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^[2], →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^[3], 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^[4], →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.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 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^[1], retrieved 2021-12-20: “Another way we can reach MSM is through certain transgenders called Nat-Gadaw who act as interpreters of the spirit.”
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 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

actual

[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] 2.0 ^2.1 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^[1], 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] 3.0 ^3.1 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

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