2015/10/01 by Allison Truitt · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Vietnamese History and Culture Studies #Asian American and Pacific Histories #Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies #Vietnamese #Diaspora #Buddhism #Ceremony #Piety #Filial piety #Nationalism #Gender studies #Ethnography #Sociology #Religious studies #History #Ethnology #Anthropology #Political science #Politics #Philosophy #Archaeology #Law
paper · doi:10.1353/jaas.2015.0025
openalex publication_date 2015/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
One of the most important observances of the Vietnamese Buddhist calendar is Vu Lan, an annual ceremony framed by Confucian notions of filial piety. Through an ethnographic analysis of the festival at four different Buddhist institutions along the U.S. Gulf Coast, I show how Vu Lan cultivates devotion to motherhood and nationhood, generating both affective ties and material support from lay participants. I pay particular attention to how gendered signs of diasporic nationalism are displayed in order to underscore that what it means to be Vietnamese and Buddhist in the United States is both active and fluid.