Gender, Property, and the “Autonomy Thesis” in Southeast Asia: The Endowment of Local Succession in Early Modern Vietnam

The claim that Vietnamese inheritance patterns were bilateral and indicative of wider patterns of Southeast Asian women's autonomy or Vietnamese protonational uniqueness reflect major themes in the historiography on Vieệtnam. Past scholarship suggests that lawmakers of the Lê (1427–1783) and Mạ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of Asian studies 2008-02, Vol.67 (1), p.43-72
Main Author: Tran, Nhung Tuyet
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asian history
Asian studies
Autonomy
Children
Daughters
Early modern history
Endowment
Ethnology
Family. Family relations
Gender roles
Gender, Rights, and Resources in Vietnam
Hereditary succession
Historiography
Husbands
Inheritance
Inheritances
Patrilineal descent
Property
Property inheritance
Property rights
Social conditions & trends
Social structure and social relations
Sons
Southeast Asia
Statutory law
Successors
Traditional moral codes, legal frameworks
Vietnam
Vietnamese language
Villages
Woman status
Women
Womens rights
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Summary:The claim that Vietnamese inheritance patterns were bilateral and indicative of wider patterns of Southeast Asian women's autonomy or Vietnamese protonational uniqueness reflect major themes in the historiography on Vieệtnam. Past scholarship suggests that lawmakers of the Lê (1427–1783) and Mạc (1527–60) dynasties codified bilateral succession practices, attesting to the relative autonomy that Vietnamese women shared with their Southeast Asian counterparts. This essay challenges the claims of bilateralism and argues that Lê dynasty law, local custom, and legal practice preserved the principles of patrilineal succession. Though the language and adjudication of the law limited daughters' succession rights, ironically, these restrictions on their private rights enabled women to carve out spaces of authority in village economic and religious life. To avoid the transfer of their property to male relatives, some women instead transferred property to local institutions in order to lay claim over their personal property and to ensure the maintenance of their ancestral rites in perpetuity. In effect, rather than a system that elevated women's status, the property regime served as a site of contestation in which women could claim large economic and religious roles in local settings.
ISSN:0021-9118
1752-0401
DOI:10.1017/S0021911808000028