Real Conviviality

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  • 共生の実際
  • 共生の実際 : 中国西部における民族間の擬制親族関係
  • キョウセイ ノ ジッサイ : チュウゴク セイブ ニ オケル ミンゾク カン ノ ギセイ シンゾク カンケイ
  • 中国西部における民族間の擬制親族関係
  • Fictive Kinship between Ethnic Groups in Western China

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Abstract

<p>In this paper, I consider how disparate peoples live together in the context of western China. Specifically, I examine the practice of fictive kinship that links the Mongol and Han ethnic groups in the Alasha area of the western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Then, I introduce interpretations of that practice by researchers, discussing their analyses of the logic of the practitioners, in order to clarify the actual situation of ethnic conviviality on the basis of ethnographic information.</p> <p>Alasha has a total land area is 270,000 square kilometers, with a total population of 231,334, comprising two main ethnic groups: Han Chinese 172,466 (74.55%) and Mongols 44,635 (19.30%), according to the 2010 census. Both ethnic groups live together without experiencing any major conflict, and ethnic conviviality is apparent. Among the factors enabling that, I examine the concept of fictive kinship known in Mandarin as gānqīn (干亲 or “dry kinship”). Gānqīn is a Han custom based on the recognition that the fate of a person will change if, and only if, his or her membership in a kinship group changes. In the original gānqīn context of the traditional culture of the Chinese Zhōngyuán (中原 or “central plains”), parents, for the healthy growth of their babies, ask members of another unrelated kinship group to serve as “nominal” fathers or mothers if their babies suffer from illness. Gānqīn relationships in the Alasha region, which is a multi-ethnic region unlike Zhōngyuán, do not only develop within a single ethnic group but also between different ones. Especially, Han parents ask Mongols to become fictive parents for their children when they suffer from illness. Therefore, many researchers believe that such fictive kinship among distinct ethnic groups is an institution that can bridge ethnic boundaries and enable ethnic conviviality. </p> <p>However, a closer look at fictive kinship between the ethnic groups in Alasha highlights three points: (1) the gānqīn relationship between ethnic groups does not (necessarily) lead to the disappearance of ethnic boundaries; (2) the ethnic boundary is rather a prerequisite for establishing a gānqīn relationship; (3) logically, the establishment of a gānqīn relationship is meant to strengthen that boundary.</p> <p>(View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)</p>

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