How do families remain close when turbulent forces threaten to tear them apart? In this groundbreaking book based on more than a decade of research set in Vietnam, Merav Shohet explores what happens across generations to families that survive imperialism, war, and massive political and economic upheaval. Placing personal sacrifice at the center of her story, Shohet recounts vivid experiences of conflict, love, and loss. In doing so, her work challenges the idea that sacrifice is merely a blood-filled religious ritual or patriotic act. Today, domestic sacrifices—made largely by women—precariously knot family members together by silencing suffering and naturalizing cross-cutting gender, age, class, and political hierarchies. In rethinking ordinary ethics, this intimate ethnography reveals how quotidian acts of sacrifice help family members forge a sense of continuity in the face of trauma and decades of dramatic change.
Merav Shohet is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Boston University.
"Silence and Sacrifice is that rare book that is both theoretically exciting and beautifully written. Telling unforgettable stories of Vietnamese families who have managed to maintain ties despite the legacy of war, Merav Shohet makes critical contributions to anthropological conversations about ethics, affect, continuity, and change. Silence and Sacrifice is a real achievement."––Ayala Fader, author of Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age
"The language of sacrifice (hy sinh) pervades the heroic symbolism of Vietnamese nationalism, but the state holds no monopoly on the legitimate use of sacrifice. Shohet’s moving family portraits show how everyday acts of sacrifice produce ethical and virtuous social persons and families disciplined by respect, care, and intergenerational love."––Erik Harms, author of Luxury and Rubble: Civility and Dispossession in the New Saigon
"In this poignant, elegantly written book, Shohet illuminates how members of five extended families in central Vietnam fashion ethical lives in the midst of political turbulence and economic change. Through close attention to the ebbs and flows of family life, personal narratives, gender, language, and child socialization, Shohet astutely analyzes existential dilemmas and rich lifeworlds shaped by sacrifice, reciprocity, and interpersonal care. Shohet’s gift as a storyteller makes for a captivating read."––Ann Marie Leshkowich, author of Essential Trade: Vietnamese Women in a Changing Marketplace
"Silence and Sacrifice vividly demonstrates the intergenerationally stabilizing force of sacrifice amidst Vietnam’s burgeoning market economy. Unnoticed daily sacrifices by women knit together families after brutal civil war, while men endure residues of battlefront suffering. More than an obligation, sacrifice is a sensibility of boundless indebtedness to family and country."––Elinor Ochs, UCLA Distinguished Research Professor
288 pp.6 x 9Illus: 9 b/w illustrations
9780520379381$34.95|£30.00Paper
Apr 2021