Hi everyone! My name is Dung Tran, a rising sophomore at the School of Foreign Service in Qatar, planning to major in International Politics. Unfortunately, there are no concentrations on our campus, so IPOL is my current focus. Hopefully, in the future, there will be more study opportunities made available to us. I love binging Scandinavian thrillers - just finished Occupied and Borgen, highly recommend you check it out! My academic interests are aligned in the Asia-Pacific region, specifically the geopolitics of Vietnam - where I am from!
This summer, I will be working on a research project about religious studies, focusing on Buddhism in Vietnam. Unlike most folks here, I want to bring to light an often overlooked discipline, but has such a profound impact on shaping societies and defining shared values. I will be working alongside Professor Patrick Laude in the Department of Theology for this project. I aim to answer two questions:
- To what extent does Vietnamese Buddhism exist as an indigenous branch of Buddhism?
- To what extent does Vietnamese Buddhism influence Vietnamese identity and society?
This project is a two-part study of Buddhism in contemporary Vietnam. Part A is a theological study of Vietnamese Buddhism and its syncretism with peripheral native faiths and socialism as an indigenous Buddhist branch to Vietnam. Part B will engage with data points secondary literature and primary sources, and unpacked to understand the architecture of modern Vietnamese identity, before determining the role played by Buddhism in Vietnamese society.
Buddhism in Vietnam is widely practiced, accepted, and embraced by the Communist state as a means of consolidating national identity and reinforcing the imagined community. Unlike China, Myanmar, and Thailand, the state neither oppresses nor weaponises religion - rather, there appears to be a harmonious co-existence of faith and state in Vietnam. As one of the fastest developing economies in the world, a growing voice in the Asia-Pacific region, and a locale of interest for the U.S.' geopolitical pivoting, Vietnam is becoming more relevant than ever. Understanding the fabric that binds Vietnamese society and culture together through time and space is a thrilling project that I hope to complete this summer.
This will also be my first foray into academic research, so I am understandably quite nervous! I am excited to be part of this cohort, and will hopefully learn a lot more about my country, my culture, and myself throughout the project :) Looking forward to learn about all your fascinating research projects!
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