Reform or Revolution in Heaven? Funerals among Upland Tai

An examination of funeral ritual among upland Tai and Black Tai in particular, in northern Southeast Asia looks at the way it has articulated social and ethnic relations historically and in the present. It looks at how ritual and cosmology has shifted in response to social change and considers how this either weakens or strengthens ethnic boundaries between upland Tai and the surrounding dominant civilizations of Laos, Vietnam and China.     

Karen Homegardens: Characteristics,Functions, and Species Diversity

Diversity is one of the most important traits of homegardens and contributes to maintaining their functions. Here, we investigated the diversity, characteristics, and functions of 75 Karen homegardens from four villages in Chiang Mai and Tak provinces in northern Thailand. In each homegarden, all used plant species were registered and classified according to their main use. The diversity and richness in each homegarden was estimated and the stratification of plants in horizontal zones was investigated. A total 268 plant species were recorded, ranging from 100 to 146 species in each of the four villages. These plants were mostly kept in the homegarden yard or along their boundaries. The most common species were mango (Mangifera indica L.), jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.), guava (Psidium guajava L.), and taro Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott. Besides these species, most plants differed from one village to another. Distance between the homegardens was important; homegardens in the same village were more similar than those in different villages. However, beyond the individual level, the distances alone could not be used to determine similarity. Despite the variation of species found in homegardens, the function and horizontal stratification of the Karen homegardens shared many traits. They satisfied both physical and aesthetic needs to the Karen people as witnessed by the high proportion of food and ornamental species. The reverse effects of urbanization (we used the distance from the nearest urban area as a proxy) on the diversity of ornamental species was also observed. In general, Karen homegardens had high richness and diversity which directly benefited the conservation of plant species. This diversity promotes food security at the household and community levels.     

Plant Diversity in Hmong and Mien Homegardens in Northern Thailand

Plant Diversity in Hmong and Mien Homegardens in Northern Thailand. We surveyed 180 homegardens in three Hmong and three Mien villages in northern Thailand to study their floristic diversity and composition and to understand the impact of forced migration and ecological conditions for the development of the rich homegarden flora. We also looked at the role of culturally important species as carriers of cultural identity. We found 406 species: 341 (99 families) and 270 species (90 families) in Hmong and Mien homegardens, respectively. Five lowland villages had the richest homegarden flora, in part due to the presence of many widespread species. Twenty-two species were widespread in tropical countries and found in most Hmong and Mien homegardens, and 14 additional common species were shared between Hmong and Mien homegardens. Seventeen species were exclusive to Hmong homegardens and eight to Mien homegardens; these we have designated as culturally important species. The presence of culturally important species determines the homegardens’ characteristics and reflects the cultural identity related to plant uses of a group. Similarities in floristic composition of the two groups can be attributed to widespread and common species. Floristic variation and diversity in homegardens were strongly related to homegarden geographical location, personal preference, and cultural background of the owners.     

Transitions in Taste in Vietnam and the Diaspora

This paper argues that food and styles of eating have become the predominant markers of social change for the Vietnamese in both Vietnam and in the diaspora. In post‐socialist Vietnam the transition to a market economy has allowed for a huge growth in the number of restaurants and cafés, and in the north, a return to an earlier style of cooking. The intense interest and emphasis on food as embodied pleasure has meant that it has come to stand for the transition away from a heavily state‐controlled economy. The new configurations of family and friendship are being framed by newly available ways of ‘eating out’, which are both a means of social display and distinction as well as an indicator of the tensions between reform and festivity within an authoritarian nation‐state struggling to define itself in a globalising world. At the same time as food in Vietnam is undergoing rapid transformation so too has the Vietnamese diaspora generationally changed its eating patterns. Although there has been a focus in the literature on food in the diaspora that emphasises the nostalgic and recuperative elements of ‘migrant food’, I argue that food is the prime mechanism of intercultural engagement for each diasporic generation. For older Vietnamese, Vietnamese restaurants and barbecues have been the sites of interplay between cultural ‘tradition’ and innovation, and between Australianness and Vietnameseness, and these interstitial places continue to be important for younger Vietnamese. Within this established framework of cross‐cultural interaction, for Vietnamese youth, the social settings of ‘ethnic food’, eaten at home and shared with family, have been grafted onto a sociality of eating fast food. This melding together of both invention and convention, of transgression and ordinariness provides the background against which young people from migrant backgrounds are reinvigorating the social spaces of food consumption and in the process both re‐enchanting and destabilising the notion of migrant food.     

