Navigating identity, ethnicity and politics: a case study of gender variance in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Issue 4 (1st October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nguyen, Huong Thu
• Is Part Of: Norma. Volume 11:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 255
• Page End: 269
• Publication Date: 2016-10-01
• Subjects: Gender nonconformity -- masculinity -- ethnicity -- politics -- Bahnar -- Vietnam; Men's studies -- Scandinavia -- Periodicals; Men's studies -- Periodicals; Masculinity -- Research -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 305.31
• DOI: 10.1080/18902138.2016.1259845
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1890-2138

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Based on ethnographic data collected among the Bahnar ethnic group in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, I discuss the lived experiences of masculine performing people (assigned female at birth) whose gender characteristics blur the boundaries between lesbian and transgender. In reviewing non-normative gender practices in supernatural rituals in Southeast Asia and in Vietnam I explore the links between these practices and present-day terminology and discourses relating to the complexities of gender and sexual diversity in the secular realm. I also discuss the disclosure experiences of these people, their vulnerability to social discrimination and draw attention to the nuances of contingent masculinities against the backdrop of the complex inter-ethnic relations in the Central Highlands.