Hickey, Village in Vietnam

349 Pages·2006·11.52 MB·English

VILLAGE IN VIETNAM
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TIE MfS818 IELTA
VILLAGE IN VIETNAM
by Gerald Cannon Hickey
New Haven and London, Yale University Press
&pyr@ht 0 I* bp Yale Univcrsiq.
Ninth primtin& Imr.
&signed by John 0.C . McCriW,
set in Linotype Ihkcrdet ype,
and printad in the United States of America by
The Murray Printing Company
Fwge village, wchusetts.
All rights reserved. Thin book may not be
reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form
(txoept by reviewers for the public pw),
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Library of CuB- atdog dn umber: 64-aog23
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Diahbuttd in k tBri tain, Eu*ope, and Mrica by
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Contents
page
Foreword by Paul Mus xi
Preface xxv
I. History of the Village I
P. Physiographic Setting and Settlement Pattern 17
3. Religions and Popular Beliefs 55
4. Thc Kinship System 82
5. The Family As a Social Group 99
6. Livelihood Pattcrns and the Economic System
134
7- Village Administration and Law
lV8
8. The Cult Committee 214
g. Socioec~nomicD ifferentiation 233
lo. Socioeconomic Profiles and Social hlobility 248
1 1. Conclusions 276
Appendices
A. Genealogy of the Duc Family 89
2
B. A Brief History of Cao Daism 290
C. Lunar Calendar 295
D. A Model Hui 299
E. Varieties of Rice, Vegetables, and Fruits Cultivated in Khanh
Hau ;W ild Fruits and Vcge tables 300
F. Kin Groupings in Ap Moi and the Temple Sections of Ap
Dinh A-I3 SO4
Glossary
Rihlivphy
Index
CONTENTS
FIGURES
Page
- -
Frontispiece. Vietnam and the hlekong Delta 11
1. Settlement Pattcm of Khanh Hau 2
4. Distribution of House Types in Ap %hi,A p Dinh-A, and Ap
Dinh-B 27
3. A Small Thatched House e8
4. Structural Detail of a Small Thatched House 29
5. A Large Thatched House 30
6. Structural Detail of a Large Thatched House 3'
7. Thatching Methods 3'
8. A Wood-Thatch House 33
g. Structural Details of a 1Vd-Thatch House 34
10. A Wood-Tile House 35
I 1. Structural Details of a Wood-Tile House jfi
i e. Traditional Roof Tiling 37
I 3. A Masonry-Tile House 39
14. Population Pyramid, Khanh Han, 1958 5
wL€ q~5?
15. Ratio of Births to Deaths, Khanh Hau, 1 52
16. Cao Daist Sects 66
17. Structure of Kinship in Khanh Hau 85
18. 4p hloi Residence Map 94
19. The Ran Chin Dao Temple Sectiun of Ap Dinh-A 97
20. The Ticn Thien Temple Section of Ap DinhB 98
21. Plow 137
zn. Sickle 1;i5
e3. Threshing Sledge 146
24. Fish Traps and Carriers '5@3
25. Floor Plan of thc Ap Dinh-A Dinh 210
TABLES
Page
1. Ownership of Paddy Land in Khanh Hau, 1958 43
2. Size of Tenant Holdings in Khanh Hau, 1958 45
3. Population of Khanh Hau by Hamlets, 1958 47
4- Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Khanh Hau, 1948-1957 5"
CONTENTS
5. Calendar of Buddhist RituaIs
6. Ban Chin Dao Rituals
7- Tien Thien Rituals
8. Syntax of Kin Terminology
g. Mnal Kin
lo. Percentage Household Composition in Khanh Hau, 1958
1 1. Ap Moi Residence Pattern
12. The Traditional and the 1904 Village Council
I g. Changes in Structure of the Village Council
14. Administrative Organization of Khanh Hau, rg61
15. Annual Village Expenditures. 19561958
16. Cult Committees in Khanh Hau
17. Socioeconomic Levels by Household, I 958
Foreword
PAULh lus
BY
THERWEAS A TIME, in what soon was to cease to be French Indochina, when.
secure in our long experience, we French lmked with some shade of self-
compIacency on the well-intentioned endeavors of the first American ob-
servers, later styled advisers, to assess the situation for themselves. Those of
us stiIl on the scene, mainly in private business or as educators, would have
little occasion to do so now that the collection and sorting of information, of
which the present volume is a valuable sample, is developing on a scale and
with motivations undreamt of in our day. In the United States, specialized
departments in several major universities act as rear bases. With the help of
Eastern and Western instructors and native informants, plus uptodate au-
diovisual centers, they have given the lie, for instance, to our setded belief
that Vietnamese was tm difficult a language to be learned by the average
European adult. Our specialists (usually only cum interpreter) now face a
growing team of American opposite numbers who axe fully aware, although
the niceties of the variotonic pronunciation remain a serious diff~culty,t hat
once mastered, they afford unique help in memorizing terms, distinguishing
the overtones, and feeling the drive, balance, and semantic contour of a
sentence. Le rnouwment se prouve en marchant.
This throws no discredit on previous accomplishments, which were, of
course, in keeping with earlier and very different circumstances. Father
LPopold Cadicre's contributions in so many fields to our intimate knowl-
edge of Vietnam and the Vietnamese and Professor Pierre Gourou's master-
work, Les Paysans Qt6 Delta Tonhinois, are likely to remain long unequaled.
However, comparing Mr. Hickey's study with standard productions of the
French Colonial period, such as Kxesser's La Conamerne Annamitc en Cochin-
chine: Ory's La Commune Annamife au Tonkin,B or Rouilly's La Corn-
1. La Commune Annamite av Cochimchine; LC Recrartement des Notables, P r e b by
J. Krau theher, Paris, Les Editions Dornat-Mont chrestien, 1935.
2. Paris, Challamel. 1%.
xi