Mosuo Cultural Representations In Domestic And Tourist Spaces

The Mosuo people(or Na,Nari)are an ethnic group living in southwest China between the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan,mainly around the Lugu Lake.Lugu Lake is an alpine lake basin located between the Chinese counties of Ninglang(Yunnan)and Yanyuan(Sichuan)at an altitude of 2690 m.The lake basin is about 50.10 sq km wide,of which the Ninglang part is around 30 square km,and the Yanyuan part is around 20 sq km.According to the Chinese National Tourism Administration(CNTA),the landscape area of Lugu Lake was classified in 2009 as a 4A scenic spot.For some decades now,the scenic spot of Lugu Lake has become a popular tourist destination for its beauty and for the “exotic” Mosuo who inhabit the so-called Nü’er guo,“the country of women/daughters”,as this place has been branded by the tourist market.More and more visitors,mostly of Chinese citizenship,travel to Lugu Lake for a short vacation thanks to the improvement of road,rail,and airport infrastructure which in recent years have sped up connection and increased accessibility to/from the Lugu Lake region.Tourism industry is a developing economic sector in this geographic area.According to the Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute,the expansion of tourism in the Yunnan province is going to include some inland areas that were not part of the "classic" lakeside’s tourist itinerary.Most of the previous ethnographic research and subsequent scholarship on Mosuo culture has primarily focused on the study of the matrilineal kinship system and the visiting system,called “walking marriage” or zouhun in Mandarin Chinese,the custom where two sexual partners don’t share property neither a house,and their children belong to the mother’s lineage.However,the walking marriage custom over the years has been misunderstood by some researchers,media and within the tourist space.This research focuses on the representations of Mosuo cultural identity in both the domestic and touristic spaces.Cultural representations are characterized by the transitive ability to represent something and its reflective dimension of presenting itself through representation.For over 12 months,I conducted fieldwork in different research sites examining the two spaces,the domestic and the tourist one.The research sites included: two tourist villages of Lugu Lake,i.e.Luoshui,a coastal village on the Yunnan side mostly inhabited by matrilineal Mosuo and Pumi,and Dazu,a coastal village of Lugu Lake on the Sichuan side,inhabited by patrilineal Naxi people;the Mosuo village of Zhashi far away from the classical tourist route,located near the Yongning district in Yunnan,and the “Mosuo house”,a space dedicated to Mosuo culture within the Yunnan Minzu Village ethnic theme park in Kunming.In addition to the ethnographic method of participant observation,I utilized a holistic method which included qualitatively-oriented interviews,site visits,archive studies and the use of digital sources.I focused on the activities and performances organized in various tourist contexts and on the socio-economic and gender roles organization of the villages and households that hosted me.The theoretical reference framework of this study is made up of the main theories in the fields of anthropology of tourism,feminist anthropology and the modern matriarchal studies.As a matter of fact,the data of this fieldwork research have been discussed through some of the “classic” research themes of the anthropology of tourism and feminist anthropology,such as gender roles in private and public spaces,ethnicity and ethnic markers,the negotiable dimension of authenticity,ethnic stereotypes,cultural continuity and discontinuity.Firstly,one of my research purposes was to analyse how the Mosuo cultural identity is represented in different tourist activities and performances in order to identify who contributes and how they contribute to creating the representations of the Mosuo culture.The research reveals that the representations of Mosuo culture identity is produced at three different levels through different narratives: political-institutional discourse,social interaction between local people and tourists,and cultural elaboration of locals’ self-representation.I argue that each representation of Mosuo cultural identity aims to restore a(partial)notion of authenticity.Secondly,since I conducted fieldwork in both matrilineal Mosuo households in Luoshui and Zhashi villages,and in patrilineal Naxi households in Dazu,my other research goal was to investigate if and how gender roles change as we move from a sociocultural environment to another.The research highlights that in most of the matrilineal Mosuo family,domestic economy is still managed by a dabu,who usually is a woman,and the person in charge of doing business with investors in the tourist space is chosen not according to his/her gender,but according to personal attitudes.On the contrary,the patrilineal Naxi village of Dazu’s domestic economy is managed by the family head who is a man,and men are usually responsible for conducting business with investors.Finally,this study explores the aspects of Mosuo cultural heritage which are handed down.It explores the processes and actors by which these aspects are transferred from one generation to the next.Some aspects of mosuo culture became "ethnic markers" in the tourist space,for example the extended matriarchal family and the walking marriage custom,but they have not been included in the intangible cultural heritage list by Yunnan government institutions.However,despite the fact that the walking marriage custom and the extended matriarchal family haven’t been officially recognized as intangible cultural heritage,in many cases local people implement "strategies" to preserve these cultural practices.Moreover,the research points out that the main room of the housing complex called yimi,the coming-of-age ceremony,and the funeral rite play an important role in the life of every Mosuo individual who perceive these aspects as representative elements of their cultural identity.While the Mosuo language and the daba culture,considered by many people to be an integral part of the Mosuo cultural heritage,are perceived as elements at risk of extinction.Finally,it emerged that the selfcommodification of some cultural practices within the tourist space,such as the jiacuo dance or the creation of textile handicrafts,has allowed them to be perpetuated and handed down-not without modification-over time.Some studies have shown that ethnic tourism can cause the destruction of local cultures or the strengthening of ethnic identity.This research highlights that the tourism phenomenon is contributing to strengthen the cultural identity of the Mosuo ethnic group as shown from some bottom-up initiatives described in the dissertation.Finally,this study draws attention to how Mosuo culture transmission in some cases has a better chance of being preserved in tourist villages,which are generally not abandoned by the younger generations,compared to inland villages that are more affected by the phenomenon of depopulation.