2022
Cairn
Mai Bui Dieu Linh, « Religious identity and contemporary ritual practices of the Cham Ahiér in Vietnam », Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident, ID : 10670/1.376bcc...
This article is devoted to the religious identity and ritual practices of the contemporary Cham Ahier of south-central Vietnam (Bình Thuận and Ninh Thuận provinces). Contemporary understanding of Cham identity was derived from a number of groundbreaking works published by French colonial scholars. However, past thinking about the central role of “Indianized” religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) in the formation of Cham religious beliefs and practices was challenged by more recent publications focused on the growth of Islamic practices in the second millennium CE. Although the contemporary Cham community is divided into different groups that inherited these historic religious differences, the south-central Cham maintain a relatively high level of ethnic and cultural coherence through a reference to the concept of Ahier-Awal cosmological dualism, one which is heavily promoted by Cham intellectuals. This dualist concept helps transcend the religious conflicts between the Cham Ahier (“Cham Hindu”) and Cham Awal (“Cham Muslim”). This article describes the complexities of Cham Ahier religious identity through an analysis of their ritual practices. It approaches the Cham Ahier community and its religious practices within the broader context of the religious milieu, explaining how different sources of religious traditions were appropriated and intertwined, while, at the same time, acknowledging that there were also tensions involved in this process.