Cosmology and the cycle of life: Hmong views of birth, death and gender in a mountain village in Northern Thailand
Author(s):
Symonds, Patricia V.
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : Brown University, 1991.
Pages:
375
Language:
English
Abstract:
In this dissertation I explore the cultural construction of birth among Hmong villagers in Northern Thailand. Three questions frame the scope of this study. These are: (1) How is birth conceptualised in Hmong society? (2) What implications does the Hmong view of birth have for Hmong women in the patrilineal kinship system? (3) What is the relation of birth to reincarnation? I will argue that to fully understand Hmong birthing practices and gender issues one must situate the bio-social processes of birth within the larger cosmological cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The dissertation is divided into two parts. In Part One, social organization, and historical and cosmological dimensions of the Hmong world are introduced. Issues of gender, birth, death, and rebirth are the focus of Part Two. Fieldwork was conducted in Thailand's northernmost province of Chiang Rai among speakers of the White Hmong dialect of Miao/Yao. Traditional anthropological methods were used to collect data, including participant observation and informal interviews. A structured village survey was conducted, and quantitative data presented within the dissertation are taken from the results. Included in the dissertation are complete transcriptions, in Hmong and English, of ritual chants which accompany birth and death. Analyses of these chants are helpful in gaining insight into the Hmong conceptualization of birth.