Scope and Content
This ethnographic collection is based on the original field work that anthropologist Sara L. M. Davis conducted in Sipsongpanna (Xishuangbanna in Chinese), Yunnan Province, China, and in Kengtung, Shang State, Burma [Myanmar], between 1997 and 2003. The multi-format materials in this collection document Tai Lüe religious rituals, epic oral narratives, popular songs and performances for tourists, as well as interviews with oral poets and popular singers. They consist of her field notes, audio and video recordings, graphic images in the form of photographs and slides, and books published in Yunnan. This research formed the basis of Davis’s book, Song and Silence: Ethnic Revival on China's Southwest Borders (Columbia University Press, 2005). Davis originally traveled to China's southwest borders to conduct doctoral research on ethnic minority folklore, focusing primarily on oral narrative poetry, known as Tai Lüe changkhap or skilled chants. (As used by Davis, changkhap may refer to the genre or to the performers or singers of changkhap.) She was based in the subtropical area of Sipsongpanna in the southwestern region of China, bordering Burma and Laos. Davis lived in Jinghong, the capital of this region, from 1997 to 1998 and made subsequent visits to the area through 2003.
The political challenges of being in a border region of China were immediately evident, and Davis found that many people were initially reluctant to speak openly with her. Instead, she encountered government-sanctioned performances that were marketed primarily to tourists and did not reflect the traditions she had come to document. Davis's field notes offer considerable detail about her experiences staying in monasteries, attending local festivals, and making connections with people in the area. Her search for oral storytellers revealed a growing underground ethnic revival movement. The efforts of young Tai Lüe monks and activists were helping to fuel a resurgence of Tai Lüe Buddhism and an increasing interest in their language and cultural traditions.
The manuscript portion of the collection includes photocopies of Davis's field notes from September 1997 through July 1998; photo, audio, and video logs; song texts in Tai Lüe with some transcriptions into English; articles by Ai No; concert posters (1998); a 2001 calendar, and Davis's book, Song and Silence: Ethnic Revival on China's Southwest Borders (Columbia University Press, 2005). In addition, 47 volumes of publications (1980-2004) were donated with the collection. There are a total of 1,166 graphic images, including 981 3"x5" color photographs, 184 35-mm color slides, and 1 black-and-white photograph, primarily of temples, festivals and ceremonies, and local scenery. Sara Davis took 397 of the color photographs between 1997 and 2001. Wilson Wong took 583 photographs and all 184 of the slides, showing the seventeenth-century temple, Wat Pan Gaew, and the eighth-century temple, Wat Gang, both of which are in Meng Lian. The images are exterior and interior views of the temple, including murals, architectural details, and the living quarters of the monks.
The sound recordings consist of 68 audiocassette tapes, 2 microcassettes, and 2 CDs. They document Tai Lüe religious rituals, epic oral narratives, popular songs, local festivals, and performances for tourists, as well as conference proceedings and interviews with oral poets and popular singers. The majority of the materials are in Tai Lüe, although some are in Chinese and some are in English. Thirty-one of these are Davis's field recordings, two are field recordings by other people, thirty-four are commercially produced, and seven of them are from what is known as the "grey market," tapes that had been previously recorded and were purchased at local markets, but they were not necessarily professionally produced. These recordings include those that were purchased at a stall in the Meng Hun Sunday morning market; those that were purchased at the Tai New Year festivities; and Tai language popular music from Burma, mostly 1970s era; and changkhap, which Davis bought in a Gasa shop in the town center. Many of the commercially produced materials were published by the Yunnan Music Video Publishing House and produced by the literary arts bureau of the TV station; some were produced by the Chinese government, and a number are recordings of Tai Lüe music that were given to Davis by Tai Lüe people in Yunnan.
The moving images are comprised of 12 videocassettes of various sizes and 9 VCDs ["Video Compact Disks" containing moving pictures and sound]. The majority of the videocassettes are Davis's recordings of religious rituals, festivals, and a tourist dance show. There are 8 commercial recordings, and 2 tapes of Davis being interviewed by the staff of the American Folklife Center in 2005. The artifacts in the collection are a bamboo flute with metal reed, woven Tai Lüe cloth, and a bundle of handmade wax candles.
The original notes and headings used by Sara Davis have been transcribed in the finding aid. Researchers should be aware that this finding aid uses both of the English transliteration forms for the region in which Davis conducted her research - Sipsongpanna, the Tai Lüe transliteration into English; and Xishuangbanna, the Chinese transliteration into English. The Library of Congress authority heading is Xishuangbanna, but Davis uses both forms of the transliteration in her field notes and on her folder headings. In her published book, Song and Silence: Ethnic Revival on China's Southwest Borders, she made the editorial decision to use the Tai Lüe transliteration, Sipsongpanna.
Similarly, Tai and Dai, both forms of the English transliteration of the Chinese cultural group, are used in this collection and finding aid. Tai is the Tai language transliteration into English and Dai is the Chinese transliteration into English. The Lü language, the Library of Congress authority heading for the language represented in this collection, is also known as the Lüe language and the Tai Lü language. Davis uses Tai Lüe for both the language and the people.