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Download File “To Follow the New Rule or Way”: Hmong Refugee Resettlement and the Practice of American Religious Pluralism Melissa May Borja Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 ©2014 Melissa May Borja All rights reserved ABSTRACT “To Follow the New Rule or Way”: Hmong Refugee Resettlement and Practice of American Religious Pluralism Melissa May Borja This dissertation explores the impact of refugee migration and American refugee resettlement policies on the religious lives of Hmong refugees resettled in the in the United States between 1976 and 1990. Despite efforts to make refugee assistance a secular and religiously neutral enterprise, resettlement placed pressure for religious conformity on Hmong refugees and set in motion several changes in Hmong religious life. First, refugee resettlement imposed pressures on the practice of indigenous Hmong religion. Second, refugee resettlement facilitated Hmong adoption of Christianity, which Hmong people incorporated into their religious lives for their own purposes and in their own ways. Finally, Hmong people adapted and reinvented their indigenous beliefs and practices, as well as its institutions and identifications, in order to preserve their indigenous religious traditions. Table of Contents Page ii List of Figures and Illustrations Page iii Acknowledgements Page 1 Introduction Page 35 Chapter One: Religious Encounters in Laos and Thailand Page 78 Chapter Two: Refugee Resettlement as Church-State Governance Page 134 Chapter Three: American Refugee Resettlement Policy and the Disruption of Indigenous Hmong Religion Page 167 Chapter Four: Refugee Resettlement as Christian Ministry and Mission Page 219 Chapter Five: Following the New Way, Part I - Refugee Resettlement and Hmong Christianity in the United States Page 264 Chapter Six: Following the New Way, Part II - Adapting Indigenous Hmong Religion to an American Religious Landscape Page 286 Conclusion Page 294 Primary Sources Page 304 Bibliography i List of Figures and Illustrations Page 1 Figure One: “I Am the Way” Page 75 Figure Two: Religious Identification of Hmong Refugees Resettled in Minnesota by ACNS/International Institute, 1976-1995 - Table Page 76 Figure Three: Religious Identification of Hmong Refugees Resettled in Minnesota by ACNS/International Institute, 1976-1995 – Graph Page 85 Figure Four: Distribution of Indochinese Refugee Resettlement Cases, FY 1981 – Table Page 86 Figure Five: Distribution of Indochinese Refugee Resettlement Cases, FY 1981 – Graph Page 286 Figure Six: “From the United States How Can the Hmong Get Into Heaven?” ii Acknowledgements Throughout the researching and writing of this dissertation, many individuals and organizations assisted in bringing this project to fruition. First, Mae Ngai offered unparalleled support as a teacher, advisor, mentor, and friend who guided me intellectually and professionally with generosity, kindness, and good humor. Through the distinction of her scholarship and the example of her own life, she inspired me to pursue excellence as a scholar who is as engaged in the world of ideas as she is committed to using ideas to make the world better. I am truly grateful. At Columbia University, many scholars offered valuable suggestions and abundant encouragement. Courtney Bender improved this project immensely by posing challenging questions and providing constructive criticism that led this project in directions that were new, unexpected, and ultimately more exciting than I would have been able to imagine otherwise. With awe-inspiring brilliance and galvanizing good cheer, Ira Katznelson helped me to see the details of my story with fresh eyes and to keep the broader scholarly and political interventions of this project in sight at all times. Mary Marshall Clark taught me the importance of listening to the stories of human lives with compassion, sensitivity, and humility. Jose Moya and Sarah Phillips offered insightful suggestions that helped me to clarify and refine several key ideas. The idea for this doctoral dissertation developed well before I arrived at Columbia, and I am indebted to the scholars who influenced me in the earlier stages of my education. Stephan Thernstrom offered useful suggestions for the first iteration of this project, a humble sophomore research essay for his immigration history seminar; later, Lizabeth Cohen, Quenby Olmstead Hughes, Sonia Lee, Rebecca McLennan, and Scott Sowerby asked important questions and iii offered many helpful critiques. Lisa McGirr deserves special thanks for advising this project as a senior honors thesis and, more importantly, encouraging me to follow my heart and to pursue a Ph.D. At the University of Chicago, where I began my graduate education, Catherine Brekus fueled my fascination