Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 6-4-2020 Spatial Production and Nomadic Subjectivities in a Buddhist Learning Space Chau Bao Le Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Outdoor Education Commons, and the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons Recommended Citation Le, Chau Bao, "Spatial Production and Nomadic Subjectivities in a Buddhist Learning Space" (2020). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5272. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5272 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. SPATIAL PRODUCTION AND NOMADIC SUBJECTIVITIES IN A BUDDHIST LEARNING SPACE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate FaCulty of the Louisiana State University and AgriCultural and MeChaniCal College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The SChool of Education by Chau Bao Le B.A., Vietnam National University, 2011 M.A., Louisiana State University, 2017 August 2020 ©Copyright Chau B. Le All rights reserved ii Bao năm đèn sáCh mịt mờ Giật mình tỉnh giấC, cơn mơ quá dài. (GL, 2017) iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT “I beCome, therefore I will have been” (Rosi Braidotti, 2011, p. 29). Ten years ago, I hardly ever thought that the roots I parted, the routes I took, the deCisions I made, and the people I met, would have led me to where I am at this moment. For everything that happened, I am truly grateful. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my Chair and Advisor, Dr. Kim Skinner for the dediCated support of my Ph.D. study, for her patience, motivation, love, and immense knowledge. She read every single page of my manusCript, multiple versions of it, with hundreds of stiCky notes and dozens of ink colors, and went over eaCh smallest issue with suggestions, adviCe, and direCtions without any sign of weariness. And don’t we forget the pandemiC! When the whole world was upside down, when our personal lives were in chaos, she was always there for me, like a miraCle. I could not ever imagine making through this without her support. I would also like to thank Dr. Kenneth FasChing-Varner for welComing me into this Ph.D. program five years ago, and continually supporting my work with an endless source of positivity wherever he is. Thank you all my mentors, teaChers and professors, who had inspired me, exemplified great praCtiCes, and reCognized my efforts in beComing a better sCholar, researcher, thinker, and human being. Dr. Thanh Ha Phung, Dr. Petra Hendry, and Dr. Kerri Tobin – you will always be in my heart. Dr. Ken Denny, thank you for the “quantitative” questions during my previous exam, they are good reminders to stand firm on my ground while being aware of the larger cosmos. To my friends and colleagues, Léa Gustin, L. Crawford, and Quynh Le – thank you for Caring about how I was really feeling and encouraging me to pull through the hardest times. My past, present and future students, you are the reason I want to be better every day, and to Continue with the work I started in this dissertation. iv So many things have happened during my doctoral journey. My husband and I, together with our cats Foucault, Karen and Lotus, had moved from one apartment to another before eventually buying a little house two years ago. Our immigration status changed from nonresident aliens to permanent residents, my visas – J1 to H4 to EB3 and now I can’t even catCh up with the terms. My sweetest, smartest and most adventurous cat Karen suddenly left me on a better journey and now won’t see me graduate. My Mom survived stomaCh cancer 3 years ago, a nightmare that I had to live through to call a miraCle. I am still married to the same man. I got aCCepted in this Ph.D. program when we were newlyweds, and now we are expeCting a baby. This journey was one of a kind, and I’m so proud to have experienced every single moment of it. Kính gửi gia đình mến yêu. Cảm ơn Bố Mẹ, cảm ơn Chị, cảm ơn Anh Rể, cháu Dustin, Cháu Mia và cháu Lam Chi, đã luôn tin tưởng gửi gắm tình yêu và sự Cảm thông để Con hoàn thành ướC nguyện dở dang. Em sẽ nhớ mãi những bữa cơm ngon lành và đẹp đẽ Của Chị. Cảm ơn Chồng đã luôn vị tha và hào phóng gánh váC công việC gia đình để lo cho Vợ một cuộC sống ấm áp và tròn trịa. Cảm ơn Bố Mẹ Hinh Diễn, anh chị Sơn Thu và Cháu Thùy Dương, Hải Minh đã luôn ủng hộ những lựa chọn của chúng con. Mong đại gia đình mình luôn bình an, mạnh khỏe và sớm đoàn tụ. