Race, Gender, and Religion in the Vietnamese Diaspora

This book examines how the racialization of religion facilitates the diasporic formation of ethnic Vietnamese in the U.S. and Cambodia, two communities that have been separated from one another for nearly 30 years. It compares devotion to female religious figures in two minority religions, the Virgin Mary among the Catholics and the Mother Goddess among the Caodaists. Visual culture and institutional structures are examined within both communities. Thien-Huong Ninh invites a critical re-thinking of how race, gender, and religion are proxies for understanding, theorizing, and addressing social inequalities within global contexts.

Illuminates the power that faith, in partnership with race, serves in the formation of ethnic cultures and diasporic communities Focuses on ethnic Vietnamese who are living in the United States and Cambodia, which have the largest overseas Vietnamese populations but were isolated from each other for at least two decades Invites a critical re-thinking of how ethnicity, religion, and race are proxies for understanding, theorizing, and addressing social inequalities within global contexts Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

Thien-Huong T. Ninh is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, CA. Her publications and research interests are in the areas of Race, Religion, Gender, Immigration, Globalization, Asian Studies, and Diaspora.

Inhalt

1. Contextualizing the Research.- 2. The Virgin Mary as the Mother of the Vietnamese Catholic Diaspora.- 3. Vietnamese Catholic Humanitarian Organizations Across U.S.-Cambodia Borders.- 4. **The Caodai Mother Goddess in Diasporic Disjunctures.- 5. Structural Hierarchies and Fragments among Vietnamese Caodaists.- 6: Conclusion.