Mercredi 30 octobre 2019, 14h30 – 17h
Campus Condorcet, Bâtiment Recherche Nord, salle 5.067
Choeur Hmong (fournie par Seb Rumsby)
Seb RUMSBY (University of Warwick)
The dynamics of Protestant conversion among Hmong in North Vietnam
This presentation focuses on the role of new Hmong religious leaders who have embraced Protestant Christianity and played an important role in spreading its influence across Vietnam’s northern and Central highlands over the past thirty years. In doing so, these pastors and evangelists have directly challenged the authority of previously established Hmong local elites whose legitimacy rested on either traditional religious authority or state patronage, causing significant social conflict along the way. In areas where the majority of Hmong have converted, some new Christian pioneers have gained a local elite status as political and development brokers for their community, enjoying a potent combination of spiritual authority, strong external networks and financial success. By focusing on two case studies, this paper explores the surprising ways in which Christian elites may challenge, cooperate with or mimic state forms of governance, and the effects of such tactics on wider state-civil society relations. These case studies highlight the agency of aspiring Christian pioneers, the degree of political manoeuvring space available to non-state actors in a supposedly authoritarian state, and the ongoing tensions and contestations within the Hmong community in Vietnam.”
Seb Rumsby is a final-year PhD candidate at Warwick University’s department for Politics and International Studies, having completed his BA (Vietnamese and Development Studies) and MA (South East Asian Studies) at SOAS. His interdisciplinary research interests include ethnic politics, non-national histories, millenarianism and sociolinguistics in South East Asia, with a focus on Vietnam.
GSRL
5ème étage Bâtiment Recherche Nord
Campus Condorcet
14 Cours des Humanités, 93322 Aubervilliers
Contacts : M.D. Even mdaeven@gmail.com , C. Gyss c_gyss@hotmail.com
