Journal of the American Academy of Religion Advance Access originally published online on June 9, 2009
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 2009 77(2):348-371; doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfp017
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Language, Orthodoxy, and Performances of Authority in Vietnamese Buddhism
Alexander Soucy, Department of Religious Studies, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3C3
E-mail: alec.soucy{at}smu.ca
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Abstract |
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Men and women in Vietnam engage in Buddhist practice in very specific ways and have widely different understandings of what their practices achieve. The Buddhist pagoda in Vietnam is generally seen as a feminine space, borne out by the fact that between 80% and 90% of participants are old women. Nonetheless, there are some old men who become prominent participants, but only after renegotiating the significance of Buddhist practice in ways that are more compatible with their masculine identities. This paper focuses on the performative aspects of masculine participation in the Buddhist field that are intended to gain greater status and authority. A secondary aim of the paper is to relate this particular ethnographic example to the larger field of Religious Studies. The concentration on texts, as authoritative voices in religious traditions, ignores the performative aspect of their creation. It suggests that, while they are performances that often hold greater currency, they should nonetheless be understood as only one sort of performance among many.
This paper is based on research I did in Hanoi from January 1997 to September 1998 with assistance from the Australian National University and from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I am grateful to both for their support. I worked and did further research in Hanoi from December 1999 to April 2001 and returned for research in October 2004 to January 2005.