Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-103).

Thesis (M.A.)--Lancaster Bible College, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-66).

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2004. / Vita. This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #033-0709. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-103).

Vietnamese Americans are the children of refugees. While some are middle-class and upwardly mobile, many are not. As an ethnic group, Vietnamese Americans are often grouped, by the mainstream and academics, with other high status and high achieving Asian Americans. In this study, I look at middle-class and upwardly mobile Vietnamese American students and alumni and their voluntary association with a vast network of ethnic organizations. I ask the question, how do these Vietnamese Americans respond to their racialization when their local ethnic resources are not consistent with their racial status? In my analysis, I draw on concepts from literature on segmented assimilation, minority cultures of mobility, and ethnic boundary work. Additionally, I frame my analysis in terms ethnic capital formation, social capital, and cultural frames. I found that Vietnamese Americans collectively responded to racialization via the organization and its programming. Additionally, they constructed and promoted a “cultural frame of indebtedness” to rationalize the discrepancy between their success and the marginalization of their co-ethnics. / 10000-01-01

Communicating the Gospel and Culture to the younger Vietnamese American generations comes with many challenges. There seem to be many Vietnamese parents living in the United States who are concerned with their children losing their distinctive family cultural characteristics while living in another culture. The younger generation themselves find it hard to adapt to the American and Vietnamese cultures where they are living here. How can these young generations adapt to their new culture and not lose some of their distinctive family cultural and Christian religious roots to balance their lives? How can we help to communicate the Gospel and the culture to the young generation of Vietnamese Americans who need to discern what can support and enrich their lives in living in both cultures, Vietnamese and America? This thesis holds that it is important to maintain the Vietnamese culture which defines their identity and expresses who they are but also make use of the divine opportunity to learn the values and the beauty of the American culture. Cultural adaptation helps balance the values of both cultures and enrich knowledge about living within a diverse world. The thesis further proposes that using Vietnamese Christianity as their asset, young Vietnamese Americans are capable of this cultural adaptation. The Church have to put a gospel presentation strategy in place, follow a seven step pastoral strategy plan, and establish less costly centers which will be devoted to training Vietnamese men and women as spiritual directors and religious educators to aid the priests in ministering to the young generation. Parents need to understand the dual cultures of these young people and accompany the young generation mindful of their duality and the centrality of the gospel values. The younger generation of Vietnamese Americans have to open themselves not only to the two cultures but above all to the Gospel message of Christ. Their openness to divine guidance and endowments, in addition to the worthy human direction and church guidance coupled with good structures and programs will produce fruitful integration.

This dissertation contributes an interpretation of the ancestral altar tradition among Vietnamese American first and second generation practitioners. It traces the contours of the shifting transformations in domestic religious practice, specifically the transnational and diasporic dimensions in people's lives. I address how and toward what ends the "spiritual" is accessed, experienced and/or transformed in the materiality of everyday life, in the context of a complex relationship to a diasporic homeland and an emerging second generation. The research was conducted in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio (Texas), Carthage (Missouri), Sài Gòn (Viet Nam) and Pulau Galang (Indonesia). I make two main assertions. The first is that domestic religious practices matter in exploring issues of cultural citizenship and belonging. As a collection of things, I explain how altar assemblages are constituted through the purposeful and chance encounters of the practitioner(s), which is a way to talk about the global (such as transnational mobilities or the discourses about diasporic citizenship) through the intimately local. My second claim is that ideas of cultural citizenship can intersect with religious motivations and practices, and that they happen (are performed, imagined and circulated) transnationally, or more precisely, translocatively. I document how practitioners' and groups of practitioners' struggle to combat the (current Vietnamese) state's interventions in re-narrating the circumstances of their exile and also the relative invisibility they face as historical subjects in the United States. By carefully examining ancestral altars as a constitution of "things" and as situated "spaces," I address various facets of what they are and how they work -- as ways to express a familial or diasporic imaginary; or as assemblages of things that are both intimately meaningful and private, yet situated at the intersections of geopolitical engagements and cultural politics. / text

