La vía catafática

th e m ind, or, a t th e very least, th ere is an im p o rta n t link betw een th e m .50 O ther V ietnam ese term s such as tam tri, literally 'h e a rt a n d intellect', w hich is often re n d e re d as 'm in d ', also suggest a m erging o f h e a rt a n d m in d .51

Such a claim, how ever, ignores the im p o rtan ce of the guts, long, w hich are o ften co n sid ered to be the seat of em otions a n d feelings.52 In

V ietnam ese th e re are m any co m p o u n d w ords w hich exhibit th e link

betw een the guts a n d the em otions. T hree com m on examples are: phai long 'to fall in love'; mech long 'to h u rt som eone's feelings1; a n d hai long, 'to be

co n ten t' or 'satisfied'. The term long does n o t featu re in the language of m edium s as a p a rt o f th e body w hich spirits possess, as th e h e a rt a n d h ead do. However, Lai u sed th e expression there long ('tru e gutted') - as an

a ltern ativ e to 'tru e h e a rt' (thi/c tam or that tam) - to express sincere

com m itm ent to th e spirits. Being 'tru e -g u tte d ' has m uch th e sam e m eaning as th e expression 'o n e-g u tted ' (mot long/mot da) w hich was 'tra n sm itte d ' by th e sp irits d u rin g Thanh's end-of-year ritu a l (see earlier in this ch ap ter). The expression 'h o t guts' (nong Idng/nong mot) - u n d ersto o d as a feeling of u n e ase/im p atien ce - was also m entioned by m edium s as a 'sym ptom ' of being seized by th e spirits w hich was cu red th ro u g h in itiatio n as a m edium . So, w hile th e 'guts' are n o t directly refe rre d to in relatio n to possession, they do have a place in m edium s' bodily relations to the spirits.

In o p p o sitio n to th e w idespread use of the term trance by scholars of

sham anism , H am ayon has arg u ed th a t in sham anistic societies th e n o tio n of

50 Roseman has reported that the Temiar 'think' in the heart and she argues that for the Temiar "the heart soul is the locus of thought, feeling and awareness" (1991:30). While there would seem to be many similarities between Temiar concepts and how Vietnamese mediums conceive of the heart, mind and heart-soul etc., Vietnamese mediums do no make the distinction, made by the Temiar, between the 'heart soul' and 'head soul' (ibid.:24-36).

51 It is interesting to note that the Western term 'psychosomatic medicine' has been translated in Chinese as 'heart-body medicine' (Ots 1994:119), However, Ots points out that: "the argument that traditional Chinese medicine does not share the Western dichotomy of psyche and soma, and for this reason, that its outlook has always been holistic, is truly a cross-cultural misunderstanding: we simply employ different mind-body models" (ibid.). In Vietnamese 'psychosomatic medicine' does not follow the Chinese, as it is translated as "nervous-system medicine" (thuoc tri b$nh than kinh). However, like Chinese, Vietnamese does not have an equivalent for 'our concept of psyche': in Vietnamese 'psyche' is usually rendered as 'soul' (linh hon) or 'spirit' (tinh than).

52 According to the second edition of the TCfDien Tieng Wet (Vietnamese Dictionary)

published in Hanoi by the Centre of Dictionary Studies (Trung Tam TCfDien Hoc), the guts (long) - which refers generally to the contents of the abdominal cavity - "is considered to be the 'symbol' (bieu tirong) of aspects of psychology, sentiment, will and spirit,"

tran ce is "irrelevant" (1995b:20). Similarly, some scholars of len dong re fer to tran ce (ngay ngat), y e t the n o tio n has no relevance for those w ho actually experience possession. M ediums in carn ate spirits in a state of aw are

possession; they are n o t obsessed, n o r are they in a trance. Based on m edium s' own accounts, I have describ ed aw are possession in term s of em bodim ent: possession as bodily engagem ent w ith the spirits. T h ro u g h aw are possession, spirits are sensory presences th a t are bodily experienced. Spirits e n te r th e head, h e a rt o r th e whole body o f m edium s. It has b een suggested th a t th e re are links in V ietnam ese conceptions of

h e a rt/m in d /s o u l, a n d th a t all are affected du rin g possession. But it is th e h e a rt th a t featu res m o st p ro m in ently as th e nexus betw een spirits a n d h um ans: sp irits are felt in th e heart; prem o n itio ns come fro m th e h eart; the sp irits 'sp eak ' th ro u g h a n d 'w itness' th e heart.

