Masters of Psalmody (bimo)

Aurélie Névot, HDR (2017), EHESS (Paris), Ph. D (2003), Paris-Nanterre University, is researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) - Research Center on Modern and Contemporary China. She has published monographs and articles on Yi-Sani and China.

• ForewordAcknowledgementsIllustrations and TablesNotes to the ReaderIntroduction1 Countercurrent Writing: Myths and Blood Lineages in QuestionIntroduction: Yi-centrism versus Han-centrism1 A Direction of Writing Contrary to Chinese Writing2 Writing as a Mirrored Avatar and/or as an Expression of a Distinction of Identity?3 “The Language of the Eyes”4 Apparent Anarchy, Lineage LabilityConclusion: a Lineage Shamanistic Tradition2 The Textual Chants of Bimo: Voicing the Written SpaceIntroduction: Graphical Melodies1 To Meow, to Screech like a Falcon, to Quack like a Wild Duck, to Utter the Chant of the Snake/Dead2 To Write Then to Psalmodize: Becoming Bimo3 Invisible Characters, Voice in Completion, Subtle Speech4 Writing as a Psalmodic Chimera5 The Written Reflexivity of Bimo SpeechConclusion: the Acoustic Life of Bimo Writing3 The Physicality of Bimo Books: the Manuscript as a Psalmodic MaskIntroduction: Manuscript as a Persona1 The Space of the Book2 A Canvas of Writing-Blood3 Mountain-book, Hillside-pages4 Facing “Two Cheeks”Conclusion: the Feminine of Writing4 The Bimo’s Bookish Journey: to Walk through Chanted Lines of WritingIntroduction: Bimo Transhumances and Shamanistic Spatialities1 To Ride, to Walk on Four Hands, to Whirl, to Flow2 Parallelisms3 A Concatenation of Textual ChantConclusion: the Writing, Visible, as Access to the Vocalized Invisible Space5 Bimo Ritual, nyi: Sacrificial TranssubstantialityIntroduction: Blood Sacrifices1 Setting Up the Ritual Framework2 “To Build the Center”3 To Become a mo (Sacrificial Animal)4 “The Sacrificial Animal’s Speech”Conclusion: Bloods6 Achema: the Yi-Sani Apologue for the Art of SpeakingIntroduction: Vocal Co-Dehiscence and Social Reconfiguration1 The Primacy of Speech2 Chema: from Snake-Woman to Dead-Woman3 The Mastery of Speech as a Social Issue, the Art of Speaking as Performance4 To Imitate Nature’s BabbleConclusion: Voices Echo7 Bimo Religion as Intangible Cultural Heritage: the Process of Standardizing Writings and ChantsIntroduction: “Bimo Religion” bìmó jiào 毕摩教1 Bimo Qualification Certificate2 From “Blood” to “Image”3 Current Policies as Rooted in the 19th Century4 To Rewrite: to Restructure the Writing Pages5 From Lineage Writings to the Yi Writing of the Stone Forest County6 From the Secrets of Initiated Men to State Secrets?7 Bimo Music and Chants as Institutions of the Chinese StateConclusion: Se in the Process of Becoming wén? An Ongoing Shamanistic SchismConclusionBibliographyIndex