Internal Migration and the Transformation of Community Life among Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam

Abstract

This article examines the impact of internal migration on the transformation of community life among ethnic minority populations in contemporary Vietnam. Since the implementation of Đổi Mới (Renovation) reforms, rapid urbanization, industrialization, labor mobility, and market integration have significantly reshaped upland communities, particularly in the Central Highlands and mountainous regions. While existing migration studies in Vietnam often focus on labor, poverty reduction, and economic development, this study argues that migration also produces profound transformations in social organization, cultural practices, traditional authority, and forms of belonging. Using a qualitative and interdisciplinary approach grounded in anthropology, migration studies, and sociology of community, the article analyzes how internal migration contributes to livelihood diversification, changing communal structures, and the emergence of translocal communities. The findings demonstrate that migration increasingly weakens territorially bounded forms of communal cohesion while simultaneously generating more flexible and multilocal systems of social connection maintained through remittances, return migration, and digital communication. Ritual practices, kinship relations, and customary authority structures are also undergoing processes of selective preservation, simplification, and cultural adaptation. Rather than causing the disappearance of ethnic minority communities, migration contributes to their restructuring within broader systems of mobility, market integration, and globalization. The article concludes that internal migration in Vietnam should be understood as a broader process of social transformation and negotiated belonging rather than merely demographic movement or labor displacement.