Spirits without Borders: Vietnamese Spirit Mediums in a Transnational Age PDF
Preview Spirits without Borders: Vietnamese Spirit Mediums in a Transnational Age
CONTEMPORARY ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION A series published with the Society for the Anthropology of Religion Laurel Kendall, Series Editor Curator, Division of Anthropology, America Museum of Natural History Published by Palgrave Macmillan: Body / Meaning / Healing By Thomas J. Csordas The Weight of the Past: Living with History in Mahajanga, Madagascar By Michael Lambek After the Rescue: Jewish Identity and Community in Contemporary Denmark By Andrew Buckser Empowering the Past, Confronting the Future By Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart Islam Obscured: The Rhetoric of Anthropological Representation By Daniel Martin Varisco Islam, Memory, and Morality in Yemen: Ruling Families in Transition By Gabrielle Vom Bruck A Peaceful Jihad: Negotiating Identity and Modernity in Muslim Java By Ronald Lukens-Bull The Road to Clarity: Seventh-Day Adventism in Madagascar By Eva Keller Yoruba in Diaspora: An African Church in London By Hermione Harris Islamic Narrative and Authority in Southeast Asia: From the 16th to the 21st Century By Thomas Gibson Evangelicalism and Conflict in Northern Ireland By Gladys Ganiel Christianity in the Local Context: Southern Baptists in the Philippines By Brian M. Howell Missions and Conversions: Creating the Montagnard-Dega Refugee Community By Thomas Pearson Gender, Catholicism, and Morality in Brazil: Virtuous Husbands, Powerful Wives By Maya Mayblin Direct Sales and Direct Faith in Latin America By Peter S. Cahn Shamans, Spirituality, and Cultural Revitalization: Explorations in Siberia and Beyond By Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer Spirits without Borders: Vietnamese Spirit Mediums in a Transnational Age Karen Fjelstad and Nguy(cid:1225)n Th(cid:1231) Hi(cid:1221)n Spirits without Borders Vietnamese Spirit Mediums in a Transnational Age Karen Fjelstad and Nguyê˜n Thi. Hiê`n SPIRITS WITHOUT BORDERS Copyright © Karen Fjelstad and Nguyê˜n Thi Hi`ên, 2011. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-11493-7 All rights reserved. First published in 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-29626-2 ISBN 978-0-230-11970-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230119703 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: July 2011 For all the spirits of Ðạo Mẫu, and all the people who honor and serve them. Contents Acknowledgments ix Chapter 1 Border Crossings: Setting the Theoretical Stage 1 Chapter 2 Spirited Research: Studying Lên Ð(cid:1239)ng in Vietnam and California 17 Chapter 3 Ð(cid:1189)o M(cid:1199)u Spirits, Temples, and Rituals 39 Chapter 4 Spiritual Callings: Becoming a Medium in the Contemporary World 77 Chapter 5 “Lên Ð(cid:1239)nging” in Silicon Valley 99 Chapter 6 The Vietnam- Cali Connection 137 Chapter 7 “You Have to Respect the Local Spirits” 169 Glossary 187 Notes 193 References 203 Index 213 Acknowledgments T his book could not have been written without the help of many lên (cid:255)(cid:1239)ng spirit mediums and disciples in the United States and Vietnam. They generously invited us into their homes and temples, patiently answered our questions, and allowed us to participate in their rituals. We have changed everyone’s names to protect their individual privacy. We owe a special debt of gratitude to Phan and Mrs. Nga, the two mediums who first took us under their wings, and to our friends at the Chúa Bói temple, whose desire to have initiations in Vietnam led to the idea for this study. We also thank Mr. Thanh for his hospital- ity and teachings, and Mrs. Vân, Tania, and Brian for their constant support of this project as well as their carefully constructed com- ments, corrections, and discussions. We are also deeply grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Viên, Mr. and Mrs. L(cid:1133)(cid:1131)ng, Mr. and Mrs. Tuy(cid:1219)t, Mr. Thái, Loan, Kim, Tiffany, Billy, Jonathan, Frank, Erik and his par- ents, Elise, Choi, and Hoa. We owe a special debt of gratitude to Laurel Kendall who sup- ported this work from its inception. She encouraged us to conduct collaborative research, helped us to locate funding, and read several drafts of this manuscript. Always enthusiastic and incredibly generous with her time, she nudged us along even in the darkest hours. She had the particular talent of developing great ideas, yet making it appear as if they were our own. She is a true scholar in the noblest sense of the