Constructing ethnic identity through discourse

Reviewed by: Korean American Evangelicals: New Models for Civic Life Peter Y. Paik, Associate Professor Korean American Evangelicals: New Models for Civic Life. By Elaine Howard Ecklund, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, 211p. Elaine Howard Ecklund's study of Korean American evangelicals represents a significant contribution to the scholarship on ethnicity and religion in the United States. Based on interviews and surveys carried out at two churches in a small city on the east coast, Ecklund's findings about the religious commitments of second-generation Korean Americans are certain to take many readers by surprise. Evangelical Protestantism has achieved astonishing success in South Korea over the past century, while Korean Americans have become recognized in the United States as one of the most successful immigrant groups. The church has been a center of social life and a provider of vital services for the first generation of Korean immigrants, but what has it meant for the second generation, who have grown up in the United States and have had to contend with expectations from their parents that conflict with the values of mainstream American society? How does the practice of religion change as Korean Americans become more integrated into American ways? The answers that Ecklund gives are quite fascinating. She makes the vital point, easily forgotten in the age of identity politics, that religion can be a means of transcending one's ethnic identity and one's cultural roots. Moreover, newcomers to a diverse society can act in ways to build bridges between groups that did not exist before. Indeed, the spiritual tendencies she sees becoming dominant among second-generation Korean Americans create a sense of cohesion among them, even as they distance themselves from their elders and become more open to influences from American society. But Ecklund emphasizes that religion for Korean Americans leads them to become critical of mainstream society as well, so that they create instead a new, third space between the culture of their parents and the dominant culture of white America. The two churches that are the focus of Ecklund's study are given the names "Grace" and "Manna." The congregation of Grace is made up of second-generation Korean Americans, while Manna is a multiethnic church [End Page 149] with a significant number of Korean American members. Grace grew out of the English language ministry of a first-generation church that invited a second-generation Korean American seminary student to organize a separate service for young people. Manna, by contrast, is a multiethnic church founded by the merging of a Chinese American congregation and a Korean American congregation. The membership of Manna includes a wide range of Asian Americans - Cambodians, Indians, Vietnamese, and Filipino in addition to Koreans and Chinese, but a quarter of the church is made up of whites, blacks, and Latinos. The membership of both churches is composed primarily of young professionals and post-secondary students. While Grace serves a predominantly Korean American congregation, Manna has made the deliberate choice to become a multiethnic congregation. Ecklund notes that this choice came about not from demographic changes nor from a shift in denominational priorities. Rather, the pastors leading the merged congregations decided that building a multiethnic church was a "calling from God" (p. 41). Ecklund argues that multiethnic congregations like Manna enable their members to "negotiate" multiple and malleable identities" and "connect an appreciation of ethnic diversity to religious morality" (p. 143). The members of Manna Church uphold diversity and inclusion as key values of Christianity, leading them to criticize and oppose discrimination and exclusion in American society at large. The goal of many second-generation Korean American evangelicals is neither to assimilate into the dominant white culture, nor to retreat into their own heritage. Rather, what their faith enables them to do is to maintain a critical distance from the hegemonic mainstream while overcoming the limitations of a narrow ethnic perspective. Such a possibility often goes overlooked in standard academic accounts of ethnic or racial identity formation, and Ecklund provides a much-needed corrective to the narrow understanding of identity politics that still prevails in many scholarly circles. Ecklund's study opens up a dynamic perspective on Korean American life. Religion brings...

This study compared the ethnic identity and well-being of Korean Americans who were adopted internationally with immigrant/U.S.-born Korean Americans and Korean international students, as well as the relationship between ethnic identity and well-being for each group. One-hundred seven college students completed measures of ethnic identity and subjective well-being. Immigrant/U.S.-born Korean Americans had higher ethnic identity scores than the other two groups. Immigrant/U.S.-born Korean Americans also had higher positive affect scores than international students. Ethnic identity was positively correlated with positive affect for all three groups (r = .27 to .34) but was negatively correlated with negative affect for international students (r = –.44). Overall, the results suggest that ethnic identity, although slightly lower than in non-adopted peers, is relevant to the well-being of adopted Korean American college students.

