Vietnamese Ritual Festivals

Ritual festivals have long held a significant place in Vietnamese village culture. Previously condemned as superstitious and wasteful relics of feudal times, they experienced a strong revival in the Doi moi era. For my doctoral thesis, I conducted fieldwork in 1996 and 1998 to investigate this revival in two traditional craft villages in the Red River Delta. My findings demonstrate how far and how successful the Party‐state’s project of building socialism intervened in the ritual life of local communities, what factors triggered the process of state reappraisal during the reform era, and how these changes were reflected in the official discourse regarding the role of ‘cultural identity and tradition’ in the post‐war process of nation‐building.  

Related publications
1999
Culturalizing Politics: Doi Moi and the Restructuring of Ritual in Contemporary Rural Vietnam. In: Vietnamese Villages in Transition. Background and Consequences of Reform Policies in Rural Vietnam, edited by Bernhard Dahm and Vincent Houben, 197-222. Passau: Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Passau University.
2000
Ritual, Fest und Politik in Nordvietnam: Zwischen Ideologie und Tradition. Hamburg: LIT.
2001
Local Dynamics of Renegotiating Ritual Space in Northern Vietnam: The Case of the Dinh. SOJOURN 16,1: 70-101.
2002
Beautiful Customs, Worthy Traditions. Changing State Discourse on the Role of Vietnamese Culture. Internationales Asienforum, Vol. 33,3-4: 303-322.