In this Book
- After the Massacre: Commemoration and Consolation in Ha My and My Lai
- Book
- 2006
- Published by: University of California Press
- Series: Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes
summary
Though a generation has passed since the massacre of civilians at My Lai, the legacy of this tragedy continues to reverberate throughout Vietnam and the rest of the world. This engrossing study considers how Vietnamese villagers in My Lai and Ha My—a village where South Korean troops committed an equally appalling, though less well-known, massacre of unarmed civilians—assimilate the catastrophe of these mass deaths into their everyday ritual life.
Based on a detailed study of local history and moral practices, After the Massacre focuses on the particular context of domestic life in which the Vietnamese villagers interact with their ancestors on one hand and the ghosts of tragic death on the other. Heonik Kwon explains what intimate ritual actions can tell us about the history of mass violence and the global bipolar politics that caused it. He highlights the aesthetics of Vietnamese commemorative rituals and the morality of their practical actions to liberate the spirits from their grievous history of death. The author brings these important practices into a critical dialogue with dominant sociological theories of death and symbolic transformation.
Based on a detailed study of local history and moral practices, After the Massacre focuses on the particular context of domestic life in which the Vietnamese villagers interact with their ancestors on one hand and the ghosts of tragic death on the other. Heonik Kwon explains what intimate ritual actions can tell us about the history of mass violence and the global bipolar politics that caused it. He highlights the aesthetics of Vietnamese commemorative rituals and the morality of their practical actions to liberate the spirits from their grievous history of death. The author brings these important practices into a critical dialogue with dominant sociological theories of death and symbolic transformation.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page, Series Page, Copyright
- pp. ii-iv
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-ix
- Introduction
- pp. 1-10
- 1. The Bipolarity of Death
- pp. 11-27
- 3. A Generation Afterward
- pp. 60-84
- 4. Ancestors in the Street
- pp. 85-102
- 5. Heroes and Ancestors
- pp. 103-119
- 6. Grievous Death
- pp. 120-136
- 7. The Stone of Fury
- pp. 137-153
- 8. The Decomposition of the Cold War
- pp. 154-175
- Conclusion
- pp. 176-183
- Production Notes
- p. 218
Additional Information
ISBN
9780520939653
Related ISBN(s)
9780520247963
MARC Record
OCLC
558892273
Pages
231
Launched on MUSE
2014-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No