Appropriating State Techniques for Effective Rituals: Funerals of the Raglai in Contemporary Vietnam

Abstract

Since the relaxation of religious regulations in Vietnam in the 1990s, an increasing number of studies have examined the resurgence of religious practices with the revival of traditions and economic development. Some studies have shown that people accept the authority of the state in the religious realm, suggesting that such acceptance is intended to restore people’s religious legitimacy. However, they tend to limit their understanding of legitimacy to the context of the state order. In contrast, this article demonstrates how the state serves as a source of knowledge to be appropriated in reforming religious practices that reflect and reconstruct local values. Based on ethnographic research, this article examines the impact of state policies on the Raglai people’s funerary rituals in upland South-Central Vietnam, which are integral to their cosmology and customs (known as adat). These rituals have undergone modifications because of the socioeconomic changes brought about by sedentarization. To legitimize these modifications and maintain the rituals' efficacy, people have appropriated rhetoric and techniques from the state authorities. This article argues that this is not an attempt to gain recognition from the state but a creative way to reconstruct practices in a manner that aligns with local values that are continuously recreated.