How to build sense of belonging through time, space: ideas for us virus-isolated people

I recently heard a talk given by one of Vietnam’s leading diplomats and cultural experts that raised a question about how we belong to communities. As so many of us continue to isolate ourselves from others because of health concerns, this was a message that hit me at the right time.

Madame Ton Nu Thi Ninh was an academic in Paris for many years, a diplomat for two decades and then a member of the National Assembly in Vietnam. She is now a committed social and cultural advocate. Her passion is helping people in Vietnam and other countries understand each other better. She spoke about Vietnamese families.

Addressing students from three American universities, Madame Ninh described the Vietnamese family during the latter part of the 1900s, factors that have affected it, and how it is changing in the 21st century. She used the rituals around death and commemoration of relatives as a jumping off point to consider belonging.

What some foreigners falsely refer to as “ancestor worship,” she explained is a way to honor relatives who have died. This involves organizing annual dinners to bring relatives together on the anniversary of the deaths of parents and in-laws. Madame Ninh’s family gathers, places some of the meal at the altar of the person being honored, and then waits for incense to burn down before the family sits for a meal together.

Ninh calls it “belonging through time.” It’s a way to build a “generational chain,” and “an awareness of generational continuity.”

Likewise, she discussed the importance of Lunar New Year, or Tet holiday, when people return to the home where they were born, a village or city that could be far from where they live. This ritual of going back to the home village builds a sense of “belonging through space.” There is a geographic spot that brings a family together, and they spend time in that community at least once per year.

Belonging through time and belonging through space.

In these days of pandemic separation and isolation, we need to prevent loneliness, to find ways to connect, and to be part of a community. We need to belong.

Nancy Napier is a Boise State University distinguished professor. nnapier@boisestate.edu

This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 5:00 AM.