What Citizenship for What Transition?: Contradictions, Ambivalence, and Promises in Post-Socialist Citizenship Education in Vietnam

Abstract

In 1986, the Communist Party of Vietnam officially approved reform policies known as đổi mới (doi moi) which transformed the country from a centrally-planned to a market-oriented economy. Since then, as Vietnam has been integrating into the global economy, the transitional society has become more open and diverse. The transformations have apparently impacted the ways in which citizenship has been understood and practiced in Vietnam. This study specifically investigates changes in state visions of citizenship as reflected in educational discourses. In addition, it examines teachers’ interpretations of good citizenship and their experiences of teaching citizenship in Vietnam’s schools.