The Chee Kung Tong: a voluntary sworn brotherhood across the Cantonese world

This article examines the development of the Cantonese sworn brotherhood, the Chee Kung Tong, in global perspective. By examining the broad thematic similarities between the chapters that developed around the world, this article argues that the Chee Kung Tong adapted the sworn brotherhood, an associ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inEthnic and racial studies Vol. 47; no. 16; pp. 3648 - 3667
Main Author González, Fredy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Routledge 09.12.2024
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Subjects
Cantonese Pacific
Chee Kung Tong
diaspora
Global perspective
Initiation rites
Migrants
Migration
Rituals
Secret societies
sworn brotherhoods
transnationalism
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This article examines the development of the Cantonese sworn brotherhood, the Chee Kung Tong, in global perspective. By examining the broad thematic similarities between the chapters that developed around the world, this article argues that the Chee Kung Tong adapted the sworn brotherhood, an associational form long used in mainland China and Southeast Asia, into a flexible organization able to meet the needs of mobile and vulnerable Cantonese migrants. At the same time, it used the circulation of rituals, goods, and people, to unite scattered migrants into the same fictive family.
ISSN:0141-9870
1466-4356
DOI:10.1080/01419870.2024.2363532