Melissa Borja
Biographic Data
| ID | 2223902 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melissa Borja |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melissa |
| FAMILY NAME | Borja |
| SIGNATURE | BORJA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Michigan |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8663-8034 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 6 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 6 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Severing ties: Ritual objects and the category of religion in Hmong American families
This article considers two objects at the center of the Hmong ritual life – the wrist strings tied during a khi tes ceremony and the meat of ritually sacrificed animals – and analyzes the diverse ways that Hmong American Christians have understood the significance of these objects and managed the family and community controversies surrounding them. Drawing on oral histories, news media coverage, and archival sources, this article shows how Hmong …
Follow the New Way: American Refugee Resettlement Policy and Hmong Religious Change
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 turb…
Please Love Our Asian American Neighbors”: Christian Responses to Anti-Asian Racism during the Covid-19 Pandemic
How have American religious groups engaged in the issue of contemporary anti-Asian racism? This article examines statements issued by Christian denominations in the United States to understand how American Christians have responded to the recent rise in racist and violent attacks on Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that while all of the statements condemned anti-Asian racism, Christian responses varied in significant ways: i…
Internationalism with Evangelical Characteristics: The Case of Evangelical Responses to Southeast Asian Refugees
Using evangelical efforts to resettle Southeast Asian refugees as a historical case study, this article argues that white evangelicals display both populist and internationalist tendencies and that a sense of religious peoplehood has shaped their humanitarian work. Although evangelicals often welcomed Southeast Asian refugees, archival and oral history evidence indicate that they were eager to resettle fellow Christians and to aid refugees throug…
Migration and Modern Religious Pluralism
In the second half of the twentieth century, the United States enacted major changes in immigration policy that, in turn, produced dramatic changes in the ethno-racial and religious makeup of the American population. Especially after 1965, unprecedented numbers of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, animists, and ancestor-worshippers migrated to the United States, as did Asian, African, and Latino Christians who introduced new cultural diversity to Ameri…
Speaking of Spirits: Oral History, Religious Change, and the Seen and Unseen Worlds of Hmong Americans
This essay argues that oral history allows scholars to see what might otherwise be invisible to them: the gods and spirits that are a forceful presence in the lives of religious people. Oral history changes how scholars write religious history by illuminating how choices of religious belief, practice, and identity are rooted in how religious people understand and interact with an unseen spiritual world. To illustrate this point, this essay focuse…
Internationalism with Evangelical Characteristics: The Case of Evangelical Responses to Southeast Asian Refugees
Using evangelical efforts to resettle Southeast Asian refugees as a historical case study, this article argues that white evangelicals display both populist and internationalist tendencies and that a sense of religious peoplehood has shaped their humanitarian work. Although evangelicals often welcomed Southeast Asian refugees, archival and oral history evidence indicate that they were eager to resettle fellow Christians and to aid refugees throug…
Speaking of Spirits: Oral History, Religious Change, and the Seen and Unseen Worlds of Hmong Americans
This essay argues that oral history allows scholars to see what might otherwise be invisible to them: the gods and spirits that are a forceful presence in the lives of religious people. Oral history changes how scholars write religious history by illuminating how choices of religious belief, practice, and identity are rooted in how religious people understand and interact with an unseen spiritual world. To illustrate this point, this essay focuse…
Migration and Modern Religious Pluralism
In the second half of the twentieth century, the United States enacted major changes in immigration policy that, in turn, produced dramatic changes in the ethno-racial and religious makeup of the American population. Especially after 1965, unprecedented numbers of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, animists, and ancestor-worshippers migrated to the United States, as did Asian, African, and Latino Christians who introduced new cultural diversity to Ameri…
Internationalism with Evangelical Characteristics: The Case of Evangelical Responses to Southeast Asian Refugees
Using evangelical efforts to resettle Southeast Asian refugees as a historical case study, this article argues that white evangelicals display both populist and internationalist tendencies and that a sense of religious peoplehood has shaped their humanitarian work. Although evangelicals often welcomed Southeast Asian refugees, archival and oral history evidence indicate that they were eager to resettle fellow Christians and to aid refugees throug…
Follow the New Way: American Refugee Resettlement Policy and Hmong Religious Change
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 turb…
Please Love Our Asian American Neighbors”: Christian Responses to Anti-Asian Racism during the Covid-19 Pandemic
How have American religious groups engaged in the issue of contemporary anti-Asian racism? This article examines statements issued by Christian denominations in the United States to understand how American Christians have responded to the recent rise in racist and violent attacks on Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that while all of the statements condemned anti-Asian racism, Christian responses varied in significant ways: i…
Severing ties: Ritual objects and the category of religion in Hmong American families
This article considers two objects at the center of the Hmong ritual life – the wrist strings tied during a khi tes ceremony and the meat of ritually sacrificed animals – and analyzes the diverse ways that Hmong American Christians have understood the significance of these objects and managed the family and community controversies surrounding them. Drawing on oral histories, news media coverage, and archival sources, this article shows how Hmong …
Gender Studies (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · History (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Religious studies (4 works) · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies (4 works) · Anthropology (3 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (3 works) · Aesthetics (2 works) · Art (2 works)