Calling in the Soul: gender and the cycle of life in a Hmong village
Posted on 28 August 2008
I have decided that I wanted to read “Calling in the Soul: gender and the cycle of life in a Hmong village” by Patricia V. Symonds. I had always wanted to read this book, but never found the time to actually order the book and read it, but since I won’t start school for another month, I decided that I should really go purchase this book and start some reading before the fall semester comes around.
I know a lot about the traditional Hmong belief and custom but I want to know more and read more. Besides that, I think it is important to know as much as I can thus I will be knowledgeable of my own culture and religion. At the same time I am afraid that one day our beautiful rich history and belief will disappear since not a lot of people are following the tradition or beliefs anymore, I think it is important if I at least know some things. I want to be able to understand it fully and one day passes it down to my children, if I ever have any.
Information below was found from highbeam.com
Calling in the Soul invokes the chant of the Hmong of northern Thailand to welcome the arrival of a newborn baby, appropriate to a study of birthing practices of this minority group. An ethnography based on fieldwork in northern Thailand, the book falls into the tradition of studying the life cycle–birth, marriage, death–of a subject. As this ethnography makes clear, the life cycle approach is particularly germane as the Hmong believe that after death a person’s soul is reborn in a child of the same lineage- a belief profoundly affecting Hmong perception of birth. While several researchers (eg. Jacques Lemoine) have viewed mortuary ritual as the most important and elaborate …
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