JEAN DEBERNARDI email: jdeberna369 [at] gmail.com

Jean DeBERNARDI is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of Alberta.  She received her training as a cultural anthropologist at Stanford University, Oxford University, and the University of Chicago and has been teaching in Canada since 1991. She has published two books focused on Chinese religion in Malaysia: Rites of Belonging: Memory, Modernity and Identity in a Malaysian Chinese Community (Stanford University Press, 2004) and The Way that Lives in the Heart: Chinese Popular Religion and Spirit Mediums in Penang, Malaysia (Stanford University Press, 2006), both of which have been reprinted by NUS Press (2009, 2011). In 2020, she published Christian Circulations: Global Christianity and the Local Church in Penang and Singapore, 1819-2000 with NUS Press. She is currently completing a monograph entitled Wudang Mountain and the Modernization of Daoism, drawing on ethnographic research that she completed in China and Singapore between 2002 and 2009. Intrigued by what she learned at Wudang Mountain about Daoist tea, in 2010 she launched a new project exploring contemporary tea culture in China with support from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation (2010-2012) and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2012-2015).

Posters and photographs advertising the translation of Rites of Belonging into Chinese in Taiwan by Prof. Hsu Yu-tsuen, and talks by Prof. Hsu and myself at the Penang Heritage Trust in February 2024.

Link to Taiwanese bookseller’s website including reviews

《歸屬之儀：馬來西亞檳城華人社群的記憶、現代性與身分認同》Translated by Prof. Hsu Yu-tsuen.  徐雨村. Xinzhu, Taiwan: Rive Gauche Publishing House.

Reviews from the Taiwanese publisher’s website [translated from Chinese]:
Highly recommended

　　Li Weiyi, Bachelor's Program and Anthropology Research, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Tsinghua University Associate Professor of the Institute
　　Li Fengzhu, academician of Academia Sinica, adjunct researcher of the Institute of Literature and Philosophy of Academia Sinica, honorary chair professor of National Chengchi University
　　Du Jinxuan, editor of the Southeast Asia edition of Critical Comment Network, author of "Northern Drift to Taiwan"
　　Lin Weidi, founder of Monsoon Belt Culture
　　Lin Kaizhong, Associate Professor, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National Jinan International University
　　Lin Weipin, Professor, Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University
　　Zhang Jinzhong, Retired Professor and Contracted Researcher, Department of Foreign Languages ​​and Literature, National Sun Yat-sen University
　　Huang Xianqiang, Associate Professor, Department of Chinese, Faculty of Literature and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, "New Essays on Wu Liande" 》Author
　　Russell Mei, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University
　　(arranged by strokes of surname)

　　This is a study of Penang Chinese with extremely rich information, including a social history survey of official and unofficial historical archives in the 19th century, as well as a survey of the 20th century observation of cultural context in anthropological fieldwork. Bai Jin [Jean DeBernardi] combines the political issues of Chinese unity in Penang with the practical methods of the religious and cultural revitalization movement, including Tiandihui, Hungry Ghost Festival, Nine Emperor Gods, etc., skillfully connects ritual strategies and social memory, and discusses Penang's political issues. The Chinese face the social process of modernity shaped by different historical situations such as world capitalism and political systems. Eye-opening and worth reading. ——Li Weiyi, Associate Professor of the Bachelor's Program and Institute of Anthropology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Tsing Hua University

　　Bai Jin's masterpiece on Penang secret societies has finally been published in Chinese translation. It not only echoes the current atmosphere of the government advocating southward expansion, but is actually also very important. Geopolitics from a global perspective. Starting from the Chinese society represented by Penang and understanding the ethnic groups in Malaysia and even Southeast Asia, this book is worth reading. It is recommended to read the "Introduction" first, and also pay attention to the translation annotations when reading the translation. The two references will greatly help construct the impression of Penang in the past and at that time. ──Li Fengzhu, academician of Academia Sinica, adjunct researcher at the Institute of Literature and Philosophy of Academia Sinica, and honorary chair professor of National Chengchi University.

　　As a Penang Chinese, I am very happy to see this classic translated and published. Penang has changed in the past ten years. Very large, Bai Jin's [Jean DeBernardi's]  research and writing are also a way to preserve the emotional memory of the Chinese in Penang. I also hope that the publication of this book can arouse more Taiwanese readers’ interest in Penang and come to Penang more often. ——Lim Wei Te, founder of Monsoon Belt Culture.

　　This book uses religious rituals to explore the identity of the Chinese in Penang, just like Islam to the Malays. However, the difference from the latter is that the general Chinese religion does not have a single true God and cannot be combined in one place. Within a larger geographical scope, such as a nation-state, it presents the overall Chinese people’s belonging to the region, history and society. For Chinese people in various parts of Malaysia, the gods and rituals they rely on to identify and belong can be said to be very different, and each has its own history and social structure. This book can be a part of our understanding of the local identity of Chinese people in various parts of Malaysia. ──Lin Kaizhong, Associate Professor, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National Jinan International University

　　This book provides us with a unique perspective to understand the past and present of the Chinese in Malaysia. Starting from Chinese religion, Professor Bai Jin [Jean DeBernardi] combines historical archives and field research to masterfully analyze how the rituals, organization and cosmology of Penang Chinese became Chinese in different historical stages - the immigration period under British rule and contemporary Malaysia after independence. An important mechanism for organizing communities, shaping memories, and creating a sense of belonging. When Chinese religious festivals and culture are brilliantly placed in the political and historical context of Malaysia, the rich power of religion is clearly revealed. ──Lin Wei-Pin, Professor of the Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University.

　　This book explores how the Malaysian Chinese community has used clubs, religious rituals and symbols to shape their identity since the opening of Penang Island, and through British colonial rule and post-war national independence. and cultural attributes. Bai Jin [Jean DeBernardi] discusses the "ritual of belonging" and the "right to belong", and keenly points out the plight and coping methods of the Chinese in Malaysia. The information is detailed, the narrative is vivid, and it is very readable. ——Zhang Jinzhong, retired professor and contracted researcher at the Department of Foreign Languages ​​and Literature, National Sun Yat-sen University