The book entitled “Southern social sciences in the history, in the present and in the region” reflects part of the research result in 2007 done by the researchers and collaborators of the Institute of the Southern Sustainable Development and the Social Sciences Magazine. The book includes 4 parts:
The first part deals with two sides of the society and people: in the one side, there are social evils and in the other side, there are potential strengths of the people and the community. Four articles in this part are like modern stories about an ancient philosophy of the humankind: transmigration wheel in the long life of the humankind is the nonstop struggle between the good and the evil; serious impacts caused by HIV/AIDS; violence is also mentioned as a shameful evil in the community. A quite burning issue in life is also mentioned, that is, the book shows us part of persistent difficulties faced by poor women day by day to access healthcare system (on the one side of the face - initial healthcare, public health - like a good mother; on the other side the face - advanced treatment health - too difficult for the poor because it costs a lot of money).
The second part is entitled “Talking about Ho Chi Minh City, talking with Ho Chi Minh City”. This part includes five articles by the researchers and collaborators of the Institute. The article by Le Van Thanh, Tran Dan Tam and Nguyen Dang Minh Thao deals with an important research question, that is, Are the migrant labors burden of the city or contribution to the city? Although this question is classical for the migrants in the world, this question for Ho Chi Minh City in particular and Vietnam in general has different significance. The article by the above group of authors describes various difficulties of the migrants, concurrently clarifying their contributions to the development. The matter is that they haven’t enjoyed the deserved part in the urban development cake contributed by them.
Based on studying foreign experience, the article by the author Nguyen Minh Hoa invokes a significant idea: keeping rural green spaces inside the city. This is a cute and attractive idea but can we hope to see this in Ho Chi Minh City in the near future? To realize such dream, there should be some vital conditions one of which is the “government efficiency” mentioned in the article by the author Le Xuan Diem.
Historical research is one of the strengths of the Institute of the Southern Sustainable Development and this is the topic of the Third part. In this part, the researchers continue to sketch big portraits in the history of Vietnam, namely Dang Nguyen Can and his comrades in the Modernism movement in the early 20th century, Nguyen Ai Quoc in China in the 1920s. It is followed by the portraits of two people who have gone into the history of the Southern Vietnam: Patriotic journalist Duong Tu Giang and Le Van Giang as the founder of Theravada Buddhism in Vietnam. The last is the portrait of the scientist Can Van Thinh, the first Director of the Institute of the Southern Sustainable Development with two articles: Ca Van Thinh: Human life and career; Contribution by Ca Van Thinh in the literature research.
The forth part includes the articles on the religion (introducing the research result in 2006 by the scholars and collaborators of the Institute of the Southern Sustainable Development) with focus on such directions as view on historical, present experience at home and abroad.
In particular, it is necessary to say that the hallmark of the book is the article by the President of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Prof. Dr. Do Hoai Nam. This is the introduction to an important conference of the Institute in early 2007, proposing basic activities to create new development breakthroughs for the Institute of the Southern Sustainable Development, containing recommendations on a new vision for the national social sciences.
Pham Vinh Ha
