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Paper short abstract:

This ethnographic work examines how Bahnar youth's engagement with the Catholic Church, by relating lived experiences with generational histories, mobilizes their agency responding to the social-structural limits and assimilationist education policies as ethnic minorities in Vietnam.

Paper long abstract:

The indigenous groups situated in the Central Highland of Vietnam, for most of its history, were relatively independent communities living in tribes. Within one century, the Central Highlanders witnessed tremendous social changes from Christian conversions, two Indochina wars, Vietnam North-South war and continuous mass migration of the Kinh (the ethnic majority) into the Central Highland, making them the “minority” in their own land.

Since Vietnam reunification in 1975, despite numerous development projects from the state and international organizations, inequalities (especially educational inequalities) among Central Highlanders and the rest of Vietnam remain significant. Contextualize such situation require examining Central Highlanders’ development and education as a space of contestation and negotiation between state policy, ethnicity, class and religions.

This ethnographic examines explore the engagement of Bahnar youth's (a Central Highland's indigenous group) engagement with the Catholic Church for education advancement and social mobilization. It examines how Bahnar youth, by relating lived experiences with generational histories, mobilizes their individual and collective agency responding to the social-structural limits and assimilationist education policies as ethnic minorities in Vietnam. By presenting Bahnar community’s engagement with the thăng tiến (advancement) projects of the Catholic church, I argue for the centrality of Catholic cultural models, trans-regional and -national network in strengthening Bahnar youth’s capacity to aspire for education.

These aspirations do not disregard the marginalized status of the Bahnar nor they are habituated. They are emergent, specifically stregthened in a relational web of Bahnar youth’s lived experiences and influenced by the Catholic cultural models presented to them.