Glocal production of knowledge: exploring Vietnamese scholars’ perception of ‘good’ research

ABSTRACT

Given the importance of local scholars’ understanding of research in their integration into global academia, this study explored the way scholars conceptualised and perceived the meaning of research and their identities as researchers. This article reports data from a qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews to explore the positioning and discursive identity of eight Vietnamese social science scholars. Findings revealed that researchers trained in Vietnam and the Soviet Union understood research as knowledge production, positioning themselves as creators of knowledge and critical thinkers. In contrast, researchers who studied in Western countries considered research a rigorous process, positioning themselves as producers and disseminators of research assessed against given standards in international peer-reviewed journals. This study suggests that in local contexts with a complicated history and unique culture like Vietnam, social science researchers should be encouraged to employ their various local methods to tap into the existing sources of local knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic positioning
• discursive identities of Vietnamese academics
• glocal knowledge
• Vietnamese higher education
• research in social sciences

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr Marianne Turner, Professor Paul Richardson, Dr Chinh Nguyen, and Dr Lynette Pretorius from Monash Education, for helpful discussions during the research study. The author also wish to thank the two reviewers for their constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

During his doctoral study, Cuong Huu Hoang was supported by both the Monash International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and the Monash Graduate Scholarship. He was also generously supported by Monash Postgraduate Publications Award.