Author : Ruijing Wang
Publisher : LIT Verlag Münster
ISBN 13 : 3643908881
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (439 download)
Book Synopsis Kinship, Cosmology and Support by : Ruijing Wang
Download or read book Kinship, Cosmology and Support written by Ruijing Wang and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2020-02-28 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite living in a state that honours science and debases `superstition', and despite making substantial use of the multiple medical resources available to them, Akha villagers in Yunnan still put their greatest trust for health and wellbeing into healing rituals, especially when it comes to their children. The book delves into these apparent contradictions. What is this Akha way of childcare that continues in twenty-first-century China? It is generally believed that children fall sick from soul loss or attack by spirits. Accordingly, parents frequently invite ritual experts to perform sacrificial rituals for the diagnosis and healing of their children. Relatives (kin and affines), big men, ancestors and spirits all play indispensable roles in these protective rituals. As the process of a healing ritual unfolds, a network of social organisation, kinship, and cosmology is woven.