Modern Ca Dao in current Vietnamese context

Author: Dang Dieu Trang (Hanoi Instiute of Cultural Studies)
Speaker: Dang Dieu Trang
Topic: Linguistic Anthropology
The (SCOPUS / ISI) SOAS GLOCAL CALA 2019 General Session

Abstract

Ca Dao, a poetic literary form prevalent throughout modern Vietnamese sociolects, has experienced a significant shift over the past half century. Factors for this shift include an accelerated time system aligning with the requirements of late modernity. However, Ca Dao, whether traditional or modern, sits as central to social contexts in Vietnam.

This current study observes ways in which Ca Dao has shifted in form and function in current Vietnamese society. The study thus interrogates the roles of Ca Dao in the socialization of new generations, and the functional force of the poetic form for postwar Vietnam, as the country moves away from its oppressive sociopolitical constructions. For this, the study employs a genre analysis, coupled with a comparative framework.

The study thus seeks to expose the influences that current texts and textual modes exert on traditional Ca Dao, through discussing the entextualized properties of Ca Dao. The study thus aims to embark on work that explores ways in which new social praxis and textual modes affect poetic forms, consequently describing the form of these poetic forms in current discursive contexts.

The current study advances the field of poetics and literature by connecting these texts with modern social and cultural contexts, and emerges as a pioneering study to observe the changing poetics of Vietnam, while also employing elements of Linguistic Anthropology.