Table Of ContentCONTEMPORARY ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION
A series published with the Society for the
Anthropology of Religion
Laurel Kendall, Series Editor
Curator, Division of Anthropology, America Museum
of Natural History
Published by Palgrave Macmillan:
Body / Meaning / Healing
By Thomas J. Csordas
The Weight of the Past: Living with History in Mahajanga,
Madagascar
By Michael Lambek
After the Rescue: Jewish Identity and Community in
Contemporary Denmark
By Andrew Buckser
Empowering the Past, Confronting the Future
By Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart
Islam Obscured: The Rhetoric of Anthropological Representation
By Daniel Martin Varisco
Islam, Memory, and Morality in Yemen: Ruling
Families in Transition
By Gabrielle Vom Bruck
A Peaceful Jihad: Negotiating Identity and Modernity
in Muslim Java
By Ronald Lukens-Bull
The Road to Clarity: Seventh-Day Adventism in Madagascar
By Eva Keller
Yoruba in Diaspora: An African Church in London
By Hermione Harris
Islamic Narrative and Authority in Southeast Asia: From the
16th to the 21st Century
By Thomas Gibson
Evangelicalism and Conflict in Northern Ireland
By Gladys Ganiel
Christianity in the Local Context: Southern Baptists
in the Philippines
By Brian M. Howell
Missions and Conversions: Creating the Montagnard-Dega
Refugee Community
By Thomas Pearson
Gender, Catholicism, and Morality in Brazil: Virtuous Husbands,
Powerful Wives
By Maya Mayblin
Direct Sales and Direct Faith in Latin America
By Peter S. Cahn
Shamans, Spirituality, and Cultural Revitalization:
Explorations in Siberia and Beyond
By Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer
Spirits without Borders:
Vietnamese Spirit Mediums in a Transnational Age
Karen Fjelstad and Nguy(cid:1225)n Th(cid:1231) Hi(cid:1221)n
Spirits without Borders
Vietnamese Spirit Mediums in a
Transnational Age
Karen Fjelstad and Nguyê˜n Thi. Hiê`n
SPIRITS WITHOUT BORDERS
Copyright © Karen Fjelstad and Nguyê˜n Thi Hi`ên, 2011.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-11493-7
All rights reserved.
First published in 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-29626-2 ISBN 978-0-230-11970-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230119703
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the
Library of Congress.
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: July 2011
For all the spirits of Ðạo Mẫu, and all the people
who honor and serve them.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Chapter 1
Border Crossings: Setting the Theoretical Stage 1
Chapter 2
Spirited Research: Studying Lên Ð(cid:1239)ng in
Vietnam and California 17
Chapter 3
Ð(cid:1189)o M(cid:1199)u Spirits, Temples, and Rituals 39
Chapter 4
Spiritual Callings: Becoming a Medium in the
Contemporary World 77
Chapter 5
“Lên Ð(cid:1239)nging” in Silicon Valley 99
Chapter 6
The Vietnam- Cali Connection 137
Chapter 7
“You Have to Respect the Local Spirits” 169
Glossary 187
Notes 193
References 203
Index 213
Acknowledgments
T
his book could not have been written without the help of many lên
(cid:255)(cid:1239)ng spirit mediums and disciples in the United States and Vietnam.
They generously invited us into their homes and temples, patiently
answered our questions, and allowed us to participate in their rituals.
We have changed everyone’s names to protect their individual privacy.
We owe a special debt of gratitude to Phan and Mrs. Nga, the two
mediums who first took us under their wings, and to our friends at
the Chúa Bói temple, whose desire to have initiations in Vietnam led
to the idea for this study. We also thank Mr. Thanh for his hospital-
ity and teachings, and Mrs. Vân, Tania, and Brian for their constant
support of this project as well as their carefully constructed com-
ments, corrections, and discussions. We are also deeply grateful to
Mr. and Mrs. Viên, Mr. and Mrs. L(cid:1133)(cid:1131)ng, Mr. and Mrs. Tuy(cid:1219)t, Mr.
Thái, Loan, Kim, Tiffany, Billy, Jonathan, Frank, Erik and his par-
ents, Elise, Choi, and Hoa.
