Digital Circulations and Sacred-Boundary Contestations at the Cham Temple of the Mother Goddess in Vietnam

Vietnam’s ‘modernisation’ increasingly relies on heritage-tourism, often prioritising economic development over Indigenous sacred meanings at religious sites. This research investigates this dynamic through the lens of Bourdieu’s symbolic violence, analysing how tourist-oriented Hầu Đồng (spirit mediumship) performances at Po Inâ Nâgar temple normalise the transformation of sacred grounds into performance platforms. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork from 2022 to 2025, the study utilises participant observation, 25 in-depth interviews, and a netnographic analysis of 2,543 online comments. These findings reveal how the local Cham community navigates this dynamic, utilising digital technologies to interpret and respond to the online circulation of these events. By advocating for temple sanctity and ritual stewardship, they reassert cultural authority. Ultimately, this work contributes to the digital anthropology of religion and heritage preservation scholarship, highlighting how Indigenous communities maintain agency across physical and digital landscapes.