Boundary Formation and Cultural Construction: Religion and Ethnicity for Chinese and Indian Immigrant Converts in the U.S.
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Authors
Di, Di
Issue Date
2016
Volume
18
Issue
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Journal Article
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Abstract
Most scholars study immigrants’ religious lives in a vacuum, paying little attention to the religious lives of people who switch from one religious tradition to another. This article relies on interviews with Chinese and Indian immigrant converts in the U.S. to provide a unique comparative perspective on the religious lives of Asian immigrant converts, with a specific focus on their identity construction processes. Findings indicate that Chinese and Indian immigrants establish different types of boundaries, but form similar cultural content within their identities. I debunk the assumption in existing theories that religious conversion is an either/or transition.
Keywords: religious conversion, immigration, Chinese, Indian, identity construction
Most scholars study immigrants’ religious lives in a vacuum, paying little attention to the religious lives of people who switch from one religious tradition to another. This article relies on interviews with Chinese and Indian immigrant converts in the U.S. to provide a unique comparative perspective on the religious lives of Asian immigrant converts, with a specific focus on their identity construction processes. Findings indicate that Chinese and Indian immigrants establish different types of boundaries, but form similar cultural content within their identities. I debunk the assumption in existing theories that religious conversion is an either/or transition.|Keywords: religious conversion, immigration, Chinese, Indian, identity construction
Most scholars study immigrants’ religious lives in a vacuum, paying little attention to the religious lives of people who switch from one religious tradition to another. This article relies on interviews with Chinese and Indian immigrant converts in the U.S. to provide a unique comparative perspective on the religious lives of Asian immigrant converts, with a specific focus on their identity construction processes. Findings indicate that Chinese and Indian immigrants establish different types of boundaries, but form similar cultural content within their identities. I debunk the assumption in existing theories that religious conversion is an either/or transition.|Keywords: religious conversion, immigration, Chinese, Indian, identity construction
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Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center, Creighton University
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1522-5658