word, and we thank the mother goddesses time and again for allow- ing her to be our colleague, mentor, and friend. The current group of lên (cid:255)(cid:1239)ng researchers is small but formidable, and we are grateful to be in the presence of such spirited researchers. We thank Ngô Ð(cid:1261)c Th(cid:1231)nh and Nguy(cid:1225)n Kh(cid:1203)c Kh(cid:1191)m, both pioneers of lên (cid:255)(cid:1239)ng research, for inspiring our own studies, and we thank Barley Norton, Kirsten Endres, and Ph(cid:1189)m Qu(cid:484)nh Ph(cid:1133)(cid:1131)ng for their generous assistance in the field as well as their social and intellectual support. We offer special thanks to Alex Quan for his insightful and x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS moving translations of possession songs. We are also grateful to Oscar Salemink and Janet Hoskins who, like the others, took time from their busy schedules to discuss with us the nuances of lên (cid:255)(cid:1239)ng spirit possession rituals. This research was made possible by the generous financial support of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Social Science Research Council, the College of Social Sciences at San Jose State University, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii. We are also grateful to Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, the Department of Anthropology at San Jose State University, and the San Jose State University Foundation for supporting our transnational research. Since its inception, this manuscript has undergone a number of different permutations. We would like to thank Charles Smith for his tireless support of this research and his editorial advice. We would also like to thank Malcolm Scott, Ph(cid:1189)m Nam Thanh, and Nguy(cid:1225)n Th(cid:1231) Trang Nhung for their contributions. We are grateful to Brigitte Shull, Joanna Roberts, and to all of the staff at Palgrave Macmillan who helped bring this volume to fruition. We want to thank our families who have been unfailing in their support for our research. We are deeply grateful to our parents. Our fathers and Hi(cid:1221)n’s mother entered the realm of the ancestors dur- ing the course of this research. We offer our everlasting gratitude to them and to Karen’s mother, who have nurtured our thoughts and supported our dreams long before we even learned to read or write. We thank our sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews, and all those family members who contributed to, and sometimes suffered from, our intense focus on this research. We are especially grateful to Hi(cid:1221)n’s sons and to our spouses, Chuck and Mùi, for quietly enduring all those times that we could have simply played. Chapter 1 Border Crossings: Setting the Theoretical Stage W hen the Third Princess (Cô B(cid:1131)) incarnated into Mrs. Vân at a temple- opening ceremony, Karen and Hi(cid:1221)n realized that the spirit and the temple were fully incorporated into the California landscape. The temple is situated in rolling grass- covered hills that are dotted with California buckwheat and interior live oak and is home to bob- cat, coyote, rattlesnake, ground squirrel, and mountain lion, many of which are creator beings of the first peoples in the area. At that time, in the late summer, the road to the temple was dotted with fruit stands advertising fresh cherries and apricots, and a campground announc- ing an upcoming Tractor Pull and Renaissance Faire. The temple is located near San Luis Reservoir, an essential part of California’s hydroelectric supply and a favorite spot for fishermen hoping to catch striped bass or the occasional sturgeon: Karen had once caught a “striper” there herself. Mrs. Vân’s daughter Tania explained that the reservoir was a factor in the decision to purchase the home that would be transformed into a temple. “You will see,” she said, “that you have to go over the hills and cross the water to get to the temple. That’s what the possession songs say!” Karen and Hi(cid:1221)n watched the Third Princess perform the Rowing Dance (múa chèo (cid:255)ò) with a pair of painted wooden oars that were decorated with flowers. The spirit was dressed in traditional Vi(cid:1227)t clothing in the white color that is symbolically associated with the Realm of Water and the mother goddess that she serves. Tears washed the face of Mrs. Vân while she danced because the spirit is empathetic to the troubles of humans and weeps whenever one of her “children” (con) is in distress. As she rowed her traditional Vietnamese dragon
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