We owe a special debt of gratitude to Laurel Kendall who sup-
ported this work from its inception. She encouraged us to conduct
collaborative research, helped us to locate funding, and read several
drafts of this manuscript. Always enthusiastic and incredibly generous
with her time, she nudged us along even in the darkest hours. She had
the particular talent of developing great ideas, yet making it appear as
if they were our own. She is a true scholar in the noblest sense of the
word, and we thank the mother goddesses time and again for allow-
ing her to be our colleague, mentor, and friend.
The current group of lên (cid:255)(cid:1239)ng researchers is small but formidable,
and we are grateful to be in the presence of such spirited researchers.
We thank Ngô Ð(cid:1261)c Th(cid:1231)nh and Nguy(cid:1225)n Kh(cid:1203)c Kh(cid:1191)m, both pioneers
of lên (cid:255)(cid:1239)ng research, for inspiring our own studies, and we thank
Barley Norton, Kirsten Endres, and Ph(cid:1189)m Qu(cid:484)nh Ph(cid:1133)(cid:1131)ng for their
generous assistance in the field as well as their social and intellectual
support. We offer special thanks to Alex Quan for his insightful and
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
moving translations of possession songs. We are also grateful to Oscar
Salemink and Janet Hoskins who, like the others, took time from
their busy schedules to discuss with us the nuances of lên (cid:255)(cid:1239)ng spirit
possession rituals.
This research was made possible by the generous financial support
of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the
Social Science Research Council, the College of Social Sciences at San
Jose State University, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at
the University of Hawaii. We are also grateful to Vietnam Institute
of Culture and Arts Studies, the Department of Anthropology at San
Jose State University, and the San Jose State University Foundation
for supporting our transnational research.
Since its inception, this manuscript has undergone a number of
different permutations. We would like to thank Charles Smith for his
tireless support of this research and his editorial advice. We would
also like to thank Malcolm Scott, Ph(cid:1189)m Nam Thanh, and Nguy(cid:1225)n
Th(cid:1231) Trang Nhung for their contributions. We are grateful to Brigitte
Shull, Joanna Roberts, and to all of the staff at Palgrave Macmillan
who helped bring this volume to fruition.
We want to thank our families who have been unfailing in their
support for our research. We are deeply grateful to our parents. Our
fathers and Hi(cid:1221)n’s mother entered the realm of the ancestors dur-
ing the course of this research. We offer our everlasting gratitude to
them and to Karen’s mother, who have nurtured our thoughts and
supported our dreams long before we even learned to read or write.
We thank our sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews, and all those
family members who contributed to, and sometimes suffered from,
our intense focus on this research. We are especially grateful to Hi(cid:1221)n’s
sons and to our spouses, Chuck and Mùi, for quietly enduring all
those times that we could have simply played.
Chapter 1
Border Crossings: Setting the
Theoretical Stage
W
hen the Third Princess (Cô B(cid:1131)) incarnated into Mrs. Vân at a
temple- opening ceremony, Karen and Hi(cid:1221)n realized that the spirit
and the temple were fully incorporated into the California landscape.
The temple is situated in rolling grass- covered hills that are dotted
with California buckwheat and interior live oak and is home to bob-
cat, coyote, rattlesnake, ground squirrel, and mountain lion, many of
which are creator beings of the first peoples in the area. At that time,
in the late summer, the road to the temple was dotted with fruit stands
advertising fresh cherries and apricots, and a campground announc-
ing an upcoming Tractor Pull and Renaissance Faire. The temple
is located near San Luis Reservoir, an essential part of California’s
hydroelectric supply and a favorite spot for fishermen hoping to catch
striped bass or the occasional sturgeon: Karen had once caught a
“striper” there herself. Mrs. Vân’s daughter Tania explained that the
reservoir was a factor in the decision to purchase the home that would
be transformed into a temple. “You will see,” she said, “that you have
to go over the hills and cross the water to get to the temple. That’s
what the possession songs say!”
Karen and Hi(cid:1221)n watched the Third Princess perform the Rowing
Dance (múa chèo (cid:255)ò) with a pair of painted wooden oars that were
decorated with flowers. The spirit was dressed in traditional Vi(cid:1227)t
clothing in the white color that is symbolically associated with the
Realm of Water and the mother goddess that she serves. Tears washed
the face of Mrs. Vân while she danced because the spirit is empathetic
to the troubles of humans and weeps whenever one of her “children”
(con) is in distress. As she rowed her traditional Vietnamese dragon
