Globalizing community festivals: the case of the community festival in Wanwei, Guangxi, China
Asian Education and Development Studies
ISSN: 2046-3162
Article publication date: 14 October 2019
Issue publication date: 6 January 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to concern the community festival of a Jing minority village in the China–Vietnam border area. Since it was designated as a national-level Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2006, the festival has undergone many changes. The festival has steadily expanded and evolved, assuming characteristics of globalization. How is the globalized character of the Wanwei festival manifested? What are the forces behind the elevation of this local festival onto the register of national events and how did it turn into an event organized by the township?
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on the results of the author’s research on the culture of Kinh people in Wanwei from 2000 to the present. From the anthropological approach, the author mainly uses method of participant observation and in-depth interviews. The author has observed the Wanwei communal festival from 2000 to the present, interviewing about 40 villagers in Wanwei in depth, they can be leaders, intellectuals, civil servants, officials or working people.
Findings
The paper is a case study of the new aspect of globalization of a village festival. The author argues that globalization can lead to a spread of global flows but in this process of globalization, villagers also want to define the local identity, they reinvent the tradition, rewrite history, create new nuances for the gods with many different purposes. Practicing the current Wanwei village festival is a vivid example of globalization from below and the politics of tradition.
Originality/value
The paper adds a theoretical dimension to current globalization research. The paper also points out the political, economic and social dynamics that govern the transformation of a village festival in particular and the village culture in general in the border areas. The paper is a testament to the dynamism and flexibility of villagers when participating in the current globalization process.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author thanks the informants in Wanwei for their time and support, as well as Hue Tam Ho Tai, Oscar Salemink and the anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on earlier versions of the paper. The research has benefitted from funding provided by the NAFOSTED in project Cultural restructuration of border communities in the context of Sino-Vietnam trade development (602.07.2019.04).
Publishers note: The publisher would like to inform readers that this article was mistakenly labelled as a regular paper instead of a special issue paper as part of a themed section called “Ethnicity, Ritual and Festivals in Asia”. This error was introduced as part of the editorial process, and the publisher sincerely apologizes for this error.
The following article was originally intended to publish as part of a themed section of AEDS 9.1 called “Ethnicity, Ritual and Festivals in Asia” guest edited by Professor Oscar Salemink and Dr Siuwoo Cheung:
Nguyen, C. (2019), “Globalizing community festivals: the case of the community festival in Wanwei, Guangxi, China”, Asian Education and Development Studies, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 67-78. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-07-2019-0113
Citation
Nguyen, C. (2020), "Globalizing community festivals: the case of the community festival in Wanwei, Guangxi, China", Asian Education and Development Studies, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 67-78. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-07-2019-0113
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited