東華大學圖書館 |

Belonging in the Karst Mountains: Hmong Ways of Life on the Dong Van Karst Plateau,Vietnam.

Record Type:	Electronic resources : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Belonging in the Karst Mountains: Hmong Ways of Life on the Dong Van Karst Plateau,Vietnam./
Author:	Thu, Tran Hong.
Published:	Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, : 2021,
Description:	228 p.
Notes:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 83-05, Section: B.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International83-05B.
Subject:	Agriculture. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=28758907
ISBN:	9798494433947

Belonging in the Karst Mountains: Hmong Ways of Life on the Dong Van Karst Plateau,Vietnam.
Thu, Tran Hong.

Belonging in the Karst Mountains: Hmong Ways of Life on the Dong Van Karst Plateau,Vietnam. - Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2021 - 228 p.

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 83-05, Section: B.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Australian National University (Australia), 2021.

This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.

Research on the Hmong people in Southeast Asia offers contrasting views about their relationship to the mountain landscapes where so many Hmong people live. One view portrays the Hmong as finding self-realisation in mountain settings, which are deemed to provide them a secure refuge from lowland chaos; an ideal place for their distinctive economic pursuits; and a space of cultural and political autonomy. Another viewpoint sees the Hmong relationship with the mountains as being uncomfortable. They are portrayed as refugees, forced to leave their homeland in China, and ending up in remote highland realms in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand under the arbitrary rule of culturally alien lowland states. They have been marginalised, dislocated and reformed according to lowland criteria, and find solace only in millenarianism or conversion to new religions. This thesis contributes a new perspective to this discussion with a case study of Hmong people living on the Dong Van Karst Plateau in Ha Giang, Vietnam. Through the concept of belonging, the thesis uncovers the complex nature of the Hmong relationship to the limestone landscape, which is experienced, with ambivalence, as a place of security, awesome power, hardship, familiarity and accomplishment. In their stories, memories, beliefs and rites; through practices of migration, home-building and farming; and by collaborative effort, endurance and ingenuity, Hmong people establish a sense of belonging in the karst mountains.The findings of this thesis are based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Meo Vac district of Ha Giang Province. From my base in a village on a limestone mountain near the border with China, I observed and participated in Hmong villagers' daily activities and rites; mapped the social landscape; and conducted informal and in-depth interviews with key interlocutors on their beliefs and customs and narratives of migration and history. These methods enabled me to explore multiple reflections of the relationship of the Hmong people to the limestone landscape. In keeping with the key tension I identified in literature on Hmong relations to the landscape, I found that the Hmong in Meo Vac faced severe, difficult and demanding circumstances living on a high limestone plateau with almost no water and a challenging rocky soil that made house-building and agriculture difficult, and under a nation state with its own powerful agenda for the development of the Hmong. Yet I also discovered how the Hmong have been able to make the mountains their home through their experiences, memories, rituals, labour cooperation and participation in nation-building. I saw that the Hmong's relationship to the mountain environment was interactive and mutually constituted. While the mountains have imposed limits on Hmong agency and opportunities, and forced them to adapt, the Hmong people themselves have shaped the meaning of the mountains through their culture, stories and beliefs; and through old and new practical, ritual and socio-political collaborations.This thesis explores multiple aspects of Hmong experiences of belonging in the limestone mountains of northern Vietnam. These aspects include Hmong people's embodied experiences and narrative appropriation of the landscape; ritual relations with natural and supernatural elements; practical adaptations to the realities of farming and home-making on rocky slopes; and collaborative tactics to overcome dangers and resource hardships. I look at social aspects of belonging, for example relationships within the family and lineage, particularly from the perspective of women. This also includes belonging in a political sense: how the limestone landscape is incorporated as national territory and how the Hmong recall their experiences of nation-building. Through these aspects, the notion of belonging offers a way to understand the Hmong experience of living in karst mountains.

ISBN: 9798494433947Subjects--Topical Terms:

