Follow the New Way

An incisive look at Hmong religion in the United States, where resettled refugees found creative ways to maintain their traditions, even as Christian organizations deputized by the government were granted an outsized influence on the refugees’ new lives.Every year, members of the Hmong Christian Church of God in Minneapolis gather for a cherished Thanksgiving celebration. But this Thanksgiving takes place in the spring, in remembrance of the turbulent days in May 1975 when thousands of Laotians were evacuated for resettlement in the United States. For many Hmong, passage to America was also a spiritual crossing. As they found novel approaches to living, they also embraced Christianity—called kev cai tshiab, “the new way”—as a means of navigating their complex spiritual landscapes.Melissa May Borja explores how this religious change happened and what it has meant for Hmong culture. American resettlement policies unintentionally deprived Hmong of the resources necessary for their time-honored rituals, in part because these practices, blending animism, ancestor worship, and shamanism, challenged many Christian-centric definitions of religion. At the same time, because the government delegated much of the resettlement work to Christian organizations, refugees developed close and dependent relationships with Christian groups. Ultimately the Hmong embraced Christianity on their own terms, adjusting to American spiritual life while finding opportunities to preserve their customs.Follow the New Way illustrates America’s wavering commitments to pluralism and secularism, offering a much-needed investigation into the public work done by religious institutions with the blessing of the state. But in the creation of a Christian-inflected Hmong American animism we see the resilience of tradition—how it deepens under transformative conditions.

A fascinating, deeply perceptive, and highly readable study of the Hmong experience in America. Borja’s pathbreaking book will appeal to a broad readership in religion and cultural studies, refugee resettlement and humanitarian aid, and church-state relations, as well as to the Hmong community itself. An exemplary model of careful scholarship with far-reaching significance., Beautifully written and sensitively told, Follow the New Way foregrounds the resilience of Hmong ‘religious migrants’ while highlighting the power of the state. This illuminating book is a must-read for anyone interested in migration, pluralism, and religious freedom., A deeply nuanced story of the politics and practices of religious pluralism. Borja deftly illuminates how American refugee resettlement policies have shaped the spiritual lives of Hmong Americans and raises timely questions about the promise of religious freedom in America. Required reading for anyone interested in American religion., A story that changes the way we tell stories. In the histories it recounts, the characters it follows, and ‘the way’ it illuminates, Follow the New Way stretches the bounds of what we mean by religion, culture, immigration, and tradition. With compassion and a deeply held humanity, Borja renews our thinking not just about Hmong Americans, but about America as such., A superb book. Tracing the complicated process of religious change among Hmong refugees, Borja persuasively demonstrates how state policies disrupted Hmong traditions. Yet she also shows how refugees creatively and resiliently drew upon a variety of religious resources to gain spiritual strength in their new land.

Melissa May Borja, a scholar of migration, religion, race, and politics in the United States and the Pacific World, is Assistant Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan, where she is also a core faculty member in Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies. She has advised the Vietnamese Boat People project and the Religion and Resettlement Project at Princeton, and was lead investigator of the Virulent Hate Project. An expert on Asian American religious life, she contributes regularly to the religious history blog Anxious Bench.