Wu Qiao

Wu Qiao, Ph.D. from Peking University, anthropologist, Associate Professor of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Director of the Social Anthropology Department; research fields: Anthropology of Religion, Kinship study, Visual anthropology; ethnic groups studied: the Floral-belt Dai, the Na, the Daur and the Yao; scholarly monographs: Bones From Fathers: the kinship system of the Na along the Yangzi River(2009), Cosmology and Life-World: Kinship, Folk Belief and Oral Traditions of the Floral-belt Dai People(2011); Documentary: Trance beneath the Moonlight(2012), Stillbirth of the Commune-head(2015).

The Stillbirth of The Commune-Head: The Social Change on Beliefs in a Floral-belt Dai Community

Each Floral-belt Dai village has a male “Commune-head” who take charge of annual collective ceremonies as “Village Sacrifice” and “Village Exorcism”. These are purification rituals and fete for the village’s god “Buzhaoshe”. Besides, there’s a “Village’s Chief Witch” who’s responsible for communication with the god through trance. This man and woman compose the traditional hierarchy of a Dai village. The…