Typically, scholars approach migrants’ religions as a safeguard of cultural identity, something that connects migrants to their communities of origin. This ethnographic anthology challenges that position by reframing the religious experiences of migrants as a transformative force capable of refashioning narratives of displacement into journeys of spiritual awakening and missionary calling. These essays explore migrants’ motivations in support of an argument that to travel inspires a search for new meaning in religion.
Author Bio
Bernardo Brown is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. He obtained his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Cornell University and has recently edited with Michael Feener, "Configuring Catholicism in the Anthropology of Christianity"
Brenda S. Yeoh is Provost's Chair Professor in the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore. Most recently she has co-authored Contested memoryscapes: The Politics of Second World War Commemoration in Singapore (Ashgate, 2016), Transnational Labour Migration, Remittances and the Changing Family in Asia (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) and Return: Nationalizing Transnational Mobility in Asia (Duke University Press, 2013).
