TY - BOOK ID - 80750425 TI - War and shadows PY - 2009 SN - 0801475015 0801458692 9780801458699 9780801447709 0801447704 9780801475016 PB - Ithaca Cornell University Press DB - UniCat KW - Religion et État KW - Viet-Nam. KW - Guerre du Vietnam (1961-1975) KW - Fantômes KW - Possession (anthropologie) KW - Medecine et esoterisme. KW - Spiritisme. KW - War and society. KW - Spiritualism. KW - Spiritual healing and spiritualism. KW - Spirit possession. KW - Religion and state. KW - Psychological aspects. KW - Ghosts. KW - Battle casualties. KW - Religion and state KW - War and society KW - Vietnam War, 1961-1975 KW - Ghosts KW - Spirit possession KW - Spiritualism KW - Faith-cure and spiritualism KW - Spiritualism and spiritual healing KW - Phantoms KW - Specters KW - Spectres KW - Apparitions KW - Possession, Spirit KW - Experience (Religion) KW - State and religion KW - State, The KW - Society and war KW - War KW - Sociology KW - Civilians in war KW - Sociology, Military KW - Vietnam Conflict, 1961-1975 KW - Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 KW - Vietnamese War, 1961-1975 KW - Communication with the dead KW - Dead, Communication with the KW - Metapsychology KW - Spiritism KW - Occultism KW - Aspect social. KW - Pertes humaines. KW - Aspect psychologique. KW - Casualties. KW - Religious aspects KW - Social aspects KW - Vietnam. KW - Battles KW - Casualties, Battle KW - Combat casualties KW - Combat KW - War casualties KW - Casualties KW - Betʻŭnam KW - Biet Nam KW - Bietnam KW - Biyetnan KW - Chính phủ nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam KW - Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam KW - Fītnām KW - Fīyatnām KW - Fiyitnām KW - I︠U︡zhnyĭ Vʹetnam KW - National Republic of Vietnam KW - Nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam KW - Petʻŭnam KW - Republica Socialista de Vietnam KW - Rèpublica socialista du Viêt Nam KW - République socialiste du Vietnam KW - RSV KW - RSVN KW - S.R.V. KW - Satsyi︠a︡listychnai︠a︡ Rėspublika V'etnam KW - Socialist Republic of Viet Nam KW - Socialist Republic of Vietnam KW - Sosialistiese Republiek Viëtnam KW - Sot︠s︡ialisticheska republika Vietnam KW - Sot︠s︡ialisticheskai︠a︡ Respublika Vʹetnam KW - SRV KW - SRVN KW - Vʹet-Nam KW - Vʹetnam KW - Viet-Nam KW - Vijetnam KW - Vītnām KW - Vīyitnām KW - Vjetnamio KW - Vyetnam KW - Vyetnam Sosialist Respublikası KW - Wietnam KW - Yüeh-nan KW - Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка В'етнам KW - Социалистическа република Виетнам KW - Виетнам KW - В'етнам KW - فيتنام KW - Vietnam (Democratic Republic) KW - Vietnam (Republic) KW - Spiritual healing and spiritualism UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:80750425 AB - Vietnamese culture and religious traditions place the utmost importance on dying well: in old age, body unblemished, with surviving children, and properly buried and mourned. More than five million people were killed in the Vietnam War, many of them young, many of them dying far from home. Another 300,000 are still missing. Having died badly, they are thought to have become angry ghosts, doomed to spend eternity in a kind of spirit hell. Decades after the war ended, many survivors believe that the spirits of those dead and missing have returned to haunt their loved ones. In War and Shadows, the anthropologist Mai Lan Gustafsson tells the story of the anger of these spirits and the torments of their kin. Gustafsson's rich ethnographic research allows her to bring readers into the world of spirit possession, focusing on the source of the pain, the physical and mental anguish the spirits bring, and various attempts to ameliorate their anger through ritual offerings and the intervention of mediums. Through a series of personal life histories, she chronicles the variety of ailments brought about by the spirits' wrath, from headaches and aching limbs (often the same limb lost by a loved one in battle) to self-mutilation. In Gustafsson's view, the Communist suppression of spirit-based religion after the fall of Saigon has intensified anxieties about the well-being of the spirit world. While shrines and mourning are still allowed, spirit mediums were outlawed and driven underground, along with many of the other practices that might have provided some comfort. Despite these restrictions, she finds, victims of these hauntings do as much as possible to try to lay their ghosts to rest. ER -