Decolonizing “Protestant” Death Rituals for the Chinese Bereaved: Negotiating a Resistance that is Contextually Relevant

Abstract

Abstract This paper is a postcolonial reading of the Protestant practice of continuing bonds between the living and the dead in Hong Kong. It sees the practice as an imperfect indigenization that, in the post-colonial Hong Kong context, can be interpreted as an everyday resistance, a notion advanced by James Scott. The postcolonial relevance of an everyday resistance is explained. The findings of a qualitative study are reported to substantiate the claims. It concludes that a practical theology of imperfect indigenization understood as resistance on everyday level is a public theology recommendable to the post-colonial Hong Kong and Asia.