Uppsala universitet, Kulturantropologiska avdelningen
Abstract
The present work addresses the internationalization of higher educat-ion and its links with the practice of science in Vietnamese universities and research institutions. Using qualitative data from ethnographic case studies of Vietnamese scientists shortly after their return from PhD studies abroad, the paper reveals the fragile links between international science training and the production of scientific knowledge in Vietnam. Using five cases, I show that upon returning to their home institutions in Vietnam, scientists become agents of change in the politics of science and knowledge production. However, as a result of the interaction between Vietnamese and foreign influences, their agency and their scientific habitus (re)encounter social, cultural, economic and political flows in the local contexts that challenge their ambitions to implement effectively ideas and practices learned abroad. The case study of five scientists presented here argues for a more nuanced explanation of the power of internationalization to create (positive) change in the local contexts of developing countries. It reveals how scientific production be- comes inseparable from the broader webs of social, political, economic and cultural relationships that characterize scientists’ particular local working environment