with American religious history and introduced me to key questions and scholarly approaches that shaped this project in profound ways. Several individuals and organizations provided generous financial assistance without which the researching and writing of this dissertation might not have been possible. The Howard and Natalie Shawn Family Research Fellowship; the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life Research Fellowship; and the Columbia University History Department Summer Research Fellowship covered the expenses of traveling to archives and conducting oral history interviews. A Grant-In-Aid from the University of Minnesota Immigration History Research Center allowed me to examine rare and valuable documents about the Hmong community in Minnesota. The Brebner travel grant program enabled me to participate in national conferences and receive feedback on my work, and a Foreign Language and Area Studies Grant allowed me to study Hmong language and to participate in the Southeast Asian Summer Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. My preliminary research on Hmong religious life was made possible by research grants from the Center for the Study of World Religions and the Charles Warren Center for American Studies at Harvard University. Finally, I am grateful for the Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies Dissertation Completion Fellowship, which funded the final phase of research and allowed me to have the financial freedom in my last year in graduate school to devote myself to thinking and writing. Archivists and librarians across the country offered one of the most important forms of support: assistance in locating primary and secondary sources. I am deeply grateful for the help of Karen Green, John Tofanelli, and Eric Wakin at the Columbia University Library; Chuck iv Neve at the Dayton Avenue Presbyterian Church Archive; Aaron Bittel at the Ethnomusicology Library at the University of California, Los Angeles; Joel Thoreson at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Archive; William McNitt at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library; Marlin Heise at the Hmong Nationality Archive; Elizabeth Haven Hawley, Daniel Necas, and Sara Wakefield at the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota; Paul Daniels and Kari Bostrom at the Luther Seminary Archive; Debbie Miller at the Minnesota Historical Society; Mary Welfling at the Plymouth Congregational Church Archive; Lisa Jacobson at the Presbyterian Historical Society; Paula Carter at the Saint Anthony Park Lutheran Church Archive; Christina Woo at the Southeast Asian Archive at the University of California, Irvine; Jennifer Schneider at the Southeast Asian Ministry Archives; Terry Foster at the United States Military History Institute; Keith Call at the Wheaton College Archives; and Joan Duffy and Martha Smalley at the Yale Divinity School Special Collections. For this dissertation, I conducted several dozen oral history interviews, and many people and organizations contributed to the successful completion of this research. Maile Vue served as a trilingual Hmong language interpreter and cultural broker throughout my work in Minnesota. Beyond simply translating language—a truly indispensible service—she offered invaluable insight into Hmong religious life, and her friendship throughout our work together was a true blessing. Paul Hillmer was a generous source of help, wisdom, and encouragement; I am grateful that he so willingly took me under his wing. Lee Pao Xiong at the Center for Hmong Studies and Xai Lor at the Hmong Cultural Center supported my scholarship by answering my endless questions, connecting me with important resources, and offering space for interviews. I am thankful for the willingness of the Southeast Asian Archive at the University of California, Irvine; the Luther Seminary Archive; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church Archive to accept the v donation of these interviews so that the stories of my oral history narrators could be preserved and made available for other scholars. Most of all, I am grateful for all of the individuals who opened their homes and hearts and shared their life stories with me. I was fortunate to present my research at several conferences, where senior scholars led rewarding conversations about my work and posed stimulating questions that made this dissertation better. I am thankful for all of the suggestions from Robert Wuthnow and the American Society of Church History; Lisa Mar, Richard Amesbury, and the American Academy of Religion; Chia Youyee Vang and the Association for Asian American Studies; Shelley Lee and the American Historical Association; Paul Kramer and the Society for Historians of American Foreign
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