Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit (Hardcover)

~ Van Huy Nguyen (Editor), Laurel Kendall (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Written in a very accessible, jargon-free style, this superb book is a marvelous window on the culture of Vietnam. Highly recommended."-- -- Review

Product Description

Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit takes the reader on an informed and engaging journey into the social and ritual life of contemporary Vietnam. Created to accompany the first major collaboration between a Vietnamese museum and an American museum on an exhibition of Vietnamese culture, this book moves beyond the troubled wartime history of both nations to a deeper portrayal of how Vietnamese of different ages, ethnicities, occupations, and circumstances live at the start of the twenty-first century. The contributors--most of whom live and work in Vietnam, while others have spent many years in intimate association with Vietnamese life--offer a unique perspective on the country and its diverse cultural mosaic. The text is complemented by a rich collection of photographs and illustrations that capture the complexity and nuance of daily life.

The journeys portrayed in this volume cut across virtually every domain of Vietnamese experience. Some take place on roads, railways, rivers, and footpaths, as family members come home for the New Year and traders carry goods precariously balanced on bicycles. Others are metaphorical: life is a journey marked by significant rituals, and the year is a journey mapped by a calendar with holidays as milestones along the way. Souls travel to the netherworld, while gods and ancestors return to the human world during celebrations in their honor.

Although the Vietnam War dominated the consciousness of a generation of Americans, few understand the country and few can imagine what it is like today. Appearing more than a decade after Vietnam's entrance into the global market and more than a quarter century after the cessation of hostilities between the Vietnamese and U.S. governments, this book provides a new understanding of how Vietnamese live, work, and celebrate critical passages of life and time.

Copublished with the American Museum of Natural History and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 314 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (May 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520238710
• ISBN-13: 978-0520238718
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,563,802 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit, February 20, 2007

By	Karyn W "blckwidow8" (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This is a great effort between an American and an Vietnamese museum to create an interesting book about culture and traditions among many of Vietnam's people. There are tons of photographs and information about the many minority groups as well as the national Vietnamese residents of this populous country. Holidays, ceremonies, and religions are covered in quite some detail. I learned a lot from this book.