Skip Navigation

Refugee Survey Quarterly 2007 26(2):57-68; doi:10.1093/rsq/hdi0227
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dorais, L. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© UNHCR 2007, all rights reserved

Faith, hope and identity: religion and the Vietnamese refugees

Louis Jacques Dorais

Professor, Université Laval, Québec, Canada


  Abstract

This article shows how Vietnamese refugees made use of the religious faith they had acquired in Vietnam to sustain their hopes during the migration process (which often took between several months to a few years) and to re-affirm their identity once resettled in a third country. Whether they were Buddhists, Catholics, Caodaists or simple practitioners of ancestor worship, refugees from Vietnam were able to revitalise their religious beliefs and practices in their countries of resettlement and establish dynamic Vietnamese congregations which brought some sense of continuity to their otherwise troubled existence. Examples of the religious experience of Vietnamese refugees are drawn mainly from the author's own reseach in Montreal, Canada.

Key Words: Vietnamese • refugees • boat people • identity • Confucianism • Buddhism • Catholic • Cao Dai • Vietnamese Canadians


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.