TAILIEUCHUNG - Ritual efficacy, spiritual security and human security: Spirit mediumship in contemporary Vietnam
In this paper I take a look at spirit mediumship in Vietnam, which assumes varying forms depending on ethnicity, region, and religion. By applying a human security lens, I hope to do justice to the diverse motivations and projects by situating mediumship practices squarely in the present, in connection with contemporary anxieties, uncertainties and insecurities, linking physical and existential dimensions of human security. | Ritual Efficacy, Spiritual Security and Human Security. RITUAL EFFICACY, SPIRITUAL SECURITY AND HUMAN SECURITY: SPIRIT MEDIUMSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY VIETNAM(1) OSCAR SALEMINK* Introduction After a period of suppression of all things religious by Vietnam’s Communist Party-State, a remarkable revival of a wide variety of ritual and religious practices is taking place in contemporary Vietnam. In the words of Australian anthropologist, Philip Taylor: An upsurge in fortune-telling, mediumship, spirit worship, and pilgrimages occurred in Vietnam as government policies were pushing the country into unprecedented integration with the capitalist world and as market relations were transforming the face of society. (Taylor 2004: 83) Recent discussions about religious developments speak about the revival of religious practices in Vietnam. The assumption implied in such words is that traditional religious beliefs and ritual practices have been absent or hidden from view and have re-emerged during the Đổi mới period of economic reforms since 1986. In such accounts, this phenomenon is explained in terms of a return to ‘tradition’ during Vietnam’s comprehensive socio-economic reform process, after a period of religious suppression during socialist collectivization. In my experience the form and scale of activities do not constitute a return to the past, but take place on a much grander scale, assuming novel forms, prompted by old or novel motivations, and in a transnational context. Philip Taylor contextualizes this localized insight by referring to the enhanced religious sensibilities in other countries in Asia (Keyes, Kendall & Hardacre 1994) and to “new forms of religiosity” in connection with the proliferation of capitalism around the world (Roberts 1995).(*)However, such a crude connection between religiosity and economic system cannot account for the specificities of local practices and the motivations of religious figures and their clients. In this paper I take a look at
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