Analytical and folk concepts of race and ethnicity

Prejudice is found in all societies, but it is a particular problem in immigrant societies. In this article we use Bogardus's social‐distance scale to identify patterns of ethnic prejudice in Australia and test four explanations to account for it: personality, socio‐psychology, social structure, and social contact. The data are a national sample of the Australian‐born and of three immigrant groups: Maltese, Lebanese, and Vietnamese. The results show that ethnic prejudice is not unidimensional and that there are at least two dimensions, which we label social prejudice and cultural prejudice. The analyses indicate that Australians and longer‐resident Maltese emphasize the social dimension of prejudice; the newly arrived Vietnamese emphasize the cultural dimension. For Australians, prejudice is rooted in personality factors; but for immigrants, none of the four explanations is significant. The results point to the interaction between personality factors and social learning within the society as the most important determinant of ethnic prejudice.     

From Tai‐isation to Lao‐isation: Ethnic changes in the longue durée in Northern Laos

This article uses ethnographic data collected since 1994 in Northern Laos to reassess the modalities of Tai cultural and political influence on the Khmu, a Mon‐Khmer‐speaking highland population, and to understand why, after so many years of ‘Tai‐isation’, distinct identities still exist. For Grant Evans, who conducted fieldwork in Tai‐Dam and Sing Moon (Ksing Mul) villages at the end of the 1980s, the answer lay in the fundamentally dualistic character of Tai‐isation, which both favours assimilation and also tends to perpetuate interethnic boundaries. I will here insist on the fact that Tai‐isation does not imply only the influence of the Tai on the highland peoples’ way of life but also how the latter adapt themselves to this influence with their own cultural resources. Tai‐isation is traditionally an inclusive and therefore ambivalent process which can lead both to the assimilation of some highlanders and simultaneously to the emergence of new identity markers, myths or categories, which transform and structure interethnic relationships. State‐building and Lao nationalism have nonetheless profoundly reshaped these dynamics and Lao‐isation now operates in a radically different conceptual framework.     

Comparison of food plant knowledge between urban vietnamese living in vietnam and in Hawai‘i

Ethnographic interviews using photographs of 10 traditional Vietnamese fruits and vegetables were used to compare the knowledge level and use of traditional food plants between Vietnamese in urban Bien Hoa, Vietnam, and in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. In both communities, there was a positive correlation between age and knowledge (as measured by correct identification, and number of food uses for the plants). Vietnamese immigrants in Hawai‘i listed more food uses than those in Vietnam due to adoption of multi ethnic foods found in Honolulu.     

Dental morphology of the early Hoabinian, the Neolithic Da But and the Metal age Dong Son civilized peoples in Vietnam

The early Hoabinian, the Neolithic Da But and the Dong Son (early Metal age) civilized peoples in northern Vietnam were investigated based on dental morphology and were compared with specimens from surrounding Northeast and Southeast Asia including Australians and Melanesians. In both the metric and nonmetric tooth traits, the Hoabinian and Da But specimens had dental features similar to the prehistoric Southeast Asians and the Australo-Melanesians, but also had partially Northeast Asian characteristics. On the other hand, the Northeast Asian features become distinct in the dentition of the Dong Son people, which have close ties with the modern Vietnamese. Thus, the Vietnamese, as well as the other modern Southeast Asians and Japanese, are considered to be a blend of indigenous Southeast Asians who are closely related to the Australo-Melanesian lineage, and migrants from Northeast Asia.     

