Cowboys and Indians: Indian Priests in Rural Montana

Abstract

In this article, I examine Catholic missionary priests from India in rural Montana. I begin with an overview of Asian settler colonialism and gender, sexuality, and racialization in the rural. I then discuss the dimensions of religious worker migration, racism, and settler colonialism. Using a comparative racialization framework, I locate how privileged groups use notions of victimization to deploy ideas of place-based belonging against racial "others"—the dispossessed and foreign "import." I conclude by examining global connections between white cowboys and Indian priests. The Asian diaspora in rural Montana provides context for the ways in which the Asian diaspora, settler colonialism, and comparative racializations function in the U.S.