518588
Agriculture.

Belonging in the Karst Mountains: Hmong Ways of Life on the Dong Van Karst Plateau,Vietnam.
LDR:05127nmm a2200397 4500 001 2342883
005 20220415153031.5
008 241004s2021 ||||||||||||||||| ||eng d
020 $a 9798494433947
035 $a (MiAaPQ)AAI28758907
035 $a (MiAaPQ)AustNatlU1885231045
035 $a AAI28758907
040 $a MiAaPQ $c MiAaPQ
100 1 $a Thu, Tran Hong. $3 3681281
245 1 0 $a Belonging in the Karst Mountains: Hmong Ways of Life on the Dong Van Karst Plateau,Vietnam.
260 1 $a Ann Arbor : $b ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, $c 2021
300 $a 228 p.
500 $a Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 83-05, Section: B.
500 $a Advisor: Taylor, Philip.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Australian National University (Australia), 2021.
506 $a This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.
520 $a Research on the Hmong people in Southeast Asia offers contrasting views about their relationship to the mountain landscapes where so many Hmong people live. One view portrays the Hmong as finding self-realisation in mountain settings, which are deemed to provide them a secure refuge from lowland chaos; an ideal place for their distinctive economic pursuits; and a space of cultural and political autonomy. Another viewpoint sees the Hmong relationship with the mountains as being uncomfortable. They are portrayed as refugees, forced to leave their homeland in China, and ending up in remote highland realms in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand under the arbitrary rule of culturally alien lowland states. They have been marginalised, dislocated and reformed according to lowland criteria, and find solace only in millenarianism or conversion to new religions. This thesis contributes a new perspective to this discussion with a case study of Hmong people living on the Dong Van Karst Plateau in Ha Giang, Vietnam. Through the concept of belonging, the thesis uncovers the complex nature of the Hmong relationship to the limestone landscape, which is experienced, with ambivalence, as a place of security, awesome power, hardship, familiarity and accomplishment. In their stories, memories, beliefs and rites; through practices of migration, home-building and farming; and by collaborative effort, endurance and ingenuity, Hmong people establish a sense of belonging in the karst mountains.The findings of this thesis are based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Meo Vac district of Ha Giang Province. From my base in a village on a limestone mountain near the border with China, I observed and participated in Hmong villagers' daily activities and rites; mapped the social landscape; and conducted informal and in-depth interviews with key interlocutors on their beliefs and customs and narratives of migration and history. These methods enabled me to explore multiple reflections of the relationship of the Hmong people to the limestone landscape. In keeping with the key tension I identified in literature on Hmong relations to the landscape, I found that the Hmong in Meo Vac faced severe, difficult and demanding circumstances living on a high limestone plateau with almost no water and a challenging rocky soil that made house-building and agriculture difficult, and under a nation state with its own powerful agenda for the development of the Hmong. Yet I also discovered how the Hmong have been able to make the mountains their home through their experiences, memories, rituals, labour cooperation and participation in nation-building. I saw that the Hmong's relationship to the mountain environment was interactive and mutually constituted. While the mountains have imposed limits on Hmong agency and opportunities, and forced them to adapt, the Hmong people themselves have shaped the meaning of the mountains through their culture, stories and beliefs; and through old and new practical, ritual and socio-political collaborations.This thesis explores multiple aspects of Hmong experiences of belonging in the limestone mountains of northern Vietnam. These aspects include Hmong people's embodied experiences and narrative appropriation of the landscape; ritual relations with natural and supernatural elements; practical adaptations to the realities of farming and home-making on rocky slopes; and collaborative tactics to overcome dangers and resource hardships. I look at social aspects of belonging, for example relationships within the family and lineage, particularly from the perspective of women. This also includes belonging in a political sense: how the limestone landscape is incorporated as national territory and how the Hmong recall their experiences of nation-building. Through these aspects, the notion of belonging offers a way to understand the Hmong experience of living in karst mountains.
590 $a School code: 0433.
650 4 $a Agriculture. $3 518588
650 4 $a Ethnography. $3 705632
650 4 $a Collaboration. $3 3556296
650 4 $a Displaced persons. $2 itrt $3 829291
650 4 $a Cooperation. $3 594090
650 4 $a Migration. $3 899018
650 4 $a Minority & ethnic groups. $3 3422415
650 4 $a Politics. $3 685427
650 4 $a Anthropology. $3 517996
650 4 $a Sovereignty. $3 571951
650 4 $a Orthography. $2 lcstt $3 3331606
650 4 $a Stone. $3 556512
650 4 $a Women. $3 531755
650 4 $a Hmong people. $3 3681282
650 4 $a Dialects. $3 3560773
650 4 $a Nation building. $3 3681283
650 4 $a Cultural anthropology. $3 2122764
650 4 $a Ethnic studies. $2 bicssc $3 1556779
650 4 $a Gender studies. $3 2122708
650 4 $a Language. $3 643551
650 4 $a Linguistics. $3 524476
650 4 $a Political science. $3 528916
650 4 $a Southeast Asian studies. $3 3344898
650 4 $a Regional studies. $3 3173672
690 $a 0473
690 $a 0326
690 $a 0631
690 $a 0733
690 $a 0679
690 $a 0290
690 $a 0615
690 $a 0222
690 $a 0604
710 2 $a The Australian National University (Australia). $3 1952885
773 0 $t Dissertations Abstracts International $g 83-05B.
790 $a 0433
791 $a Ph.D.
792 $a 2021
793 $a English
856 4 0 $u http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=28758907