Thesis (D. Min.)--Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Little existing research examines how Vietnamese American individuals conceptualize wellness in relation to the community in which they live. Fewer studies examine the ways in which communities of Vietnamese expatriates form networks of support, based around community resources. Even fewer, if any, focus on these qualities within the context of Boston’s own Little Saigon – Fields Corner. This ethnography analyzes discussions with and observations of individuals living in a predominantly Vietnamese neighborhood in Boston who are a part of a support group for families of children with special needs. Through this analysis, two key themes emerge. First, through the learning of information and sharing of knowledge, this Network’s connections have impacts far beyond the four walls of their bi-weekly meeting space. Second, wellness for the parents in this group is directly tied to existing as a part of a community support network which allows them to successfully navigate three distinct institutions of care for their children – the medical and special education systems, as well as the expression of Vietnamese culture that exists in this neighborhood. I argue that in discussions with members of this support group, it is necessary to focus on channels alternative to biomedical mental health services when confronting the pursuit of a life worth living. This network acts as a site of social change through parental advocacy for their children’s flourishing within various institutions. Parents then act as vectors of consciousness to raise awareness for specific action. Within this context, parents are enabled to fight for their definition of a life worth living and their personal wellbeing.

Research on the education of Vietnamese-Americans is very limited, and mainstream media continue to project Vietnamese students either as high achievers or gang affiliated (Castro, 1983; Davis & McDaid, 1992). This kind of projection can mask the real issues that Vietnamese students are facing. Based on Cummins' (1979) Contextual Interaction Theory, this study examined the views of Vietnamese-American high school students in Oregon regarding their schooling under four major areas: Community Background Factors, Educational Input Factors, Instructional Treatment, and Student Input Factors. In particular, this study examined factors, within the above four areas, pertaining to the schooling of Vietnamese-American high school students such as parental concerns, peer relationships, language use in the classroom, ESL learning, subject areas, teacher support, first language usage, discipline issues, home/school communication, teacher knowledge about culture, extracurricular activity, drug/alcohol issues, gang affiliation, dropping out, student effort in learning, homework, career planning, and future concerns. A survey of 145 subjects was conducted in the Portland and surrounding high schools. The study was supplemented by two interviews of two unique students: a high-achiever and a high-risk case to illuminate the real life and school experiences they encountered in their schooling. The interviews added a holistic dimension to this study. The survey data were analyzed descriptively, statistically, and inferentially to provide answers for the research questions. The overall conclusion was Vietnamese-American high school students in this sample came from large families with strong family support and value for education. They brought with them a strong motivation for learning. They were committed to school work and put much effort in learning. They reported doing well in mathematics and science. They reported difficulties in English language comprehension, but only one third of them perceived ESL as a strong treatment. Very few were participating in extracurricular activities. Their relationships with American peers were poor. They perceived a good level of staff welcome and support but were not sure about the staffs understanding of their culture. These students showed a respect for school rules, but reported little school/home communication. Many worried about their future. Briefly, their perceptions regarding educational input factors and instructional programs were not as strong as community background factors and students' contributions.

Religion is a deeply important tradition in many people's lives, especially for those forced to leave abruptly their homes and loved ones and resettle in a foreign land. Religion not only provides spiritual guidance but also social networks, comfort, and moral standards, among many others things. I chose to study the beliefs and practices of Vietnamese American Buddhists and Catholics as well as the relationship between those two groups in the U.S. The Vietnamese present an interesting case because of their collective status as a well-publicized immigrant, formerly refugee, population that is now well-established in this country. With my research, I was able to test five hypotheses. I wanted to determine the degree of transnationality, tension between the religious groups, conversion, and ancestor worship. Secondarily, I assessed any differences regionally. In order to test my hypotheses, I conducted 60 quantitative surveys. I sampled from the Houston and Minneapolis-St. Paul Vietnamese communities. Transnationality, or ties to the homeland, was more prevalent for Buddhists than Catholics as I had hypothesized. There was a minute degree of tension present, however, generally with older members of the first generation cohort. Traditional Vietnamese ancestor worship was not more prevalent with Buddhists than with Catholics. I was unable to sample enough religious converts in order to test my conversion hypothesis. In terms of differences across regions, all variables other than national identity as well as an indicator of transnationality were statistically insignificant. This data helps fill a nearly 30-year gap in the research in this area and focuses specifically on the Vietnamese population which many studies have been unable to do. In addition to my quantitative study, I also conducted qualitative fieldwork at four primary research and three secondary research sites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Houston metropolitan areas. Twenty-five to thirty hours were spent at each primary location observing the members, volunteers, dress, interactions, normative and deviant behaviors during services, socialization, languages spoken, attentiveness, racial diversity, and additional activities provided by the religious organization to the membership. This fieldwork gave me a better understanding of this community in a religious context.