Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcia Cristina Zaia.pdf: 792961 bytes, checksum: e8f573e74274c74847be54e19ddff847 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-12-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The purpose of the present work is to discuss the relations between religion and immigration, from an intercultural perspective, through the life history of immigrant Muslim women in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, during their acculturation process. In this work, this concept is based upon Intercultural Psychology formulations, as the necessary result of a contact between two cultures, which can lead to the adoption of integration or separation strategies. Through the study of a minority that has been scarcely investigated in Brazil, this work indicates the relevancy that religion can acquire in a migratory context, since it is one of the constituent elements of the ethnic identity / Este trabalho tem por objetivo discutir as relações entre religião e imigração, partir de uma perspectiva intercultural, através do percurso vivido de mulheres muçulmanas imigrantes na cidade de São Paulo, durante seu processo de aculturação. Este conceito é compreendido neste trabalho a partir de formulações da Psicologia Intercultural, como o resultado inevitável de um contato entre duas culturas, que pode resultar em adoção de estratégias de integração ou separação. Através do estudo de uma minoria pouco estudada no Brasil, apresenta-se a relevância que a religião pode adquirir em um contexto migratório, uma vez que é um dos elementos constituintes da identidade étnica

Questa tesi di dottorato desidera contribuire ad un’emergente campo di ricerca che indaga le intersezioni tra la religione e la migrazione. Se l’Islam ha fin ora assorbito la maggior parte degli studi, questo lavoro si concentra invece sulle chiese etniche erette da migranti cattolici, sia nella città di Milano che di Londra. Negli ultimi decenni, i flussi migratori hanno infatti contribuito a modellare nuove forme di pluralismo religioso, anche all'interno delle denominazioni cristiane storiche, come nel caso della Chiesa cattolica. In particolare, questa tesi esamina come la religione diventa una componente significativa dell'esperienza della migrazione e analizza in che modo contribuisce ai processi di integrazione. Combinando differenti dati qualitativi, questo lavoro spiega inizialmente come le chiese etniche siano diventate importanti snodi urbani in entrambe le città, trasformando di fatto il panorama locale in un'arena transnazionale. Quindi, indaga le attività spirituali promosse internamente, ed esamina in che modo le chiese fungono da piattaforme di welfare. Infine, si discutono le sfide legate a questo nuovo cattolicesimo etnico. Pertanto, dettagliando le varie funzioni sociali svolte dalle chiese etniche, questa tesi di dottorato mostra come la religione rappresenti una forza alternativa e mediatrice in grado di supportare i processi di integrazione dei migranti, un ruolo che è ancora sottostimato nella letteratura europea. / This PhD thesis wishes to contribute to an emergent body of research that inquires into the intersections between religion and migration. Beyond the common target on Islam, this work focuses instead on ethnic churches established by catholic migrants both in the city of Milan and London. Over the last decades, migration flows have indeed contributed to shape new forms of religious pluralism, even inside the Historical Christian denominations, as in the case of Roman Catholic Church. In particular, this thesis examines how religion becomes a significant component of the experience of migration, and analyses in which ways it contributes to integration processes. By combining qualitative data, initially this work explains how ethnic churches have become significant urban hubs in both cities, de facto transforming local panorama in a transnational arena. Then, it investigates the types of spiritual activities promoted internally, and examines in which ways churches serve as welfare platforms. Finally, this work discusses the challenges related to such new ethnic Catholicism. Thus, by detailing the various social functions of ethnic churches, this PhD thesis shows how religion represents an alternative and mediating force able to support migrants’ integration processes, a role which is still understudied into European literature.

This dissertation examines whether Buddhist beliefs and practices serve to reinforce and/or promote a Korean and/or Canadian cultural prism for next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Toronto, Canada. I define Korean and Canadian cultural prisms based on the cross-cultural psychological framework of Individualism-Relational Collectivism (I-RC) and Analytical-Holistic (A-H) cognition. The aim of my research is to problematize culture in the construction of religious meaning and behaviour for relatively bicultural individuals. My research question can thus be summarized as follows: How is religious meaning and behaviour culturally constructed by next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Canada? What role do individual cultural orientations and the different Buddhist cultural traditions play in this cultural construction and how does Buddhism compare to the other religions (namely Protestantism) practiced by younger-generation Korean-Canadians in this regard? By answering these questions, I ultimately hope to show whether the meaning system of Korean culture is preserved through religion among the younger generation of Korean Buddhist practitioners. I hypothesize that, due to the relatively non-authoritarian nature of Buddhism, the light of Buddhist beliefs and practices will predominantly be refracted through the a priori cultural prism of the individual in question, and the role of Buddhist doctrine and institutions in promoting a particular orientation (individualistic/relationally collectivistic and analytic/holistic) will be minimal and subordinate to the individual. The particular cultural orientation of this prism will, in turn, be dependent upon individual levels of monoculturalism (Korean or Canadian) or biculturalism (Korean and Canadian). In this way, Buddhism may serve to both preserve and undermine the Korean cultural meaning system. By comparison, I hypothesize that the relatively authoritarian nature of (Protestant) Christianity will likely encourage younger-generation Korean Christians to relate to their religion in a predominantly uniform way, regardless of the individual’s cultural orientation.

This dissertation examines whether Buddhist beliefs and practices serve to reinforce and/or promote a Korean and/or Canadian cultural prism for next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Toronto, Canada. I define Korean and Canadian cultural prisms based on the cross-cultural psychological framework of Individualism-Relational Collectivism (I-RC) and Analytical-Holistic (A-H) cognition. The aim of my research is to problematize culture in the construction of religious meaning and behaviour for relatively bicultural individuals. My research question can thus be summarized as follows: How is religious meaning and behaviour culturally constructed by next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Canada? What role do individual cultural orientations and the different Buddhist cultural traditions play in this cultural construction and how does Buddhism compare to the other religions (namely Protestantism) practiced by younger-generation Korean-Canadians in this regard? By answering these questions, I ultimately hope to show whether the meaning system of Korean culture is preserved through religion among the younger generation of Korean Buddhist practitioners. I hypothesize that, due to the relatively non-authoritarian nature of Buddhism, the light of Buddhist beliefs and practices will predominantly be refracted through the a priori cultural prism of the individual in question, and the role of Buddhist doctrine and institutions in promoting a particular orientation (individualistic/relationally collectivistic and analytic/holistic) will be minimal and subordinate to the individual. The particular cultural orientation of this prism will, in turn, be dependent upon individual levels of monoculturalism (Korean or Canadian) or biculturalism (Korean and Canadian). In this way, Buddhism may serve to both preserve and undermine the Korean cultural meaning system. By comparison, I hypothesize that the relatively authoritarian nature of (Protestant) Christianity will likely encourage younger-generation Korean Christians to relate to their religion in a predominantly uniform way, regardless of the individual’s cultural orientation.