1st Edition
Bamboo in Vietnam An Anthropological and Historical Approach
This book presents interdisciplinary research on bamboo in Vietnam, drawing on the anthropology of gesture, ethnobotany and the history of technology.
The authors have adopted a technological approach which reviews how the terminology of different parts of the bamboo plant in the dictionaries in Romanized Vietnamese or in Vietnamese vernacular writing (nôm) enabled the authors to identify not only the plant but also each technical gesture for its appropriation by the artisan. Lithographic, literary and historical sources from the chronicles have been mobilized to illustrate the many uses of this versatile plant.
Richly illustrated throughout, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Vietnam, anthropology, the history of science and technology, environmental history and architecture. It will also be of great value to those interested in the applications of bamboo in the contemporary world.
Introduction. Bamboo: tree or grass? Part 1: Bamboo an anthropological and historical approach 1. Bamboo, man, landscape 2.Terminology and technology: identification, uses, names; from naming to datation 3. Uses of bamboo according to its qualities 4. Bamboo as symbol 5. Bamboo and power Part 2: Bamboo iconography 6. Bamboo used as it is, after felling 7. Uses of bambootube 8. Use of split bamboo cut into lengths 9. Basket-making 10. The Gia Định Art School contribution Part 3: Contemporary bamboo 11. Bamboo at present 12. Conclusion 13. Annexes
Biography
Đinh Trọng Hiếu is an anthropologist and ethnobotanist. Until his retirement in 2003, he worked as a researcher at CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research).
Emmanuel Poisson is Professor of History at Paris Cité University, France, and Deputy Director at the French Research Institute on East Asia (IFRAE, UMR 8043).