In order to understand Korean American immigrants'adjustment to American society, it is important to understand how their life rituals and ethnic identities maintain or change over time and across immigration generations. To achieve this goal, this study examined how Korean Americans who resided in the New York City metropolitan area and New Jersey State performed life rituals and formed ethnic identities. A total of 18 Korean immigrants participated in one-on-one in-depth interviews and the interview data were analyzed with the themes. The results showed that Korean Americans performed life rituals integrating both Korean and American cultural aspects. Many Korean Americans attempted to perform life rituals based on American cultural holidays and procedures. However, a majority of these Koreans also strived to maintain Korean ethnic identities and also practice traditionally Korean life rituals as a way to preserve this ethnic identity. These findings suggest that across time and generation, Korean Americans prefer to maintain their Korean cultural identity, while not shunning the adoption of typical "American" rituals. The way that Korean Americans practice and develop identities differs very little across immigration generation. These findings provide insight on how the Korean government may support foreigners and immigrant families in South Korea and Korean Americans' acculturation processes in the U.S.

830 Reviews Reading these diverse yet commonly threaded stories, readers can come to their own conclusions regarding the liminal, fluid, intersectional, multiple, and continuously evolving nature of Korean Americans’ ethnic identity formation. The editors, however, organize the personal narratives by utilizing a typology of ethnic identity development, which they introduce in the beginning and revisit at the end of the book. Ethnic identity formation is dependent on a combination of low and high internal factors (retention of ethnic culture, involvement in ethnic social networks, linkages to the homeland) and external factors (racial discrimination). Based on this typology, the editors conclude that the first cohort of Korean Americans had many more problems in developing their ethnic identity than the later cohort. This is due to the earlier cohort having more difficulty in retaining ethnic culture, being less involved in ethnic social networks, and lacking posi- tive linkages to the homeland than the later cohort. It is also because the earlier cohort grew up encountering more intense and overt racial discrimination in America than the later cohort. Thus, the later cohort of Korean Americans are more likely to have a strong positive ethnic identity as Koreans throughout their lives and have experienced much less inner psychological turmoil over their identity than the earlier cohort. The editors therefore conclude that today’s youn- ger generation of Korean Americans are not forced to accept either a Korean or an Asian label. Instead, they have the luxury of choos- ing whether or not they want to add their Korean ethnic identity onto their American identity. They can pick and choose from American and Korean culture in the ways that suit them best. Readers may find that the personal narra- tives that fill the main body of the book do not fit neatly into the ethnic identity typology provided by the editors. No matter their cohort type, all of the essays share the com- mon thread of being in-between, self- conscious, hybrid, and experiencing an identity evolution. The identity typology insufficiently captures the fluid, situational, intersectional, and evolving nature of identi- ties across time and place. Given that the book seeks to provide a cohort analysis, it would have also been helpful to have a more detailed description of the sample so that readers could know how the two cohorts compared in terms of age, gender, place of socialization, and class. It is also unclear how the essays were selected and how representative they are of the Korean American population. Several of the essay authors are sociology PhDs, and many are leaders in the Korean American community. As the editors recognize, their cohort analysis is also impeded by the fact that there are only three essays from the first cohort and that not all of the same subjects were addressed in the essays. Finally, readers who have a more sys- tematic view of racism in America may ques- tion how easily Korean Americans can now forge an optional ethnicity of their own. Younger-Generation Korean Experiences in the United States is, no doubt, a must-read for anyone interested in the subject of 1.5- and second-generations’ ethnic identity forma- tion. Some readers may find the typology of ethnic identity formation helpful. All readers will find the personal narratives of the second generation’s journey of ethnic identity development moving and thought- provoking. Jalos, USA: Transnational Community and Identity, by Alfredo Mirande´. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2014. 240 pp. $27.00 paper. ISBN: 9780268035327. A BIGAIL A NDREWS University of California, San Diego alandrews@ucsd.edu In a growing literature on transnational migration, Alfredo Mirande´’s book Jalos, USA: Transnational Community and Identity adds a rich portrait of a migrant community, stretched between the hometown of Jalos, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, and its primary destination of Turlock, in the Central Valley of California. Building on seminal contribu- tions to the study of transnationalism, such as the work of Peggy Levitt (2001) and Robert Smith (2006), Mirande´ uses in-depth interviews and focus groups to portray in detail the workings of a transnational com- munity, including religious festivals and traditions, gender interactions in daily life, the ways people maintain a shared identity Contemporary Sociology 44, 6 Downloaded from csx.sagepub.com at UNIV CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO on October 27, 2016

