Hmong Christianisation, the will to improve and the question of neoliberalism in Vietnam’s highlands

This article focuses on the convergence of mass Christianisation and economic transformations among the Hmong of Vietnam’s northern highlands over the past thirty years. A history of impoverishment and ethnic discrimination has led hundreds of thousands of Hmong to follow Christianity as a perceived alternative path to progress instead of the state-led development agenda, despite sharing the same ‘will to improve’. By exploring local understandings about the means to development as well as new religious teaching on prosperity, entrepreneurialism and calculativity in a rapidly developing Hmong village, this paper queries the ‘elective affinity’ between new Christian movements and neoliberalism posited by other scholars. The case study highlights the awkward combination of ‘cooperative competitiveness’ accompanying a community-benefit tourism development model. Hmong Christian activity can both overlap and sit at odds with government agendas and market expansion, resulting in complex transformations and subjectivities which cannot simply be reduced to neoliberal logic

Hmong Christian elites as political and development brokers : competition, cooperation and mimesis in Vietnam's highlands

This article focuses on the role of new Hmong religious leaders – predominantly young men – who have played an important role in spreading Protestant Christianity across Vietnam’s highlands over the past 30 years. These pastors and evangelists have directly challenged the authority of previously established Hmong local elites, whose legitimacy rested on traditional religious authority and/or state patronage, causing significant social conflict along the way. Some new Christian pioneers have gained local elite status as political and development brokers for their community, enjoying a potent combination of spiritual authority, strong external networks and financial success. As such, international religious networks can function as alternative patrons to the state for well-placed Hmong Christian elites to tap into and redistribute to their communities – to varying degrees. Contextualising such leadership dynamics within wider anthropological scholarship of upland Southeast Asia affirms the ‘pioneering ethos’ of local elites in challenging, complying with or mimicking state forms of governance in their attempts to draw in and channel external potency. This highlights the degree of political manoeuvring space available to non-state actors in a supposedly authoritarian state, as well as ongoing tensions and controversies facing pastors who negotiate ambiguous relationships with powerful external forces

The Spirit of Fieldwork? Navigating Alcohol Consumption, Abstinence and Religious Positionalities in Social Sciences Research

In den letzten Jahren haben Debatten über die Positionalität von Forscher*innen in akademischen Kreisen zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen. Trotz dieser verstärkten Fokussierung auf Fragen nach der Auswirkung von deren Anwesenheit auf den Forschungsprozess und -ergebnis gibt es weiterhin Themen, die tendenziell gemieden werden, so etwa die Auswirkung von Alkohol auf den Forschungsprozess. In vorliegenden Veröffentlichungen werden zwar verschiedene Aspekte in Bezug darauf erörtert, wie Forschende mit Alkoholkonsum während der Feldforschung umgehen. Es wird jedoch nicht auf die Rolle von Religion eingegangen, eine bemerkenswerte Lücke angesichts der Prävalenz religiöser Gründe für Abstinenz. In diesem Artikel bauen wir daher auf vorhandene Literatur auf und diskutieren zwei Fallstudien mit einem Schwerpunkt auf Religion, die dazu beitragen, das Verständnis der Rolle von Alkoholkonsum und Abstinenz während der Feldforschung zu vertiefen. Basierend auf einem kollaborativen autoethnografischen Ansatz sowie unseren Feldforschungserfahrungen als muslimische Frau im Libanon und christlicher Mann in Vietnam diskutieren wir, wie Religion das Verhältnis mit Forschungsteilnehmenden sowie Insider-/Outsider-Dynamiken während der Feldforschung beeinflusst. Wir schließen mit Empfehlungen, wie akademische Einrichtungen Studierende und Mitarbeiter*innen (unabhängig von deren [nicht-] religiöser Identität) besser unterstützen können, wenn es darum geht, mit Alkoholkonsum während der Feldforschung - und darüber hinaus - umzugehen.In recent years, debates on researcher positionality have increasingly gained traction in academic circles. However, despite this increased focus on questions evolving around the impact of the researcher's presence on the research process and outcome, there are still issues that scholars have tended to avoid, such as the effect of alcohol on the research process. While existing publications contain some discussion of various aspects related to researchers navigating alcohol consumption during fieldwork, they do not touch on the role of religion - a striking absence considering the prevalence of religious reasons for abstinence. In this article, we therefore build on existing literature by discussing two case studies focused on the experiences of religious researchers with alcohol that help complicate our understanding of the role of alcohol consumption and abstinence during fieldwork. Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach and drawing on our fieldwork experiences as a Muslim woman in Lebanon and a Christian man in Vietnam, we discuss how religion affects rapport and insider/outsider dynamics during fieldwork. We conclude with recommendations on how academic institutions can better support students and staff members (regardless of religious identity or lack thereof) when it comes to navigating alcohol consumption during fieldwork and beyond

