The Negotiation of Identities among Cham Muslim Migrant Women in Urban Vietnam

Event details

PSC Seminar

Date & time

Tuesday 23 October 2018
12.30pm–2pm

Venue

PSC Reading Room 4.27, Hedley Bull Centre (130), Garran Road, ANU

Speaker

Anh Vu

Contacts

Maxine McArthur
261253097

Abstract
Vietnam is a multi-ethnic nation and the Cham is one of fifty-four state-recognized ethnic groups. In this project, my main aim is to understand the life experiences of Cham [Sunni] Muslim migrants, especially women, who migrate from rural areas in the Mekong River Delta to Ho Chi Minh City. Being a minority group in several senses, such as being an ethnic minority, being Muslim and being female, Cham Muslim women face numerous challenges to their identities when they migrate to cosmopolitan, complex metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City. In this research, I do not view Cham Muslim migrant women as passive victims and do not only examine the disadvantages and obstacles they confront. Instead, I focus on their agency as active subjects and examine the ways in which they respond to the challenges they face. This thesis will answer the main question: How are Cham Muslim migrant women’s identities and values constituted and shaped through their practices and social interactions in the context of migration to an urban area?

About the Speaker
I have been a PhD candidate in the Department of Political and Social Change since March 2018. I hold a research Masters in Ethnology and a Bachelor of Anthropology from Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. My research interests relate to ethnic minorities in Vietnam, discourses of development, ritual and religion, and gender and identity. I have participated in several research projects on ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, and this provided me with background for my current project.

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