Ethnicity and Shared Meanings
A Case Study of the "Orphaned Bones" Ritual in Mainland China and Overseas
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2279770 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bernard Formoso (0000-0002-7156-9857, Université Paris Nanterre, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 111 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 492-503 |
| Publication date | 2009-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Anthropologist (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2009.01158.x |
| OpenAlex | W2038354238 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 65 |
Several theories of ethnicity emphasize the analysis of intergroup relations. They neglect, however, the conflation of ideas and values structuring these relations-notably the cross-cultural aggregates of shared cultural meanings that underlie forms of cooperation and competition between interacting groups. In this article, I explore this kind of process through a multisite ethnography of theXiu gugu("refining of orphaned bones"), a ritual that the Chaozhou people of northeast Guangdong province, an ethnic subgroup of the Han, perform periodically. The celebration of this rite in Chaozhou is compared to versions resulting of the ritual in Malay Muslim and Thai Buddhist contexts. In the latter case, close conceptions of malevolent death underlie a fascinating interethnic cooperation, with most of the unfortunate dead whose bones are "refined" during the Chaozhou ritual being Thai
Aesthetics · Art · Buddhism · China · Conflation · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Ethnography · Ethnology · Habitus · Linguistics · Mainland China · Malay · Neglect · Political science · Rite · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Gender Studies · History · Philosophy · Psychology · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
Ethnicity and nationalism
Gods, ghosts, and ancestors
Ethnicity
Leadership and power in the Chinese community of Thailand.
Aspects of the Lappish minority situation
The imperial metaphor
Placing the dead
The Information Age
Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society
Purity and Danger
The Funeral Casino
Modernity and its malcontents
Chinese Lineage and Society
Ethnic and Racial Consciousness
Ritual and Scripture in Chinese Popular Religion
Of flesh and bones
Globalization as Hybridization
The birth of African-American culture
From Culture to Ethnicity to Conflict
The Way That Lives in the Heart
China's Quest for National Identity
Anthropology
From Blessing to Violence
Government and Society in Malaysia
Unities and Diversities in Chinese Religion
The Ghost Festival in Medieval China
Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China
Ethnicity without Groups
The Intimate Economies of Bangkok
Toothless Ancestors, Felicitous Descendants
Demons or Deities? The "Wangye" of Taiwan
Identity and Difference
Flesh Bodies, Stiff Corpses, and Gathered Gold
Philosophical investigations
Ethnic groups in conflict
Histories, Cultures, Identities
A Theory of Middleman Minorities
Custom and Politics in Urban Africa
Thailand. Society and Politics
The Cult of the Dead in a Chinese Village
The Chinese in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asian Identities
Animals Are Good to Think and Good to Prohibit
Political Systems of Highland Burma
Leveling Crowds
The Ritual Process
Ethnicity
The Cultural Contexts of Ethnic Differences
Ethnic Relations in Kelantan
The Cultural Continuum
Culture and Ethnicity in Guyana and Fiji
Culture and Cultural Analysis as Experimental Systems
The Funeral and Modernity in Manjaco
Malay male migrants
A Neo-Boasian Conception of Cultural Boundaries
Mongolian Ethnicity and Linguistic Anxiety in China
Ethnicity and Shared Meanings
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,24 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2023 (15) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |