From Trauma to Legend: Ghost Narratives and Postwar Memory in Mỹ Lai

This article examines how contemporary ghost legends related to the Mỹ Lai Massacre (March 16, 1968) shape collective memory in postwar Vietnam. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, including 38 in-depth interviews conducted from 2021 to 2024, the study suggests that remembrance in Mỹ Lai is organized through two interrelated layers: institutionalized memory and vernacular memory. Based on this finding, the article proposes the Space, Spirit, and Ritual (SSR) framework to elucidate the mechanisms through which memory operates in Mỹ Lai. Although grounded in the Vietnamese case, the framework is presented as a heuristic for comparative analysis of memory-making in other communities affected by collective violence, with careful attention to local context. It also contributes to ongoing scholarly dialogues in folklore studies, memory studies, the anthropology of religion, and global memory politics.