Western and domestic researchers admit that ethnic identity is a complex and multifaceted social phenomenon, which is characterized by an individual’s (group’s) awareness of their belonging to a particular ethnic community, understanding, evaluating and experiencing their membership in it. Ethnicity in the United States, depending on what race a person belongs to, can be flexible and voluntary, or it can be something real and imposed by social and political factors. The diaspora community model appears as a real group adaptation strategy. However, not every ethnic group has the ability to create a diaspora, but only an ethnic group which is resistant to assimilation can. The sense of ethnicity for Korean Americans is an important factor that hinders assimilation. Ethnicity is the most significant characteristic of the diaspora. The Korean diaspora in America is represented by first, 1.5, and, to a lesser extent, second generation immigrants. In the diaspora, ethnic identity is manifested in rigidly fixed blood and cultural ties. This is a constant predetermined from birth, and not a result of a choice. Although the family is an important social institution in the formation of the ethnic identity of Koreans, one cannot but agree that the main social institution that plays a significant role in the formation of diaspora identity is the Korean Christian churches. Today, the Korean American community is in the process of diasporaization and has the characteristics of a “new” or “modern” diaspora.

This study examines how a diaspora of Korean Americans connected online perceived the homeland disaster of the sinking of the Sewol ferry, which took 304 lives, and to what extent their perceptions relate to ethnic identity. Results are drawn from 1,000 comments posted on MissyUSA, the largest online community for Korean Americans. Additionally, 70 online interviews were conducted 1.5 years after the tragedy to gauge lingering effects. The findings demonstrate that the diasporic discourse about the disaster was fraught with emotions. While guilt, grief and anger reminded Korean Americans of their ethnic identity, shame made them question what it means to be Korean. Drawing upon ethnic identity negotiation theory, this study illuminates the interconnection between online ethnic communication, emotions, and ethnic identity.

This study investigates how second-generation Korean-American students form and transform their senses of ethnicity through their participation in Korean language classes. I did a one-year ethnographic study of the Korean language classes (basic and intermediate levels) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which were largely populated by second- and 1.5-generation Korean Americans. From these Korean-American college students, who have 'successfully' negotiated through the American educational system, I learned that becoming an English speaker does not necessarily mean the loss of ethnic identity, and that learning Korean (a 'heritage' language) does not necessarily lead to homogeneous ethnic identity formation. Although the classroom is certainly a place in which language knowledge is imparted, much classroom activity utilises words and grammatical points as semantic mediators of culture, history, and even politics; in short, the stakes are high. My ethnography focuses on the micro-practices of language teaching and learning in order to explore these interactions, and thereby take up identity formation and transformation. Participants' personal language repertoire and use reflect diverse social worlds and locations (including time of immigration, place of residence, and relationship to the homeland) through which their transnational lived histories have been constituted.

This preliminary study provides an interpretive reading of focus group interviews of four Korean American children in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It examines how these Korean American children are negotiating their ethnic identity as Korean Americans while learning Korean as a heritage language. It shows that maintaining heritage language is important to Korean American children in terms of helping them have a positive ethnic identity. This study provides a viewpoint on learning heritage language and ethnic identity from the perspectives of young Korean Americans.

