Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Conventions xiii
5. Chronology xv
6. Introduction: Vietnamese Women at the Crossroads of Southeast Asia 1
7. 1. Articulating the Gender System: Economy, Society, and the State 26
8. 2. Dutiful Wives, Nurturing Mothers, and Filial Children: Marriage as Affairs of State, Village, and Family 52
9. 3. Female Bodies, Sexual Activity, and the Sociopolitical Order 86
10. 4. Inheritance, Succession, and Autonomy in the Property Regime 127
11. 5. Buying an Election: Preparing for the Afterlife 165
12. 6. Visions of the Future, Constructions of the Past: Paradigms of Vietnamese Womanhood 180
13. Conclusion: Structure, Limitations, and Possibilities 191
14. Notes 197
15. Glossary of Terms in Sino-Vietnamese and in the Demotic Script 225
16. Bibliography 233
17. Index 249