Discussions of identity formation in a modernized world often present tradition and new forms of culture (such as music) as two worlds in opposition. Despite their differences, individuals of transnational backgrounds may face the challenge of merging the two when construction their identity in the era of high modernity. Chae-bong Ham’s “Confucian Rituals and the Technology of the Self: A Foucaultian Interpretation" argues for how old traditions such as Confucianism can be applied to modern forms of democracy while providing examples of how Confucian values are manifested physically.

The Body as an Observable Site of Values

Ham provides an anecdote of Tsen Tzu, a disciple of Confucius, whose “foremost duty was to preserve the body that was given to him by his parents” (Ham 317). The body – and not the soul – is the presentation of one’s thoughts and intentions (Ham 317). This juxtaposes with Western traditions rooted in Christianity, which tend to espouse faith and repentance as the benchmark of one’s salvation. Confucianism offers a different means of techniquing the self, where the body reveals one’s virtues by transforming the self as a subject for others to “’read’ or ‘decode’” (Ham 317). In a time of modernity, where tradition no longer has the stronghold it once had over norms on developing the self, music offers ways for people to identify with subcultures, and even a means of self-reflection and narrative construction (DeNora 32).

Through a series of interviews with women in the UK and US, DeNora highlights how the “consumption of a cultural product (music) is part of the reflexive and ongoing process of structuring social and social psychological existence” (DeNora 34). Not only was music a means of creating and sustaining a cognitive and bodily sense of self, it also framed participants’ emotional needs (DeNora 35). Incredibly, music was a multi-pronged tool that allowed them to process their emotions and position themselves as “object[s] of self-knowledge” (DeNora 35).

Intergenerational Conflict of Tradition and Modernity

These two texts highlight one of the main themes of transnational differences between an intergenerational mother-daughter dynamic in the film Dans La Cuisine Des Nguyen (2024). Director Stéphane Ly-Cuong tells the story of Yvonne Nguyen, who dreams of becoming a musical theatre actress despite the disapproval of her Vietnamese mother and the difficulties of finding roles in Paris due to her ethnic background. Music is essential for Yvonne to construct her identity as a French woman, creating a rift with her mother, who runs a Vietnamese restaurant in Torcy. However, when she almost closes on a role as Casanova’s East Asian lover in a musical, she walks away from the role as the number she must deliver in the last round of auditions would require her to play into the exoticized image that the showrunners have crafted for the leading female role. Before she reaches this self-reflective climax of the hero’s journey, multiple disagreements showcase the cultural clashes between Yvonne and her mother. Hailing from Saigon, Yvonne’s mother often reprimands her for her casual dress. Her mother sees visual presentation as a sign of “tu than,” or self-cultivation, an element of Confucian values embedded in Vietnamese culture brought by Hồ Chí Minh, who came from a “family deeply embedded in Confucian traditions” (Tran 24).

Before a concert to Truc Dao, a fictional Vietnamese singer significant to the older generation of Vietnamese immigrants in France, Yvonne’s mother, dressed in the traditional tunic áo dài, goads Yvonne to wear something more formal, who responds she only needs to put on a jacket to get ready. Even though the main character opts for music instead of dress as the main means of self-cultivation, by the end, Yvonne mediates between her mixed identity by donning a crown reminiscent of a khan dong, or Vietnamese headdress, in the last musical sequence, while her mom prepares spring rolls to the audience of the show.

The film presents two ways of approaching technologies of the self, and the internal conflict one faces when between these two worlds. Despite the differences of West and East and tradition versus modernity, one can develop their own approach to create a hybrid identity that is unique to themselves, resulting in a coherent narrative that bridges generations.

Works Cited

DeNora, Tia. “Music as a Technology of the Self.” Poetics, vol. 27, no. 1, Oct. 1999, pp. 31–56. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-422X(99)00017-0.

Ham, Chae-bong. Confucian Rituals and the Technology of the Self: A Foucaultian Interpretation on JSTOR. vol. 51, no. 3, 2001, pp. 315–24, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.2001.0042.

Tran, T. T. M. “Confucianism and Hồ Chí Minh’s Thought.” ResearchGate, vol. 13, no. 83, 2024, pp. 24–35. www.researchgate.net, https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.83.11.2.

Image credits:

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/photos-60000-o-di-sets-new-record--32510428552171429/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Zengzi

https://video-a-la-demande.orange.fr/film/DANSLACUISIW0229838/dans-la-cuisine-des-nguyen

https://outnow.ch/en/Movies/2024/DansLaCuisineDesNguyen/Review/