Conclusion
This essay discusses some of the complexities presented by conversion to
Protestantism for the Hmong community in Vietnam. The ongoing marginalisation
of the Hmong provides a context for understanding the converts’ desire to seek in
Christianity a way out of their difficulties. Conversion for those who choose it represents
a passage to a new landscape of modernity.53 Hmong conversion is intrinsically
connected to the ongoing globalisation of Christianity, a movement which involves
the conversion of tribal and non-state peoples to more expansively organised
‘world’ religions.54 Throughout my encounters with the Hmong in Vietnam, I have
realised that they are increasingly aware of the changing world as well as of their changing
place in that world. Not only are they aware of their own marginality, they also
see the Hmong diaspora in the West as successful members of a global Hmong community.
Converting to Christianity has come to be seen as a way to become members
of this greater transnational community