Suchergebnisse

Introduction.Historical Studies of the Tai Yai: A Brief Sketch --The Ethnography of Tai Yai in Yunnan --Ethnic Identity and the Construction of an Imagined Tai Community --Scope and Purpose of this Study --1.The Setting.Daikong and the Chinese Revolution --Land Reform --Tai Peasants and Cooperative Farming --The Commune --Daikong and the Cultural Revolution --Lak Chang Today --2.Agricultural and Economic Patterns --Yearly Agricultural Cycle --Land Tenure --Cooperative Work Groups --Animal Raising --Non-Agricultural Production --Household Income and Expenditure --3.Kinship and Marriage in Daikong.The Family and the Village Community --Family Relations --Choice of a Marriage Partner --The Wedding in Lak Chang --Sex and Marriage --Family and the Life Cycle --4.Political and Social Organisations.The Chaopha --Council of Ministers --Poo Heng and Poo Kay --Social Classes --Social Groups and Organisations --Political Organisations and Social Changes --5.Religious Beliefs and Rituals.Buddhism and Animism in Daily Life --Beliefs and Rituals in Tai Society --Annual Rituals and Celebrations in Daikong --Death and Life-Cycle Rituals --Life Crisis Rituals --Beliefs, Rituals and Social Change --6. Gender Roles and Gender Relations.Gender Roles in Tai Culture --The Concept of Male Supremacy --Gender Roles and Social Expectation --Gender Roles in Changing Times --7.Continuity and Reconstruction of Tai Ethnic Identity.Symbolic Resistance and Reconstruction of Ethnic Identity --Rice: Symbolic Resistance against Cultural Supremacy --Poi Festivals, Buddhism and Tai Community --Marriage, Farmland and the Reproduction of an Imagined Community.

The Thai—Yunnan Project is proud to present this English-language version of Professor Yos Santasombat's fascinating ethnography of the Tai in Daikong, southwestern China. It represents a significant contribution to the ethnographic record of the Tai peoples. The village of Lak Chang is located close to the edge of the Tai world and is increasingly embraced by Chinese influence. Professor Yos skilfully weaves ethnographic and historical writing to chart the course of Lak Chang's incorporation into the modern Chinese state. This has been a painful history but what emerges in this account is a sense of Tai cultural identity that is vigorous and adaptive.

"The Tai ethnic category is thus a complex and dynamic construct which takes place within the context of changing power relations and socio-economic conditions where the past is reconstructed to give meaning to the present and hope for the future."

In his account of the labours, rituals and beliefs of the Tai villagers of Daikong, Professor Yos brings contemporary ethnic identity to their life. Among the patchwork paddyfields and haphazard laneways of Lak Chang we come to a greater understanding of how global and regional processes of modernisation are managed and selectively incorporated by one local community.