Aware possession does n o t co n stitu te a 'sociom ythic' d o m ain in w hich bodies a n d sp irits are u n ita ry o r a 'preobjective' form of bodily being-in- th e-w o rld ,53 b u t aw are possession does allow for a m ode o f engag em en t betw een the body a n d spiritu al entities w hich are usually co n sid ered as b ey o n d the body. M edium s' co m p o rtm en t tow ard the spirits d u rin g aware possession allows th em to follow the o rd ers of spirits, while sim u ltan eo u sly being 'aw are' o f th e ir im m ediate environm ent.

CONCLUSION

This c h a p te r has discussed V ietnam ese m edium ship a n d m edium s'

possession experiences. People becom e m edium s because it is th e ir d e stin ed a p titu d e to be seized by, an d to serve, the spirits. This d estin ed a p titu d e is m ade a p p a re n t to th em th ro u g h suffering som e kind of affliction,

p a rtic u la rly illness. In som e cases th e affliction also takes th e fo rm o f obsession - an u n co n tro lled , in v o lu n tary possession by evil spirits. The re so lu tio n to th ese afflictions (which m ight be th o u g h t of as 'crises') is so u g h t th ro u g h becom ing a m edium .

Some m edium s also have an 'a p titu d e ' for fortune tellin g /h ealin g . A lthough m o st fo rtu n e tellin g /h ealin g is carried outside th e co n text o f len dong w hen the m ed iu m is n o t possessed by spirits, we have seen how these practices are re la ted to w h at m edium s do d u rin g rituals. For instance,

53 s e e Csordas for a discussion o f the 'preobjective' and 'objectified body' in relation to the 'sociom ythic domain' (1994b:7).

d u rin g len dong m edium s tra n sm it th e w ords of th e spirits w hich som etim es include com m ents a b o u t th e fu tu re. They also perfo rm rites th a t c o n cern the p a st a n d fu tu re such as cat tien duyen ('cu ttin g the love fate o f a previous life 1).

Possession d u rin g len dong ritu als is b est u n d ersto o d as aw are possession, ra th e r th a n a form o f trance. Based on m edium s' own accounts, the n o tio n of aw are possession has b een conceptualised in term s o f em b o d im en t, a m ode of bodily engag em en t w ith the spirits. In p articu lar, it h as b een arg u ed th a t th e h e a rt a n d heart-soul, a n d o th e r p arts o f the body such as th e h ead an d shoulders, are affected du rin g aw are possession.

U n d erstan d in g m edium s' aw are possession as gro u n d ed in th e bod y a n d bodily being-in-the-w orld m arks a shift away from a co n cern w ith a lte re d (or alte rn ate) states o f consciousness, w hich has previously d o m in a te d m u ch e th n o g ra p h ic w riting, in fav o ur o f a phenom enological a p p ro a ch .

How possession is conceived is, of course, crucial to u n d e rsta n d in g the relatio n s betw een m usic a n d possession, w hich is the topic of C h ap ter 5.

CHAPTER 3

'EFFEMINATE* MEN AND 'HOT-TEMPERED' WOMEN: THE

NEGOTIATION OF GENDER IDENTITY

This c h a p te r discusses th e g en d ered im plications o f V ietnam ese

m edium ship. T hro u g h exam ining th e ritu al practices o f m edium s, I aim to d e m o n strate how th e g en der identities of m edium s are perfo rm ativ ely n egotiated. V ietnam ese m edium ship is pred o m in an tly the d o m ain of women: th e m ajority o f m edium s are w om en - tho u g h m ale m edium s are a significant m in o rity - as are those who a tte n d rituals. This raises issues of m arg in ality a n d has led to the Four Palace Religion being in te rp re te d as a prim e exam ple of indigenous folk cu ltu re an d as p a rt of th e 'y in ' c u rre n t in V ietnam ese society. In this c h ap ter, I challenge th e view th a t V ietnam ese m ed iu m sh ip p resen ts a univocal 'w om en's' view of the w orld a n d critiq u e th e co n cep tio n o f yin a n d yang on w hich this view is based. I th e n go on to exam ine how th e shifting gender positionalities of m ale a n d fem ale

m edium s are co n stitu ted .