An example of de‐Tai‐isation? Longue durée ethnic change in a mountainous area of southern China

Inspired by Grant Evans’ work Tai‐ization: Ethnic Change in Northern Indo‐China, this article explores aspects of historical ethnic change in the Yunkai and Yunwu Mountain Ranges, a small upland region intersected by the boundary of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces in southern China over the period 600–1700 C.E. The discussion begins with some of the early linguistic evidence for populations of Tai speakers in the region and what is known of their political and cultural systems, then moves on to consider how Chinese military conquests of the eighth century coupled with the migration of Sinitic and Mien peoples from the eleventh century onwards altered the ethnic composition and political landscape of the region. This is followed by an examination of different exonyms used in Chinese texts for populations of southern China from the fifteenth century onwards and how these might have related to linguistic groupings and identities on the ground, demonstrating that historical usage of Chinese exonyms now connected with Tai or Mien speakers is not always a reliable indicator of a corresponding presence of historical Tai or Mien‐speaking populations. Further research drawing on a number of disciplines is required on a localised level in order to determine when Tai and Mien languages were abandoned in the region and how the inhabitants of the area shifted from the status of named Others to ordinary Chinese subjects.     

Vietnam: Fisheries and navigation policies and issues

Abstract

Vietnam claims a 12‐nautical‐mile territorial sea, a 12‐nautical‐mile contiguous zone, a continental shelf, a 200‐nautical‐mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), historical waters encompassing most of the Gulf of Tonkin, and much of the Spratly Islands area. Vietnam's claimed boundaries overlap with those of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, and, in the Spratlys, with those of China, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia. The area claimed contains significant fisheries resources, and Vietnam has stipulated provisions for access to fish by foreign vessels. Yet issues pertaining to shared and migratory stocks remain to be addressed. Similarly, Vietnam has established regulations governing foreign ships navigating in Vietnamese‐claimed waters, including those designed to protect the environment. But some of these provisions do not conform to the provisions of the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This article reviews Vietnam ‘s fisheries and navigation policies and issues.     

Interethnic Interaction,Strategic Bargaining Power,and the Dynamics of Cultural Norms

Ethnic groups are universal and unique to human societies. Such groups sometimes have norms of behavior that are adaptively linked to their social and ecological circumstances, and ethnic boundaries may function to protect that variation from erosion by interethnic interaction. However, such interaction is often frequent and voluntary, suggesting that individuals may be able to strategically reduce its costs, allowing adaptive cultural variation to persist in spite of interaction with out-groups with different norms. We examine five mechanisms influencing the dynamics of ethnically distinct cultural norms, each focused on strategic individual-level choices in interethnic interaction: bargaining, interaction-frequency-biased norm adoption, assortment on norms, success-biased interethnic social learning, and childhood socialization. We use Bayesian item response models to analyze patterns of norm variation and interethnic interaction in an ethnically structured Amazonian population. We show that, among indigenous Matsigenka, interethnic education with colonial Mestizos is more strongly associated with Mestizo-typical norms than even extensive interethnic experience in commerce and wage labor is. Using ethnographic observations, we show that all five of the proposed mechanisms of norm adoption may contribute to this effect. However, of these mechanisms, we argue that changes in relative bargaining power are particularly important for ethnic minorities wishing to preserve distinctive norms while engaging in interethnic interaction in domains such as education. If this mechanism proves applicable in a range of other ethnographic contexts, it would constitute one cogent explanation for when and why ethnically structured cultural variation can either persist or erode given frequent, and often mutually beneficial, interethnic interaction.     

Molecular epidemiology of rabies in Vietnam

The present study was done to determine the molecular epidemiology of rabies virus (RV) in Vietnam. The nucleoprotein (N) and glycoprotein (G) genes of RVs were amplified from the brains of ten rabid dogs of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The nucleotide sequences of these genes were compared with those of other Asian strains to find the possible relationship among them. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Asian N gene segregated into three main branches, namely South-East Asia 1 (SEA 1), South-East Asia 2 (SEA 2) and Indian subcontinent (ISC) genotypes. The SEA 1 genotype comprised RVs from Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. The SEA 2 genotype contained strains from the Philippines, and the ISC genotype comprised strains from Sri Lanka and India. Phylogenetically G genes of RVs from Vietnam and Thailand were clustered together. Our study suggests that Vietnamese and Thai RVs are closely related and might have originated from a common ancestor.     

