318 research outputs found
Grappling with ethnoreligious politics and positionalities in Vietnam
Full text linkExperiences made me acutely aware of the association of the West with Christianity as converging imperialist powers in Vietnam’s tumultuous history, both within academia and the Vietnamese state. This created both practical and ethical challenges for me to navigate while conducting in-depth interviews and participant observation over the space of several months between 2016 and 2017, but also some surprising opportunities, writes Seb Rumsby
Rumours, sects and rallies : the ethnic politics of recent Hmong Millenarian movements in Vietnam’s highlands
Full text linkContrary to modernist assumptions, millenarianism has not died out but continues to influence the politics of many marginalised groups in upland Southeast Asia, including the Hmong. This article summarises and analyses post-World War II Hmong millenarian activity in Vietnam, focusing on three case studies from the 1980s onwards, within the political backdrop of ongoing government suspicions of ethnic separatism and foreign interference. Far from being isolated or peripheral, Hmong millenarian rumours and movements interact with overseas diasporas, human rights agencies and international religious networks to influence state responses, sometimes in unexpected ways
Hmong Christianisation, the will to improve and the question of neoliberalism in Vietnam’s highlands
Full text linkThis article focuses on the convergence of mass Christianisation and economic transformations among the Hmong of Vietnam’s northern highlands over the past thirty years. A history of impoverishment and ethnic discrimination has led hundreds of thousands of Hmong to follow Christianity as a perceived alternative path to progress instead of the state-led development agenda, despite sharing the same ‘will to improve’. By exploring local understandings about the means to development as well as new religious teaching on prosperity, entrepreneurialism and calculativity in a rapidly developing Hmong village, this paper queries the ‘elective affinity’ between new Christian movements and neoliberalism posited by other scholars. The case study highlights the awkward combination of ‘cooperative competitiveness’ accompanying a community-benefit tourism development model. Hmong Christian activity can both overlap and sit at odds with government agendas and market expansion, resulting in complex transformations and subjectivities which cannot simply be reduced to neoliberal logic
Hmong Christian elites as political and development brokers : competition, cooperation and mimesis in Vietnam's highlands
Full text linkThis article focuses on the role of new Hmong religious leaders – predominantly young men – who have played an important role in spreading Protestant Christianity across Vietnam’s highlands over the past 30 years. These pastors and evangelists have directly challenged the authority of previously established Hmong local elites, whose legitimacy rested on traditional religious authority and/or state patronage, causing significant social conflict along the way. Some new Christian pioneers have gained local elite status as political and development brokers for their community, enjoying a potent combination of spiritual authority, strong external networks and financial success. As such, international religious networks can function as alternative patrons to the state for well-placed Hmong Christian elites to tap into and redistribute to their communities – to varying degrees. Contextualising such leadership dynamics within wider anthropological scholarship of upland Southeast Asia affirms the ‘pioneering ethos’ of local elites in challenging, complying with or mimicking state forms of governance in their attempts to draw in and channel external potency. This highlights the degree of political manoeuvring space available to non-state actors in a supposedly authoritarian state, as well as ongoing tensions and controversies facing pastors who negotiate ambiguous relationships with powerful external forces
Historical continuities and changes in the ethnic politics of Hmong-Miao millenarianism
Full text linkMillenarian movements used to be regarded as native reactions to enormous social disruptions caused by colonial intrusion, doomed to failure and at best a step on the way to more “modern” forms of collective social resistance. In fact, they have both pre-dated and outlasted colonialism, featuring in ethnic politics across Asia and beyond to this day. Nevertheless, its encounter with modernity has not left millenarianism unchanged, as is shown in this article’s historical case study. A comprehensive timeline and mapping of past and present Hmong-Miao millenarian activity highlights several enduring features including a context of economic and political crisis, their transnational nature, the prevalence of manipulation and/or coercion, and specific cultural symbols within supernatural predictions. Equally important are the historical developments, from pan-ethnic to mono-ethnic and from violent to peaceful (but still threatening to political and religious authorities), reflecting historical trends of ethnicisation and territorialisation. The mechanics of such reproductions and transformations are then unpacked, before the Hmong-Miao experience is compared with millenarian activity from other groups of upland Southeast Asia. Millenarianism continues to play a role in voicing social discontent, challenging power structures and moulding ethnic relations, but needs to be examined and understood within evolving socio-political contexts
Characteristics of financial services by A/S SEB bank
No full textBakalaura darba tēma ir „Finanšu pakalpojumu raksturojums A/S SEB bankā”. Bakalaura darba mērķis ir izanalizēt SEB bankas produktu klāstu un sniegt priekšlikumus tā pilnveidošanai. Darba pirmajā nodaļā autore apskata SEB bankas vēsturisko attīstību, bankas pakalpojuma jēdzienu un SEB bankas piedāvāto pakalpojumu klāstu. Otrajā nodaļā tiek analizēti SEB bankas norēķinu produkti, noguldījumu un kreditēšanas pakalpojumi, izmantojot statistiskos datus par banku produktu attīstību laika posmā no 2011. gada līdz 2015. gadam. Darba trešajā nodaļā autore apskatīja iespējamās SEB bankas produktu inovācijas perspektīvas. Darba noslēgumā autore sniedz secinājumus un priekšlikumus. Bakalaura darba apjoms ir 69 lapas, 5 tabulas, 29 attēli, izmantoti 59 literatūras avoti.This bachelor’s degree thesis is Characteristics of financial services by A/S SEB bank. Bachelor diploma’s objectives are to analyze A/S SEB bank financial services, as well as to make a proposal on improving it. In the first part financial services are reviewed from the theoretical prospective and to study SEB Bank’s history and development in Latvia. In the second part the author analyzes the payment deposit and lending services, financial services statistics are being analyzed using period from year 2011 to 2015. In the third part the author looked at the potential A/S SEB bank product innovation perspective. In the bachelor’s thesis the author offers resume, and brings forward suggestions. Bachelor diploma contains 69 pages, 5 diagrams, 29 pictures and 59 literature sources