Scholarly and popular commentators lament the deterioration of civil society as a result of American individualism, a decline in some part based on eroding religious participation. In this context, it is important to ask how second-generation immigrants use religious resources to understand, participate in, and potentially change American religion. Scholars stress that religion was vital for the civic integration of earlier European immigrants. However, studies of religion among our nation's newest immigrants largely focus on how religion serves the immigrant community -- for example by creating job networks and helping retain ethnic identity in the second generation. In this book Ecklund widens the inquiry to look at how Korean Americans use religion to negotiate civic responsibility, as well as to create racial and ethnic identity. She compares the views and activities of second generation Korean Americans in two different congregational settings, one ethnically Korean and the other multi-ethnic. Surprisingly, she finds that the Korean churches de-emphasize ethnicity. They look like other evangelical congregations and are concerned about evangelizing in the context of providing social services. Multiethnic churches, in contrast, use evangelical Christianity to legitimate a political and social justice consciousness that values ethnic diversity and and individualized understanding of faith in the context of a conservative Christianity. Korean Americans in both kinds of churches are deeply concerned about helping those in their local community, including non-Koreans and non-Christians. In multiethnic churches, however, Korean Americans also develop an awareness of local politics and a concern with social justice for other ethnic and racial minorities. Ecklund's work is based on ethnographic data from two congregations in one impoverished, primarily non-white city on the east coast, which provided the opportunity to compare how members of each practiced community service in the same urban context. She also conducted more than 100 in-depth interviews with Korean American members of these and seven other churches around the country, and draws extensively on the secondary literature on immigrant religion, American civic life, and Korean American religion. Her book is a unique contribution to the literature on religion, race, and ethnicity and on immigration and civic life.

This chapter shows that jaemi gyopo (Korean Americans) is a diverse group with various people who have different ethnic identities or senses of belonging that are constantly shifting. Considering the ethnic status and history of Korean Americans community which has been oscillating between a Korea-centered to a Korean American focus, Korean American return migrants faced with differentiation do not redefine their identity in nationalist terms as Americans vis-a-vis the Koreans. While a popular expression of “in-betweenness” is often used, the process of identity negotiation can be understood in two folds as a strengthening of a hybrid and transnational identity of “Korean Americans” and a participating in the formation of new ethnic identity of globalized Korean.

This chapter retells Korean American adult heritage learners’ experiences in translanguaging space(s) and the counter-experience that they faced from other speakers of the Korean language. The study of translanguaging values the use of two languages in the processes of making meaning, gaining understanding and knowledge, and constructing identities. For this study I interviewed five Korean Americans, aged 25–56, living in the Midwest and learning their heritage language as an adult through self-studying, using books and online resources, or through classes at community-based centers. The participants included second-generation Korean Americans and biracial Koreans learning the language for various purposes, including strengthening their identity as Korean or Korean American. These participants not only showed a strong desire to learn the language but created translanguaging space(s) to practice the language or connect to the local Korean community. Through the interviews, participants shared that they would try to speak Korean to other native Korean speakers or identify ethnically as Korean to feel connected, but in return, they were criticized for their level of language proficiency, the incorrect use of formality, or their Westernized accent. In this chapter, I hope to share the counter-experience that the adult Korean heritage language learners faced at the translanguaging space(s) that they created.

Identity is regarded as a cultural and historical product of constant negotiation processes influenced by specific social and cultural contexts. This study examines Korean American students' ethnic identities in terms of peer group, family, and media influences. A "thick analysis" based on 6-month participant observations and interviews in two Korean American communities was undertaken. Although they were born and grew up in the United States, most of the interviewees at both universities expressed that they were Korean (or Korean American) rather than American. Specifically, it was found that their family played an important role in teaching them the Korean language and customs in the early period of identity construction. Following, Korean videos, mobile phones, and the Internet were the main media through which these Korean Americans learned about Korean culture and society, and increased intra-ethnic communication within the diasporic Korean American community context.

