ABSTRACT
This book presents interdisciplinary research on bamboo in Vietnam, drawing on the anthropology of gesture, ethnobotany and the history of technology. The authors have adopted a technological approach. A tree is woody, growing from the inside of the trunk towards the softer outside, whereas bamboo, like all grasses, develops from the outside inwards, where there is less resistance. This observation is fundamental because all technical know-how depends on it. To fell a woody plant or a bamboo, man uses an intermediary tool in stone or metal (stone axe, hatchet, knife, saw), the aim being to separate the trunk from its base. The difference with bamboo resides in its longitudinal fibres: when struck with an axe or a knife, its trunk splits easily lengthwise, in spite of its many knots, while lengthwise sawing of a tree trunk requires considerable effort. An exhaustive review of terminology enabled the authors to identify not only the plant but also each technical action involved in its appropriation. This research is possible, thanks to the existence of old dictionaries in Romanized Vietnamese or in vernacular writing.
