and personal experiences in facilitating such conjugal unions. By examining couples’ relationship with each-other and with their families, I found two core factors—class disparity and cultural differences—account for many of the tensions