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my informants, or research partiCipants, or fellow friends whose names filled pages of this document. Thank you, country monk, Vidya, Traveler, Lala, Hot Pot, Hạ Buồn, Lala, Ella, Adam, Leo and Nguyen Khanh Hoang. Thank you, Mike Stanton. Thank you, all the other members in the Sangha whose stories are yet for another day. You taught me how Thanh Tinh community had made this City a better plaCe and had made me a better person simply by engaging in the daily life full of laughter, Compassion, and relationships. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACknowledgement……………………………………………………………………………….. ii List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………….. x List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………… xi AbstraCt…………………………………………………………………………………………. xii Chapter One. Introduction..................…………………………………………………………… 1 SpaCe and PlaCe in Educational Theory, Pedagogy and CurriCulum Development………1 Transnational Communities as Learning SpaCes………………………………………… 3 Statement of the Problem and Its SignifiCance…………………………………………... 4 Mode of Inquiry………………………………………………………………………….. 8 Key Terminology……………………………………………………………………….. 10 Overview of the Dissertation…………………………………………….……...…....… 11 Chapter Two. Literature and TheoretiCal Foundation…………………….....………...………... 13 SpaCe, Education and Transnational DiasporiC Communities………………………….. 13 NomadiC Theory, SubjeCtivity, and Education…………………………………………. 24 EthnographiC Studies on Immigrant Communities……………………………………... 34 Gaps in the Literature…………………………………………………………………….41 Summary of Chapter Two………………………………………………………………. 42 Chapter Three. Methodology...................………………………………………………………. 44 Situating the Mode of Inquiry…………………………………………………………... 44 Researcher’s Epistemology and Positionality…………………………………………... 46 MethodologiCal ApproaCh……………………………………………………………… 49 Data ColleCtion Methods……………………………………………………………….. 51 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………… 61 EthiCal Considerations………………………………………………………………….. 65 Contextualization of the Research Site…………………………………………………. 66 Summary of Chapter Three……………………………………………………………... 81 Chapter Four. Spatial Production...........................…………………………………………….. 83 SpaCes of Representation……………………………………………………………….. 84 Spatial PraCtiCes………………………………………………………………………… 93 Representations of SpaCe……………………………………………………………… 112 Summary of Chapter Four…………………………………………………………….. 126 Chapter Five. NomadiC SubjeCtivities.....................…………………………………………... 127 Mapping DiasporiC SubjeCtivities in a Transnational SpaCe………………………….. 128 Constructing the MultipliCity through Potential SubjeCtivities……………………...... 145 Transposing Differences through InterconneCted SubjeCtivities……………………… 157 Belonging and PolitiCal SubjeCtivity in NomadiC Citizenship………………………... 168 vi Summary of Chapter Five……………………………………………………………... 183 Chapter Six. So What? Who Cares? ................……………………………………………….. 185 DemocratiC Education Beyond SChool Boundaries…………………………………… 185 RhizomatiC CurriCulum BeComings…………………………………………………… 193 Conclusion…………...........…....….……………………………………...................... 208 Appendix A. Institutional Review Board Approval………………………………………..…. 210 Appendix B. SelF-reported DemographiC Questionnaire……………………………………... 211 Appendix C. Interview Questions for Informants………………………………………….…. 213 Appendix D. Follow-up Interview Questions for Informants…………………………………. 214 Appendix E. Written Consent Form for PartiCipants…………………………………….……. 215 References……………………………………………………………………………………... 219 Vita…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 239 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. An Excerpt of My Fieldnotes……………………………………………………….. 56 Table 3.2. Questions for Interview 1…………………………………………………………… 59 Table 3.3. Questions for Interview 2…………………………………………………………… 60 Table 3.4. SpeCial Events at Thanh Tinh Temple………………………………………………. 72 Table 3.5. PartiCipant Self-Reported Information………………………………………………. 75 Table 4.1. Event Map of a Friday Sangha……………………………………………………… 96 Table 4.2. Sequence of a Sunday session……………………………………………………..... 98 Table 5.1. Contrastive Analysis of ColleCtively Constructed SubjeCtivity…………………….145 Table 5.2. Event Map of First Friday of April Session: Norms - ExpeCtations and Role – Relationships……………………………………150 Table 5.3. Locally Constructed Data for the Telling Case……………………………………..158 Table 5.4. Running ReCord of Chain of ACtivity in The Night for Vietnam………………………161 Table 5.5. Contrastive Analysis of Citizenship DisCourses…………………………………….181 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1. A Page of My Jottings……………………………………………………………….54 Figure 3.2. Structural Map of Thanh Tinh Temple………………………………………………69 Figure 3.3. SChedule for the Use of SpaCe at Thanh Tinh Temple………………………………71 Figure 4.1. Sitting Arrangements Illustrated by country monk………………………………...100