Previous w ork on 'g en d er' in V ietnam is based on th e p resu p p o sitio n th a t V ietnam ese society consists of two co n trastin g elem ents: 'foreign' C onfucian codes a n d m ore flexible 'indigenous' values. Jam ieso n 's yin-yang system (1993), W oodside's com parison of Chinese an d Southeast Asian

features in V ietnam ese society and culture (1988 [1971]) a n d Ta Van Tai's c o n tra st betw een th e "zealous p ro p ag atio n of Chinese civilisation" a n d "V ietnam ese folk culture" (1981:141) all, in d ifferen t ways, p o rtra y V ietnam ese society as a "clash betw een th e rigidities of th e m oralistic

[Confucian] ideology a n d th e flexibilities of th e indigenous c u ltu ra l system" (W hitmore 1984:298).

This co n stru ct has led to th e claim th a t the custom s a n d b ilateral kinship system o f indigenous V ietnam ese cu ltu re afforded w om en a hig h status, w h ereas 'p a tria rc h a l' C onfucianism is h eld accountable for acco rd in g w om en a low status (e.g. Barry 1996a, W hitm ore 1984, O'Harrow 1995). L iteratu re on V ietnam ese w om en is litte re d w ith exam ples o f th e ir

oppression. Often cited are Confucian precep ts such as th e 'fo u r v irtu es' (tu1 dub) a n d th e 'th re e obediences' (tam to n g ),l adages such as 'a h u n d re d

1 The 'three obediences' state that a woman should obey her male masters: before marriage, her father: after marriage, her husband; and if her husband dies, her eld est son. The 'four virtues' provide an idealised measure for wom en to live up to concerning

d a u g h ters are n o t w o rth a single testicle’ a n d the expression th a t w om en are 'g enerals of the in te rio r' (noi tirdng), i.e., th a t w om en's influence is confined to th e dom estic ra th e r th a n th e public (ngoai) d o m ain .2 Yet, Taylor has a rg u e d th a t th e influence o f the "ideology o f th e Chinese classics" a n d th e "p atria rc h al fam ily system of China" was lim ited only to "upper-class V ietnam ese", a n d th a t th e V ietnam ese re ta in e d m any of the m ore flexible elem ents o f "pre-C hinese civilisation" (Taylor 1983:298-300). It has

th e re fo re b een co n clu d ed th at, due to th e influence o f in d igenous cultu re, V ietnam ese w om en have historically b een g ra n te d a h ig h er statu s th a n in o th e r East Asian societies influenced by C onfucianism (see F ren ier a n d M ancini 1996).

The im p act of V ietnam ese C om m unist Party policy on g en d er req u ires a g reat d eal m ore re se a rc h .3 Suffice it to n o te h ere th a t th e e x ten t to w hich eq u ity has b een achieved since co n stitu tio n al equal rights fo r w om en an d m en w ere establish ed in th e 1940s is debatable, a n d th a t the yoke o f

C onfucianism is still a prevailing them e.4 For instance, the re p o rts

com piled by V ietnam ese w om en's studies research ers in th e 1990s,5 w hich p o in t o u t g en d er inequalities in the economic, edu catio n a n d dom estic spheres, have o ften b een m arsh alled in su p p o rt of the assertio n th a t m any 'C onfucian' attitu d e s to w om en an d th e fam ily still have considerable effects on social relatio n sh ip s (see Barry 1996a; T ran Thi Van A nh a n d Le Ngoc Hung 1997; Le Thi a n d Do Thi Binh 1997).

To view V ietnam ese gender relatio ns in term s of C onfucianism a n d in d ig eno u s c u ltu re has serious shortcom ings because it essentxalises g en d er id en tity a n d has little relevance to the eth n o g rap h ic situ a tio n in

labour (cong), physical appearance (dung), appropriate speech (ng6n) and proper behaviour (hanh). In work, on e should be skilful at sewing and cooking, and perhaps also music, painting and poetry. In appearance, one should be graceful, courteous, clean and well groom ed. In speech, one should be gentle, soft, and never sh ou t or smile. And in behaviour, one should be subm issive and respectful to relatives. For a detailed description o f the 'three obediences' and the 'four virtues' see Toan Anh (1 9 9 2c:22 6- 27).

2 Noi tudng is som etim es translated as 'dom estic general'. Le Thi Nham Tuyet, for instance, states that: " [women] played an im portant role in production and were often called 'Domestic Generals' by m en, but in reality they were the slaves o f m en at home" (19 98 :34 ).

3 For a discussion o f the rise o f wom en's aspirations for equal rights in the 1920s and