| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
As in China and Soviet Russia, religion in Vietnam was considered to be
harmful superstition. However, a glimpse into the Governmental Gazette - Công
Báo - displays the important transformation of the state's policy toward religion that
became translated into national representation. While this article focuses on nationbuilding as a dynamic cultural process that leads to the promotion of selected
religious practices as 'national heritage,' it also explores the state-society
relationship beyond binaries. By looking at religious spaces and local communities
I argue that in Vietnam religion is a powerful form of nation-building process and
constitutes a creative space in which different actors exercise their agency beyond
resistance and accommodation.
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