Facing the future, reviving the past. A study of social change in a Northern Vietnamese village.

The book is based on anthropological fieldwork carried out in 1992 and on regular visits since then to a small Red River delta village in Vietnam. It treats the history of the village since its foundation in the mid-17th century, based on existing French and Vietnamese archive materials. At the same time, the book discusses the theme of the essentialist character of the Vietnamese village community. Special interest is focused on powerful lineages and groups whose members benefited from the recent revival of religious activities as a result of the renovation policy. Ritual and religious life give ideological legitimization to various social groups. At a juncture when Vietnamese society is changing at a very fast pace, a longitudinal study is necessary to examine the interplay between the current reform under a nominally Marxist regime and local village society. It is further argued that the re-emergent localism expressed by the village's attempts to regain autonomy is accommodated by efforts of the state to mitigate undesirable side effects. Eight discursive chapters examine: the Vietnamese village: concept and reality; the pre-colonial village and its relations with the state; the colonial period; war and independence, 1940-54; land reform; the collectivization period; power and prestige in the élite formation of the village; and village ritual life.