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A Body Out of Place: Pollution and Pregnancy of Hakka Chinese in Sarawak, Malaysia

This chapter examines the concept of pollution in relation to pregnancy among Hakka Chinese women in contemporary Sarawak, Malaysia. In the study of rites of passage, there is a well-established argument that powerful forces exist within women throughout their lifetimes as they enter different phase...

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Main Author: Elena Gregoria Chai, Chin Fern
Other Authors: Kaori, Fushiki
Format: Book Chapter
Language:English
Published: Springer 2023
Subjects:
GN Anthropology
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43916/1/Elena%20Chai%20%282023%29%20A%20Body%20Out%20of%20Place.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43916/
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5724-8
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spelling my.unimas.ir.439162023-12-28T06:29:11Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43916/ A Body Out of Place: Pollution and Pregnancy of Hakka Chinese in Sarawak, Malaysia Elena Gregoria Chai, Chin Fern GN Anthropology This chapter examines the concept of pollution in relation to pregnancy among Hakka Chinese women in contemporary Sarawak, Malaysia. In the study of rites of passage, there is a well-established argument that powerful forces exist within women throughout their lifetimes as they enter different phases and transi-tion between social roles. In many societies, at the onset of pregnancy, a woman is believed to be ‘polluted’ as pregnancy has placed her physiologically and socially in an abnormal position. Hers is a divergent body, a body out of place. Based on extended fieldwork in the resettlement village of Tabidu, the discussion presented here exam-ines the ‘dangerous force’ of pregnancy, a belief that persists among Hakka Chinese. It draws attention to a particular form of pollution at a stage in which a woman’s body is regarded as being anomalous. When pregnant, a woman becomes socially vulnerable because the success or failure of childbirth determines the outcome of lineage continuity. The polluting state of a pregnant woman is called tai du mat (大肚抹) and its effects are felt across a broad behavioural range, from the failure to perform normal household chores to affecting children to cry incessantly. The foetus in a womb is believed to have a soul entity, termed toi shin (胎神). A pregnant woman is obliged to follow strict rules of prohibitions for the period of pregnancy until a month after birth, and other close kin are also under specific constraints. The discussion demonstrates that the belief and practices associated with pollution are a cultural construct which is symbolic and best understood in specific social contexts. Springer Kaori, Fushiki Ryoko, Sakurada 2023-12-24 Book Chapter PeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43916/1/Elena%20Chai%20%282023%29%20A%20Body%20Out%20of%20Place.pdf Elena Gregoria Chai, Chin Fern (2023) A Body Out of Place: Pollution and Pregnancy of Hakka Chinese in Sarawak, Malaysia. In: Anthropology through the Experience of the Physical Body. Springer, Singapore, pp. 27-39. ISBN 978-981-99-5723-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5724-8
institution Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
building Centre for Academic Information Services (CAIS)
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
content_source UNIMAS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://ir.unimas.my/
language English
topic GN Anthropology
spellingShingle GN Anthropology
Elena Gregoria Chai, Chin Fern
A Body Out of Place: Pollution and Pregnancy of Hakka Chinese in Sarawak, Malaysia
description This chapter examines the concept of pollution in relation to pregnancy among Hakka Chinese women in contemporary Sarawak, Malaysia. In the study of rites of passage, there is a well-established argument that powerful forces exist within women throughout their lifetimes as they enter different phases and transi-tion between social roles. In many societies, at the onset of pregnancy, a woman is believed to be ‘polluted’ as pregnancy has placed her physiologically and socially in an abnormal position. Hers is a divergent body, a body out of place. Based on extended fieldwork in the resettlement village of Tabidu, the discussion presented here exam-ines the ‘dangerous force’ of pregnancy, a belief that persists among Hakka Chinese. It draws attention to a particular form of pollution at a stage in which a woman’s body is regarded as being anomalous. When pregnant, a woman becomes socially vulnerable because the success or failure of childbirth determines the outcome of lineage continuity. The polluting state of a pregnant woman is called tai du mat (大肚抹) and its effects are felt across a broad behavioural range, from the failure to perform normal household chores to affecting children to cry incessantly. The foetus in a womb is believed to have a soul entity, termed toi shin (胎神). A pregnant woman is obliged to follow strict rules of prohibitions for the period of pregnancy until a month after birth, and other close kin are also under specific constraints. The discussion demonstrates that the belief and practices associated with pollution are a cultural construct which is symbolic and best understood in specific social contexts.
author2 Kaori, Fushiki
author_facet Kaori, Fushiki
Elena Gregoria Chai, Chin Fern
format Book Chapter
author Elena Gregoria Chai, Chin Fern
author_sort Elena Gregoria Chai, Chin Fern
title A Body Out of Place: Pollution and Pregnancy of Hakka Chinese in Sarawak, Malaysia
title_short A Body Out of Place: Pollution and Pregnancy of Hakka Chinese in Sarawak, Malaysia
title_full A Body Out of Place: Pollution and Pregnancy of Hakka Chinese in Sarawak, Malaysia
title_fullStr A Body Out of Place: Pollution and Pregnancy of Hakka Chinese in Sarawak, Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed A Body Out of Place: Pollution and Pregnancy of Hakka Chinese in Sarawak, Malaysia
title_sort body out of place: pollution and pregnancy of hakka chinese in sarawak, malaysia
publisher Springer
publishDate 2023
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43916/1/Elena%20Chai%20%282023%29%20A%20Body%20Out%20of%20Place.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/43916/
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5724-8
_version_ 1787140553927819264
score 13.211869

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