Paper short abstract:

Tensions between scholars, officials and practitioners over whether spirit possession in Vietnam constitutes a religious practice or (secular) cultural heritage illustrate how heritagization of this spirit possession practice serves to define and sacralize the Vietnamese nation and its territory.

Paper long abstract:

Since the mid-noughties Vietnam has been very successful in getting various cultural practices inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) list. In 2016 it seeks recognition for "Practices related to the Việt beliefs in the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms" (see http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/files-2016-under-process-00774). This pertains to a diverse set of performative spirit possession practices which until recently was condemned by state agents as "superstitious", but which has blossomed in the context of market reforms and which has been the object of much scholarly research by Vietnamese and international scholars, including myself. In this paper I describe some events during an international conference in Nam Định city, organized by that province in conjunction with the research institute of the Ministry of Culture in preparation for the dossier. Against the backdrop of the looming heritagization I pay particular attention to submerged tensions between scholars, officials and practitioners over whether lên đồng spirit possession constitutes a religious or (secular) cultural practice. On this basis I will argue that the heritagization of this spirit possession practice serves to define and sacralize the Vietnamese nation and its territory.