Fauna of anemonefishes (Pomacentridae,Amphiprioninae) and their host sea anemones (Cnidaria,Actiniaria) on reefs of Phu Quy,Con Son,and An Thoi Islands (South China Sea,South Vietnam,and Gulf of Thailand) and a review of these groups from the coastal waters of Vietnam

A full species composition of anemonefishes (Pomacentridae, Amphiprioninae) and their host sea anemones (Cnidaria, Actiniaria) from reefs of Phu Quy and Con Son Islands (off South Vietnam) and An Thoi Islands (northeastern Gulf of Thailand) is presented for the first time. A comparison of the faunas of anemonefishes and their host sea anemones is conducted in the coastal waters of Vietnam and adjacent waters. The presence of intermittent ranges of the anemonefishes in the coastal waters of Vietnam is demonstrated. For example, the ranges of two species, Amphiprion clarkii and A. frenatus, include the coastal waters of Vietnam, excluding the Gulf of Thailand, where they are not found even at the eastern border of the gulf. A. perideraion is absent in the Gulf of Tonkin, but it is distributed to the south along the entire coastal zone of Vietnam, including the Gulf of Thailand. In the coastal waters of Vietnam, A. sandaracinos is distributed only between the Gulf of Tonkin and Gulf of Thailand. A. polymnus is reliably indicated in the coastal waters of Vietnam between 12°50′ and 9°54′ N, but, most likely, its range is continuous along the entire Vietnamese coast. The richness of species composition of host sea anemones decreases (from nine to three species) in the southern direction, from Central Vietnam to the eastern border of the Gulf of Thailand.     

The market for medicinal plants in sapa and hanoi, vietnam

The Market for Medicinal Plants in Sapa and Hanoi, Vietnam. Economic Botany 59(4):377-385, 2005. This article describes the market for medicinal plants sold in the Vietnamese town of Sapa as well as in nine different markets in the Vietnamese capital city, Hanoi. A total of 44 medicinal plants were identified botanically, 27 of which are on sale in Sapa and 28 in Hanoi. Most buyers of medicinal plants in Sapa are members of the Vietnamese middle classes who go to Sapa on holidays. Medicinal plants are gathered or cultivated predominantly by members of ethnic minority groups (Hmong and Dao) who live in small hamlets, some located several hours from the town of Sapa. Sapa is one of the poorest districts in Vietnam with a GDP per household of only U.S. $322 in 2005, so the cash that people are able to earn from the sale of medicinal plants is very important. The article argues that the social roles of the weekend market in Sapa are equally important, as the market helps ethnic minorities to fulfil their needs for a social life beyond the village.     

Promiscuous capitalism meets ‘exotic’ ethnicity: Intimate aspirations amongst cross‐border Chinese Dai

Many ethnic Dai women from one remote county in Southwest China seek work in Thailand. This exodus builds on a combination of regional Tai cultural affinity and interpersonal skills with Chinese/Malaysian men. Cross‐border labour migration foregrounds growing neoliberal subjectivities as prior modes of trafficking evolve into trajectories of voluntary entrepreneurialism. Transnational work in Thai massage parlours blends intimate relations and monetary gain as Dai women merge the productive with the reproductive. At the same time, their movement and self‐enterprise sit uneasily with cross‐border disease control. Dai mobility is seen as problematic to the State body as assumptions concerning gendered and ‘ethnic’ sexuality and its potential to introduce HIV to China create targeted surveillance and control.     

The politics of genealogical incorporation: ethnic difference,genetic relatedness and national belonging*

This paper explores the relationship between genomic accounts of ethnic origins and distinctiveness and genealogical models of ethnic and national similarity and difference. It does so by focusing on genetic investigations of Irish Traveller origins in the context of ongoing campaigns for state recognition of Irish Travellers as an ethnic group, and in relation to the politics of national belonging. The ostensibly ethical practice of liberal genomics is entangled with the fraught politics of the Irish state’s commitments to addressing ethnic minority rights, insistence on differentiating between Travellers and other ethnic groups on the basis of genealogical difference, and the genealogical incorporation of Travellers within the national community of shared descent. Though ideas of ancestral relatedness across social or cultural boundaries are often figured as politically progressive, locating groups within a national family tree on the basis of genealogical relatedness can simultaneously deny ethnic difference and naturalize exclusive models of nationhood.     

Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis B virus variants in nonhuman primates

We characterized hepatitis B virus (HBV) isolates from sera of 21 hepatitis B virus surface antigen-positive apes, members of the families Pongidae and Hylobatidae (19 gibbon spp., 1 chimpanzee, and 1 gorilla). Sera originate from German, French, Thai, and Vietnamese primate-keeping institutions. To estimate the phylogenetic relationships, we sequenced two genomic regions, one located within the pre-S1/pre-S2 region and one including parts of the polymerase and the X protein open reading frames. By comparison with published human and ape HBV isolates, the sequences could be classified into six genomic groups. Four of these represented new genomic groups of gibbon HBV variants. The gorilla HBV isolate was distantly related to the chimpanzee isolate described previously. To confirm these findings, the complete HBV genome from representatives of each genomic group was sequenced. The HBV isolates from gibbons living in different regions of Thailand and Vietnam could be classified into four different phylogenetically distinct genomic groups. The same genomic groups were found in animals from European zoos. Therefore, the HBV infections of these apes might have been introduced into European primate-keeping facilities by direct import of already infected animals from different regions in Thailand. Taken together, our data suggest that HBV infections are indigenous in the different apes. One event involving transmission between human and nonhuman primates in the Old World of a common ancestor of human HBV genotypes A to E and the ape HBV variants might have occurred.     

Mitochondrial DNA diversity in two ethnic groups in Southeastern Kenya: Perspectives from the northeastern periphery of the bantu expansion

The Bantu languages are widely distributed throughout sub‐Saharan Africa. Genetic research supports linguists and historians who argue that migration played an important role in the spread of this language family, but the genetic data also indicates a more complex process involving substantial gene flow with resident populations. In order to understand the Bantu expansion process in east Africa, mtDNA hypervariable region I variation in 352 individuals from the Taita and Mijikenda ethnic groups was analyzed, and we evaluated the interactions that took place between the Bantu‐ and non‐Bantu‐speaking populations in east Africa. The Taita and Mijikenda are Bantu‐speaking agropastoralists from southeastern Kenya, at least some of whose ancestors probably migrated into the area as part of Bantu migrations that began around 3,000 BCE. Our analyses indicate that they show some distinctive differences that reflect their unique cultural histories. The Taita are genetically more diverse than the Mijikenda with larger estimates of genetic diversity. The Taita cluster with other east African groups, having high frequencies of haplogroups from that region, while the Mijikenda have high frequencies of central African haplogroups and cluster more closely with central African Bantu‐speaking groups. The non‐Bantu speakers who lived in southeastern Kenya before Bantu speaking groups arrived were at least partially incorporated into what are now Bantu‐speaking Taita groups. In contrast, gene flow from non‐Bantu speakers into the Mijikenda was more limited. These results suggest a more complex demographic history where the nature of Bantu and non‐Bantu interactions varied throughout the area. Am J Phys Anthropol 150:482–491, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Land Transitions in Northwest Vietnam: An Integrated Analysis of Biophysical and Socio-Cultural Factors

This paper discusses transitions in land use evidenced by the case of the Suoi Muoi catchment area in NW mountain of Vietnam. Land use transitions were detected from LANDSAT and SPOT satellite images taken over the last 40 years. The maps showing changes in land use were linked with biophysical properties of the land such as slope gradient, elevation and soil type, and cultural characteristic of various ethnic groups by means of logistic regression model. The combination of research methods and instruments from several disciplines, including statistical spatial analysis such as the multiple logistic regression (MLR) models and the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) on household interview data, and key informant interviews allowed us to identify and validate a number of factors that drive land cover and land use changes in Northwest Vietnam.     

On the origin of the recent fauna of butterflies (Lepidoptera,Rhopalocera) of Vietnam

The following types of ranges of the Vietnamese butterflies are considered: 1) narrow ranges of endemic taxa, 2) continuous and mosaic ranges, 3) disjunct ranges, and 4) vicariant ranges. The endemic butterfly taxa mostly concentrate in isolated mountain areas of central Vietnam and show relationships with the Sino- Himalayan, Malayan, and local Indo-Burmese faunas. The ranges of most Vietnamese butterflies, both eury- and stenobiont species, combine the traits of continuous and mosaic distribution. Disjunctions in the ranges of Vietnamese butterflies vary from dozens to thousands kilometers. Similar habitats in different parts of Vietnam may have different though allied butterfly species. The origin of the recent butterfly fauna is hypothesized.