Construction and Tensions Resolution: A Comparative Study of Religious Conversion to Protestantism among Chinese and Indian Immigrants in the United States

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dc.contributor.advisorEcklund, Elaine Howard
dc.contributor.committeeMemberChávez, Sergio
dc.contributor.committeeMemberEmerson, Michael
dc.contributor.committeeMemberLewis, Steven
dc.creatorDi, Di
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-14T22:09:52Z
dc.date.available2016-01-14T22:09:52Z
dc.date.created2014-12
dc.date.issued2014-08-29
dc.date.submittedDecember 2014
dc.date.updated2016-01-14T22:09:52Z
dc.description.abstractDespite the recent scholarly focus on immigration and religion, little is known about the shift of immigrants’ religious beliefs. Among the small set of studies that analyze immigrants’ religious conversion experience, most adopt a functional approach to understand the religious conversion process of Chinese immigrants. However, few scholars have analyzed the religious conversion process of Indian immigrants in the United States, let alone compared it with that of Chinese immigrants. Focusing on Chinese and Indian immigrants, this study adopts a comparative perspective to understand the relative influence from immigrants’ countries of origin and their immigrant status on the religious conversion process. Relying on twenty-nine semi-structured interviews, descriptively, this project examines Chinese and Indian immigrants’ interpretations of their religious conversion experience as well as their strategies for constructing identities. Using a cultural approach, sociologically, this paper analyzes how Chinese and Indian immigrant religious converts form new cultural norms during the conversion process. The findings reveal that Chinese and Indian immigrants have different approaches to interpret religious conversion process and construct religious identities. However, they utilize similar strategies to negotiate between their religious and ethnic identities. Drawing on these results, this article includes another ethnic group into the scholarly discussion to provide a more robust theory regarding immigrants’ religious conversion. This paper also has implications for the meaning of being an immigrant Christian in the United States.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationDi, Di. "Construction and Tensions Resolution: A Comparative Study of Religious Conversion to Protestantism among Chinese and Indian Immigrants in the United States." (2014) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/87830">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/87830</a>.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/87830
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectReligious Conversion
dc.subjectImmigration
dc.subjectChinese
dc.subjectIndian
dc.titleConstruction and Tensions Resolution: A Comparative Study of Religious Conversion to Protestantism among Chinese and Indian Immigrants in the United States
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentSociology
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts
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