Acculturation strategy, a varying combination of heritage and mainstream cultural orientations and one of the significant determinants of youth development, has been understudied with Asian American youth and particularly at a subgroup-specific level. This study used person-oriented latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify acculturation strategy subtypes among Filipino American and Korean American adolescents living in the Midwest. Associations between the subtypes and numerous correlates including demographics, family process and youth outcomes were also examined. Using large scale survey data (N = 1580; 379 Filipino American youth and 377 parents, and 410 Korean American youth and 414 parents; MAGE of youth = 15.01), the study found three acculturation subtypes for Filipino American youth: High Assimilation with Ethnic Identity, Integrated Bicultural with Strongest Ethnic Identity, and Modest Bicultural with Strong Ethnic Identity; and three acculturation subtypes for Korean American youth: Separation, Integrated Bicultural, and Modest Bicultural with Strong Ethnic Identity. Both Filipino American and Korean American youth exhibited immersion in the host culture while retaining a strong heritage identity. Although bicultural strategies appear most favorable, the results varied by gender and ethnicity, e.g., integrated bicultural Filipino Americans, comprised of more girls, might do well at school but were at risk of poor mental health. Korean American separation, comprised of more boys, demonstrated a small but significant risk in family process and substance use behaviors that merits in-depth examination. The findings deepen the understanding of heterogeneous acculturation strategies among Asian American youth and provide implications for future research.

Recent sociophonetic research has focused on the ways in which race and ethnicity influence language as well as how language is used to construct racial and ethnic identity. Comparisons of the speech of members of one ethnic group across different regions are still uncommon. In this study, fifty-one native American English speakers of Korean descent, hailing from three different dialect areas of the United States (Los Angeles County and Orange County, California; Harris County, Texas; and Gwinnett County, Georgia), were recorded speaking English in casual interviews. Their speech was analyzed for characteristics of local sound patterns in each region, including the Short Front Vowel Shift (California Vowel Shift) and the Southern Vowel Shift, as well as overall Vowel Space Area. All three groups showed evidence of the Short Front Vowel Shift, and none demonstrated the Southern Vowel Shift. The Californian speakers had the smallest vowel spaces, while the Georgian speakers had the largest. We relate these findings to the ways Korean Americans in Texas and California understand their ethnic identity vis-à-vis a kind of metropolitan or urban speech style in a highly multicultural environment, while, in comparison, Korean Americans in Georgia may use vowel space to highlight their orientation toward or away from local mainstream (white) cultural identity.

This article explores the radical changes that South Korea have gone through in the last decade, and how these changes, in turn, have influenced and reshaped Korean American communities in the United States of America, especially within Korean-American immigrant churches and their views, and understanding of the new generations. It examines what is needed within Korean American immigrant communities and their churches in three-fold dimensions. First in the philosophical aspect, the emphasis of rationality and postmodern plurality becomes evident and challenges irrationally-enforced Christian belief in the traditional immigrant churches. New generations educated by critical rationality and pluralistic inclusiveness will not honor the current exclusiveness. Second, the transitions of the Korea’s rapid economic developments and the upgraded economic status of Korean-American immigrants challenge the ultimate goal and meaning of people’s spiritual life. The traditional and typical message of church focusing on individual survival and prosperity needs to be transformed with the message of community service and responsibility. Third, the cultural transition of the Korean wave, called Hallyu, unexpectedly but powerfully changed the Korean-American identity, especially the view their own Korean heritage. Postmodern anti-authoritarianism requires that the traditional single, authoritative, and top-down leadership paradigm needs to be transformed into mutual, inclusive, and communal leadership. The new paradigm of digital communication accelerates and actualizes these transitions into the physical lives of Korean-Americans. The churches are required to be contextually relevant to and responsible for these powerful transitions and to claim the meaning and mission of its existence for the Korean-American immigrant community.