acault

English

Etymology

A mistranslation of Burmese အခြောက် (a.hkrauk /⁠ăhcauʔ⁠/, “dry article; homosexual man”), from အ (a. /⁠ă⁠/, noun-forming prefix) + ခြောက် (hkrauk /⁠hcauʔ⁠/, “dry”). Apparently introduced before 1987 by Coleman et al. (see quotation below) who had an "inability to speak the local languages" and a "lack of training in anthropology".[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ət͡ʃaʊ/

Noun

acault (plural acaults)

A male who has special role in Myanmar folk religion and behaves in a way usually associated with women.
- [1988, John Money, Gay, Straight, and In-Between‎, →ISBN, page 100:
  According to a recent travelers' report (Coleman, Celgon, and Gooren, 1987), the hijra community of India (see this chapter) has a counterpart in Burma, where men who live as women are called acault (pronounced a·chow').]
- 1990, Eli Coleman, “Paradigatic Changes in Our Understanding of Homosexuality”, in Sexology: An Independent Field‎, page 117:
  Because Manguedon is the spirit who controls success and good fortune, acault become an important intermediary between those seeking good fortune and success and the -^[sic] spirit god.
- 2000, Richard Grossinger, Embryogenesis: Species, Gender, and Identity‎, →ISBN, page 664:
  A Burmese acault tells an ethnographer he is a woman only by his sexual role; otherwise, he expresses himself through his penis and its orgasms.
- 2009, Michael G. Peletz, Gender Pluralism: Southeast Asia Since Early Modern Times, →ISBN, page 156:
  Recall in any event that is not unusual, as Coleman et al. (1992:317) reported, for a male to have sexual relations with an acault or, presumably with someone in one of the other lexically marked subject positions, […]

Usage notes

The proper term in Burmese is နတ်ကတော် (natka.tau).[2][3] In Myanmar, these spirit mediums[2] may be female or male, and may or may not be transgender or cross-dressing, although they do wear costumes during ceremonial rituals when channeling spirits called "nats" in Myanmar. Homosexuality is not necessarily implied with spirit mediumship.[3]

References

Eli Coleman, Philip Colgan, Louis Gooren (1992 June) “Male cross-gender behavior in Myanmar (Burma): a description of the acault.”, in Archives of Sexual Behavior, volume 21, number 3, →DOI, pages 314, 320. Note versions of the paper were presented at conferences in West Germany and the United states in 1989.
Addy Chen, Jack Arayawongchai, Sovannara (Thaiy) Kha, Nguyen Van Trung (2007 February) “Young Activists Reflect on Identity, Community, and Diversity Among Asia’s MSM”, in amfAR‎, retrieved 2021-12-20: “Another way we can reach MSM is through certain transgenders called Nat-Gadaw who act as interpreters of the spirit.”
Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière (2005) “The Taungbyon Festival: Locality and Nation-Confronting in the Cult of the 37 Lords”, in Monique Skidmore, editor, Burma at the Turn of the 21st Century, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 65

Anagrams

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[1] Eli Coleman, Philip Colgan, Louis Gooren (1992 June) “Male cross-gender behavior in Myanmar (Burma): a description of the acault.”, in Archives of Sexual Behavior, volume 21, number 3, →DOI, pages 314, 320. Note versions of the paper were presented at conferences in West Germany and the United states in 1989.

[amfar-2] Addy Chen, Jack Arayawongchai, Sovannara (Thaiy) Kha, Nguyen Van Trung (2007 February) “Young Activists Reflect on Identity, Community, and Diversity Among Asia’s MSM”, in amfAR‎, retrieved 2021-12-20: “Another way we can reach MSM is through certain transgenders called Nat-Gadaw who act as interpreters of the spirit.”

[Benedicte-3] Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière (2005) “The Taungbyon Festival: Locality and Nation-Confronting in the Cult of the 37 Lords”, in Monique Skidmore, editor, Burma at the Turn of the 21st Century, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 65