Revisiting agency and marginality in Northern Vietnam: Thái Xòe between cosmology, heritage performance, and politics

In Vietnam, ethnic minorities and local communities are typically portrayed as passive subjects of top-down heritage policies. By ethnographically examining the practice of xòe, a Thái dance recognized as intangible cultural heritage, we seek to challenge commonly held narratives of top-down imposition unveiling the many layers of agency and localized meaning creation involved. The article shows how processes of state-driven governmentalization and standardization coexist with diverse ritual practices grounded in Thái cosmology and social diversity. By offering a historical account of how meanings of xòe have changed over time, the paper presents an alternative history of heritage agency through fine-grained analysis of power relationships surrounding xòe. We explore forms of Thái agency using xòe as a vehicle for cultural reassertion, ritual practice, and cosmological agency. While critiques of heritage discourse that emphasize the power of experts, state agencies, and international institutions are valid, they neglect complex layers of meaning creation, local agency, and culturally embedded everyday heritage politics.