A Study on Ancient Naxi Dongba Manuscripts from the Perspective of Social Gender – A Case Study on Dajifeng Ritual
Li Ying
Institute of Dongba Culture of Lijiang City
Feminists usually hold that men and women in the real-life society are predominately controlled by a set of “gender culture”. The set of culture instructions designate that you belong to a gender and you must have different behaviors, gender role, benefit, needs, and taboos. These instructions evolve into an invisible system which embedded in the cell and blood of social beings. Social gender, as a multi-disciplinal means of study, refers to the analysis of relationships among people, among different activities made by people, and the relationship between human and resources. On the one hand, it is enriched by different research methodologies and unique perspectives in different disciplines; on the other, making study from the perspective of social gender in traditional fields may avoid the weakness on gender in those fields and form a new methodology and enriched knowledge of world understanding.
This article is a study of the manuscripts used in Dajifeng ritual. In the first place, the study tries to explain how these manuscripts present the arrangements, activities, and connections of the gender. Then it manages to reveal manifestations of gender relationship in Naxi society in different historical stages through the study of manuscripts and the process of ritual arrangements in combination with the social life of Naxi people. How is the internal structure formed? How does social gender system connect and interact with other relevant social relations, structural organizations and social system? What impact does this system have on men and women? How do men and women acknowledge and recognize their gender identity in the set of gender system? Finally, the study endeavors to explore the phenomenon of the death for love among Naxi young lovers from the root of social gender system in Naxi society. In brief, this article aims at the study of Dongba manuscripts of Dajifeng ritual from the framework and category of social gender analysis. The significance of this study is to provide a new perspective –“the gender being” – to explore the primitive Dongba manuscripts so as to present another category of knowledge.
