Folk Literati, Contested Tradition, and Heritage in Contemporary China: Incense Is Kept Burning

By:

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis
“Ground-breaking . . . has implications for recognizing the existence and value of local, grass roots intellectual agency elsewhere in China and the globe.” —Mark Bender, the Ohio State UniversityIn this important ethnography Ziying You explores the role of the “folk literati” in negotiating, defining, and maintaining local cultural heritage. Expanding on the idea of the elite literati—a widely studied pre-modern Chinese social group, influential in cultural production—the folk literati are defined as those who are skilled in classical Chinese, knowledgeable about local traditions, and capable of representing them in writing. The folk literati work to maintain cultural continuity, a concept that is expressed locally through the vernacular phrase: “incense is kept burning.”You’s research focuses on a few small villages in Hongtong County, Shanxi Province in contemporary China. Through a careful synthesis of oral interviews, participant observation, and textual analysis, You presents the important role the folk literati play in reproducing local traditions and continuing stigmatized beliefs in a community context. She demonstrates how eight folk literati have reconstructed, shifted, and negotiated local worship traditions around the ancient sage-Kings Yao and Shun as well as Ehuang and Nüying, Yao’s two daughters and Shun’s two wives. You highlights how these individuals’ conflictive relationships have shaped and reflected different local beliefs, myths, legends, and history in the course of tradition preservation. She concludes her study by placing these local traditions in the broader context of Chinese cultural policy and UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage program, documenting how national and international discourses impact actual traditions, and the conversations about them, on the ground.“One of the most important and far-reaching books of folklore scholarship today.” —Amy Shuman, author of Other People’s Stories
Copyright:
2020

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
270 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780253046376
Related ISBNs:
9780253046369
Publisher:
Indiana University Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Ziying You
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Social Studies
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

No Rating Yet