State Neotraditionalism and the Dialogical Restructuring of Public Rituals in Two Vietnamese Villages

Hy V. Luong, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto

This paper examines the rise of state neotraditionalism and the intensification of public rituals in two Vietnamese villages (one in the north and the other in the south) in the context of Vietnam's greater engagement with global capital and the dialogic relation between the Vietnamese state and local communities.

Through both diachronic and synchronic analyses, I suggest that state neotraditionalism and the intensification of public rituals in Vietnam in the past three decades cannot be reduced to the logic of global capital. They have been primarily shaped by the dialogic relation between state and local voices. The emergence of state neotraditionalism and the restructuring of public rituals in Vietnam as a part of the intensification process involve more than a state- or elite-centered re-invention of culture (cf. Eric Hobsbawm). They are also rooted in local dynamics which have exerted a powerful influence on state policy formulation and implementation.

Hy V. Luong is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto. He received his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. from Harvard University.

His major publications include Discursive Practices and Linguistic Meanings: The Vietnamese System of Person Reference (John Benjamins, 1990), Revolution in the Village: Tradition and Transformation in North Vietnam, 1925-1988 (University of Hawaii Press, 1992), Culture and Economy: The Shaping of Capitalism in Eastern Asia (co-editor with T. Brook, University of Michigan Press, 1997); Gioi, ngon tu, va nhom xa hoi tu hien thuc tieng Viet (Gender, Discourse, and Society: Vietnamese Realities; Social Science Publishing House, Hanoi, 2000; Luong as editor and principal author); and Postwar Vietnam: Dynamics of a Transforming Society (edited volume, Rowman and Littlefield, 2003). Having regularly conducted field research in Vietnam since 1987, Luong has also published numerous book chapters as well as articles in major academic journals on discourse, social organization, and political economy in twentieth century Vietnam.

Luong's current research projects in Vietnam focus on discourse, gender, gift exchanges, rituals, rural-to-urban migration,and political economy.

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