Financial analysis of comercial banks “SEB” activity
No full textDiplomdarba temats ir Komercbankas “Seb” darbības finanšu analīze. Darbs tiek veikts divās daļās. Teorētisks apraksts un komercbankas “Seb” finanšu analīze, un, Komercbankas “Seb” un “Swedbank” finanšu analīzes rezultātu salīdzinājums. Teorētiskajā aprakstā un komercbankas “Seb”finanšu analīzē autore apskata teorētiskos finanšu analīzes jautājumus uz kuru pamatu tiek veikta komercbankas “Seb” finanšu analīze. Komercbankas “Seb” un “Swedbank” finanšu analīzes rezultātu salīdzinājumā, tiek salīdzināti pirmajā daļā aprakstīto “Seb” bankas finanšu analīzes aprēķinu rezultāti ar “Swedbank” finanšu analīzes rezultātiem. Darba apjoms ir 68 lapaspuses, tajā ietilpst 33 tabulas, 33 attēli un 31 formulas. Diplomdarba izstrādei izmantoti 13 literatūras un informācijas avoti. Darbam ir teorētiska un praktiska vērtība.Diploma topic is Commercial banks “Seb” activities in the financial analysis. The work is done in two parts. Theoretical descriptions of commercial bank “Seb” financial analysis and commercial bank “Seb” and “Swedbank” financial analysis. The author examines theorist financial analysis issues on the basis of which is carried out by commercial banks “Seb” financial analysis. Commercial bank “Seb” and “Swedbank” financial result compared, are compared to the first part described “Seb” financial analysis of calculation results whit “Swedbank” financial analysis. The volume of work is 68 pages, it includes 33 tables, 33 figures and 31 formulas. Diploma work used 13 literature and information sources. The work is theoretical and practical value
Alternative routes to development? The everyday political economy of Christianisation among a marginalised ethnic minority in Vietnam’s highlands
Full text linkAbstract: Over the past 30 years, upland Vietnam has witnessed the remarkable conversion of over 300,000 Hmong people to Protestant Christianity, despite state-sponsored religious persecution and the absence of foreign missionaries. The central research questions of this thesis are: how does Christianisation interact with processes of ‘development’, state territorialisation and market expansion among a marginalised minority group in Vietnam, and to what extent can these interactions be considered empowering and disempowering? To answer this question, I employ an everyday political economy analytical lens, informed by insights from a diverse body of interdisciplinary literature including critical development studies, sociology of religion, colonial history and postsecular feminism.
Based on rich qualitative data gathered through extensive primary fieldwork in Vietnam’s highlands and cities, empirical chapters show how state religious policies have been brutal and largely unsuccessful, whilst everyday political tactics of resistance, avoidance and active compliance on behalf of Hmong Christians have had unforeseen political ramifications, with young male pastors emerging as a powerful new group of elites who act as political and development brokers. Although conversion has generated significant social conflict within communities, those who embraced and benefited from Christianity have often come from the most marginalised sectors of Hmong society, especially women and those without beneficial state connections. Christianity does not challenge the ‘will to improve’, a hegemonic desire in Vietnam’s highlands, but it arguably prepares Hmong communities for integration into the national capitalist market whilst allowing for the maintenance of ethnic distinctiveness. While the neoliberal logic is present in state policies, marketisation and religious transformation in upland Vietnam, it is not monolithic but intersects with other cultural rationalities of communalism as well as political projects of territorialisation. These findings can contribute to wider understandings about the nature of everyday agency within the intersections of religious, political and economic transformations
<Book Reviews>Tâm T. T. Ngô. The New Way: Protestantism and the Hmong in Vietnam. Critical Dialogues in Southeast Asian Studies. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2016.
Full text linkEmployee Reactions to Change in "SEB Bank"
No full textLielākā daļa pārmaiņu iniciatīvu organizācijās cieš neveiksmi, un tā iemesli tiek saistīti ar darbinieku negatīvo reakciju uz organizācijas pārmaiņām. Šā bakalaura darba mērķis ir identificēt faktorus, kuri ietekmē darbinieku reakciju uz pārmaiņām vairākās AS “SEB banka” struktūrvienībās. Pirmajā daļā autore analizē un salīdzina teorijas par darbinieku reakcijas veidošanās mehānismu. Otrajā daļā autore analizē trīs līmeņu faktorus, kuri ietekmē darbinieku reakciju, un to praktiskās izmantošanas iespējas. Trešajā daļā autore analizē datus, kuri iegūti, aptaujājot AS “SEB banka” darbiniekus. Pētījumā iekļauti teorētiski un praktiski secinājumi, kā arī priekšlikumi turpmākai pētniecībai un AS “SEB banka” vadībai. Atslēgvārdi: darbinieku reakcija uz pārmaiņām; darbinieku attieksme pret pārmaiņām; organizācijas pārmaiņas; pārmaiņu vadībaMost organisational change initiatives are unsuccessful, largely due to employees` negative reactions to change. The purpose of this thesis is identifying factors that influence employee reactions to change in several structural units of joint-stock company “SEB bank”. In the first part of this paper, the author provides a comparative analysis of theoretical concepts related to the formation of employee reactions. The second part contains analysis of 3 groups of factors influencing employee reactions to change. The third part consists of data analysis, based on a survey of “SEB bank” employees. The paper reaches conclusions regarding both theory and practice, suggestions for future research and change management in “SEB bank”. Keywords: employee reactions to change; employee attitude towards change; organisational change; change managemen
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