Religious Reassemblage and Late Socialist Planning in Urban Vietnam
Recent examinations of religion in postreform Vietnam point to relationships between economic growth and increased ritual activity; some argue that new conditions of precarity have fed the explosion of popular beliefs and investments in a pantheon of spirit beings. Little of this research draws on u...
| Subtitles: | SPIRITED TOPOGRAPHIES ROUNDTABLE |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2018]
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Year: 2018, Volume: 86, Issue: 2, Pages: 526-553 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Vietnam
/ Secularism
/ Vinh
/ City life
/ Religion
/ Renewal
/ Religiosity
/ Spirituality
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion KBM Asia |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Recent examinations of religion in postreform Vietnam point to relationships between economic growth and increased ritual activity; some argue that new conditions of precarity have fed the explosion of popular beliefs and investments in a pantheon of spirit beings. Little of this research draws on urban theory, however, and most studies of rituals and festivals remain tied to rural geographies. This essay examines the nexus of urban growth and ritual practice—what I am calling “religious reassemblage”—to challenge the idea that socialist-built cities are rationalized spaces of secular modernity. Focusing on the city of Vinh in north central Vietnam, I show how urban expansion is entangled with the spirit world to reconfigure the model of functional urban planning developed during socialist reconstruction after the end of the air war. An analysis of two temples—one newly built by local authorities and another renovated through grassroots contributions—reveals ambiguity between state forms of commemoration and popular religious expressions as struggles over the control of late socialist urban space take place in and through religious sites. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfx067 |