Journal of Undergraduate Research
Keywords
Christianity, Messianism, Hmong community, Thailand, ancestral worship
College
Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Department
Anthropology
Abstract
Hmong of Thailand find themselves at the beginning of the 21st century embedded in a unique religious context. Though traditionally, Hmong people have practiced a mixture of spirit rituals and ancestral worship known as Dab Qhuas shamanism, in an increasingly globalized world these traditional practices have in some cases given way as Hmong in some locales are beginning to convert to other religions. Although Thailand does not have a significant Christian population, Western Christianity has begun to take seed among this people. Additionally, a surge of home-grown religious revitalization movements is emerging. Messianic groups professing a more correct set of ritual practices and prophesying of a reunification of Hmong people are taking hold. For my senior thesis in anthropology, in the summer of 2013 I conducted fieldwork in a rural Hmong village in the highlands of Northern Thailand studying the process of religious conversion.
Recommended Citation
Fields, Lindsey and Hickman, Dr. Jacob
(2014)
"Understanding the Conversion to Christianity and Messianism in a Hmong Community in Nan, Thailand,"
Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2014:
Iss.
1, Article 152.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2014/iss1/152