Alternative routes to development? The everyday political economy of Christianisation among a marginalised ethnic minority in Vietnam’s highlands

Abstract: Over the past 30 years, upland Vietnam has witnessed the remarkable conversion of over 300,000 Hmong people to Protestant Christianity, despite state-sponsored religious persecution and the absence of foreign missionaries. The central research questions of this thesis are: how does Christianisation interact with processes of ‘development’, state territorialisation and market expansion among a marginalised minority group in Vietnam, and to what extent can these interactions be considered empowering and disempowering? To answer this question, I employ an everyday political economy analytical lens, informed by insights from a diverse body of interdisciplinary literature including critical development studies, sociology of religion, colonial history and postsecular feminism. Based on rich qualitative data gathered through extensive primary fieldwork in Vietnam’s highlands and cities, empirical chapters show how state religious policies have been brutal and largely unsuccessful, whilst everyday political tactics of resistance, avoidance and active compliance on behalf of Hmong Christians have had unforeseen political ramifications, with young male pastors emerging as a powerful new group of elites who act as political and development brokers. Although conversion has generated significant social conflict within communities, those who embraced and benefited from Christianity have often come from the most marginalised sectors of Hmong society, especially women and those without beneficial state connections. Christianity does not challenge the ‘will to improve’, a hegemonic desire in Vietnam’s highlands, but it arguably prepares Hmong communities for integration into the national capitalist market whilst allowing for the maintenance of ethnic distinctiveness. While the neoliberal logic is present in state policies, marketisation and religious transformation in upland Vietnam, it is not monolithic but intersects with other cultural rationalities of communalism as well as political projects of territorialisation. These findings can contribute to wider understandings about the nature of everyday agency within the intersections of religious, political and economic transformations

Rumours, sects and rallies : the ethnic politics of recent Hmong Millenarian movements in Vietnam’s highlands

Contrary to modernist assumptions, millenarianism has not died out but continues to influence the politics of many marginalised groups in upland Southeast Asia, including the Hmong. This article summarises and analyses post-World War II Hmong millenarian activity in Vietnam, focusing on three case studies from the 1980s onwards, within the political backdrop of ongoing government suspicions of ethnic separatism and foreign interference. Far from being isolated or peripheral, Hmong millenarian rumours and movements interact with overseas diasporas, human rights agencies and international religious networks to influence state responses, sometimes in unexpected ways

Historical continuities and changes in the ethnic politics of Hmong-Miao millenarianism

Millenarian movements used to be regarded as native reactions to enormous social disruptions caused by colonial intrusion, doomed to failure and at best a step on the way to more “modern” forms of collective social resistance. In fact, they have both pre-dated and outlasted colonialism, featuring in ethnic politics across Asia and beyond to this day. Nevertheless, its encounter with modernity has not left millenarianism unchanged, as is shown in this article’s historical case study. A comprehensive timeline and mapping of past and present Hmong-Miao millenarian activity highlights several enduring features including a context of economic and political crisis, their transnational nature, the prevalence of manipulation and/or coercion, and specific cultural symbols within supernatural predictions. Equally important are the historical developments, from pan-ethnic to mono-ethnic and from violent to peaceful (but still threatening to political and religious authorities), reflecting historical trends of ethnicisation and territorialisation. The mechanics of such reproductions and transformations are then unpacked, before the Hmong-Miao experience is compared with millenarian activity from other groups of upland Southeast Asia. Millenarianism continues to play a role in voicing social discontent, challenging power structures and moulding ethnic relations, but needs to be examined and understood within evolving socio-political contexts

Freedom within the Framework’? The everyday politics of religion, state repression and migration in Vietnam’s borderlands and beyond:The everyday politics of religion, state repression and migration in Vietnam’s borderlands and beyond

How do peripheral, ‘voiceless’ people engage with politics in authoritarian contexts where formal politics is not a viable option? This article demonstrates the value of applying an everyday politics perspective to grassroots religious activity and mobilities, by providing an in-depth case study of a recently Christianised ethnic minority group based in Vietnam’s politically sensitive borderlands. In the face of religious persecution and social conflict sponsored by an overbearing state, hundreds of thousands of ordinary ethnic Hmong Protestants subtly resist, evade and/or support religious policies through mundane, everyday behaviour which have unintended geopolitical consequences, collectively undermine state legitimacy and can be credited with substantial policy changes over time. Based on rich qualitative data, I argue that a careful investigation of everyday spaces as sites of political contestation not only highlights the agency of non-elite religious actors but can also reveal insights about the nature of the ‘top-down’ forces they engage with