A Women-Exclusive Discourse of Social Resistance? A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Bridal Laments of Tujia Ethnic Minority in China

Drawing on the framework of the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) and Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA), the present research investigates the discursive strategies and imageries in the bridal laments of the Tujia ethnic group in China. The Tujia bridal laments are wailing songs performed exclusively by women at weddings, indicating the ‘rite of passage’ of womanhood toward arranged married life. Due to their historical, ethnic, artistic, and anthropological values, the laments are listed as an Intangible Culture Heritage of Hubei Province. This study analyzes the discourses of Tujia bridal laments collected from a published collection, local archives and libraries, and inheritors of the intangible cultural heritage of bridal laments in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Hubei Province. Contrary to the view that Tujia bridal laments display a backlash against patriarchy and express a feminist stance because they are a women-exclusive ritualized event, we argue that the bridal laments may, in effect, naturalize and perpetuate patriarchal ideologies and the hegemonic power relations thereof, from the perspective of FCDA. By focusing on the discourse of bridal laments, this study is hoped to lend insights into the socio-historical roots and rootedness of gender ideologies in the discourse of historicity and cultural heritage.