PI: Cécile de Francquen | Collaborators: Lương Thanh Sơn,
Bùi Bảo Ngân, Nguyễn Ngọc Ẩn, and Hà Thị Sương
Project ID: 2020SG03 | Location of Research: South-central Vietnam
Host Institution: Université Libre de Bruxelles
The production of pottery vessels in Vietnam has undergone rapid change over the last thirty years due to the economic opening of the country. On the one hand, tourism and the export of goods has led to the development of new products and new manufacturing techniques. On the other hand, the democratisation of plastic and metal containers engendered a decline in the use of domestic pottery. Due to a lack of demand, the production of domestic pottery is now in decline and this know-how, which was once vital to the social life of communities, is a generation away from disappearance.
The main aim of the project was to document, through films and photographs, the entire manufacturing process and uses of domestic pottery in eight Vietnamese villages with potters of six ethnic groups (Kinh, Mnong Rlam, Bahnar, Koho, Bih and Katu). Comparing these processes against one another and with available historical data builds toward a history of local pottery traditional and understandings of historical inter-ethnic relations.
Methodology
The fieldwork was conducted in eight villages, located in five different provinces, in 2023. During the fieldwork, the team used the chaîne opératoire as a template to structure and systematise the documentation and description of the pottery making process by breaking it down into smaller units. The chaîne opératoire for pottery is divided into five main steps (collection, clay preparation, shaping, surface treatment and firing), each of which is divided into smaller steps (sequences and operations).
Each of these small steps has been documented by film and photography and supplemented by interviews with the potters. The aim of the latter was to collect vernacular descriptions and interpretations of the production process, as well as information on the social and historical aspects of the activity. The interviews were conducted in Vietnamese, except in the villages of Kon To Xing and Ki’nonh, where the potters were not familiar with the language. This was the only occasion when an interpreter was used.
It was our decision to follow the potters in their daily activities as much as possible to produce the documentation. For the same reasons, the interviews were conducted while the potters were working. Not only did this avoid disturbing their activities, but it also allowed us to capture the spontaneity of many aspects of the process. The downside of this decision is that we were sometimes not ready when things were happening, forcing us to take some odd angles on a video or not record a discussion.
However, in the villages of Ki’Nonh, Kon Tơ Xing and Buôn Trấp, the process was staged because the activity was no longer taking place. In these cases, because the action would not be repeated very often, the focus was on documentation. The interviews were conducted before and after the documentation. More precise information on the context of the data collection is available in each village;s summary (Sessions 90, preceded by the village letter).
Selected Assets
The following provide an overview of the project’s eight village locations.
Ki’nonh, Tây Giang District, Quảng Nam Province
K’Nonh is a village from the Katu ethnic group, isolated in the mountains of central Vietnam. Women in the village used to produce pottery for the whole area and even sell in Laos, as a secondary income. However, the craft has been slowly abandoned since de Vietnam War. Bling Thị Thuáh, around 80 years old, helped with her daughter Zơrâm Thị Nga, has picked up the craft one last time to allow us to document her technique.
Buôn Trấp, Krông Ana District, Province de Đắk Lắk
Buôn Trấp is a village mostly inhabited by Bih people. Women in this village used to produce a lot of pottery for the area, but have stopped since the mass migration of Vietnamese in the nearby city at the end of the Vietnam War 60 years ago. Most of the old potters passed away and despite the efforts of the District Cultural Center to revive the traditions, the younger generations are not interested in learning the craft. One of the last potter, H’Lan Êban, 70 years old, and her niece in law, H’Loan Bkrong, has demonstrated the process of making pottery for our documentation team.
Krăngọ, Đơn Dương District, Lâm Đồng province
The village of Krăngọ is mainly inhabited by Koho people. Nowadays, only three sisters are producing pottery, thanks to the support of a local priest, promoting their work. The craft still does not allow them to earn enough money and the activity stays a secondary income. During this project, we worked with Ma Ly, 68 years old, the youngest of the three sisters, who demonstrated all steps of the manufacturing process.
Thanh Hà, Hội An city, Quảng Nam province
The village of Thanh Hà is located 2 kilometers away from UNESCO heritage city of Hôi An. The proximity to this tourist attraction has drastically changed the face of this village who used to be a pottery village, with pottery as the main source of income for most households. Nowadays, tourism has developed in the village, with coffee shops, homestays and a museum. Many households have switched their production to moulded or modelled pottery for tourist. Only three households keep producing domestic pottery for local consumption. Our team worked with Nguyễn Thị Thủy’s household to document both the manufacturing process and the changes that occurred in the craft in the last 20 years.
Yang Tao, Lắk District, Đắk Lắk province
Yang Tao is a village from the Mnong ethnic group. The craft has been « discovered » there in 2007 and promoted as a tourist attraction since 2019. It was always a secondary income which as been declining for a long time. However, the recent presence of tourists has drawn the interest of the new generation. We worked with the four most active potters in the village, Yo Khoanh, Mai Kim, Mai Xiu and Mai Khanh, following their activities to document the craft. In this village, we also documented a bit of basketry techniques.
Phù Mỹ city, Phù Mỹ district, Bình Định province
This Vietnamese village has been ignored by most crafts records despite the 5 households still producing pottery as their main source of income. We have follow the work in Nguyễn Thị Phương and Nguyễn Tấn Ánh workshop to document the process of making pottery.
Quế An, Quế Sơn district, Quảng Nam Province
Quế An is a Vietnamese village where pottery used to be a secondary source of income. Today, only Võ Thị Sương’s household continues the craft. She and her husband Giang Ngọc Xanh have so many orders that, while still secondary, it is now an important income for the household. During our documentation, we had the chance to see Võ Thị Sương’s mother, Châu Thị Nhí, 91 years old, helping her daughter with secondary tasks. We also followed the potters when working in the fields.
Kon Tơ Xing, Kon Rẫy District, Gia Lai province
Kon Tơ Xing is a village from the Bahnar ethnic group. In the past, a few families in the area used to make pottery as a secondary income. Now, Y Gah, 75 years old, is the only one in the village who continues to make pottery, only on demands. She made some objects for our documentation team to record her techniques.
Collections Items
The project team donated eleven items produced during the project to the British Museum’s Vietnamese collection. The donation included pots, bowls, and tools used to make them from Buôn Trấp, Yang Tao, and Kon Tơ Xing.
Acknowledgements
The fieldwork has been possible thanks to the active help of many people: Alex Giang and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities of Hanoi for the paperwork to secure permits; Professor TRẨN Kỳ Phương for introducing the PI to many people who assisted in fieldwork; and every potter who participated in the project, with special thanks to Võ Thị Sương, Yo Khoanh and Nguyễn Thị Phương. Further thanks are owed to field collaborators Lương Thanh Sơn (Yang Tao and Buôn Trấp), Bùi Bảo Ngân (Yang Tao, Buôn Trấp, Krăngọ), Nguyễn Ngọc Ẩn (Kon Tơ Xing), and Hà Thị Sương (Ki’nonh), as well as Nguyễn Đình Khánh and Nguyễn Yên for providing metadata translation.