Migrant Conversions: Transforming Connections between Peru and South Korea

Abstract

Erica Vogel’s monograph, which highlights the multifaceted and complicated lives of migrants from the global South in their pursuit of a place in the economy of the global North, is an in-depth ethnographic work spanning five years (2006–11) across Asia and Latin America. While this volume is a welcome addition to the literature focused on the lives of migrants in the field of World Christianity, it also extends itself into accounting for the economic and social dimensions of their experience.Vogel specifically hones in on the lives of Peruvian migrants in South Korea, and in many cases their return to Peru, whether voluntary or involuntary. Her work involved multiple months and trips spanning back and forth between South Korea and Peru. This element of a dual site of research gives the study a balance in following the migrants after their return to their place of origin.The book masterfully paints portraits of the Peruvian migrants wedged in the flux of global economies and showcases their desire to participate in this cosmopolitan arena. Their conversion exemplifies this constant shifting of identities and economic realities, whether, in some cases, a renewed Christian faith, or others, such as their many attempts to send remittances to their family in Peru while balancing their precarious status in a South Korea caught between economic growth and simultaneous decline. Vogel uses the concept of “conversion” as the central heuristic to read the migrants’ lives and their interactions. Conversion is used and developed in three main ways: economic, spiritual, and cosmopolitan. The migrants seen through this lens are always in a state of conversion thus becoming something new, whether in trying to “convert” their hard-earned South Korean Won into “Migradollars” or quite literally trying to “convert” their fellow migrants to their newfound faith in a foreign land.The book is composed of four sections, which follow this sequence of conversions throughout the book. The first chapter serves as a general introduction and outline of the ethnography, offering critical insights into the global picture of economics and migratory policy. It recounts how the research came about and how it developed transnationally, from South Korea to Peru and back. The second chapter kicks off this search for finding “conversion” in a comprehensive study on the dynamics of remittances and their social power in their homeland. This chapter’s strength is that it offers a detailed and insightful look at the double-edged nature of remittances, in some cases propelling families out of poverty while in others plunging them deeper into poverty. The third chapter follows the migrants’ lives in various faith congregations in South Korea, one Catholic, and two Protestant. This section details the religious landscape of a South Korea in the places where migrants convert, worship, and socialize in the undocumented margins of the country. It centers on how this dimension of their migrant experiences becomes, in many cases, the pivotal part of their self-understanding and purpose in migrating to South Korea. The final chapter looks at the Peruvian migrants’ attempts to participate in cosmopolitan projects through marriage to foreigners, education, and new opportunities. The epilogue offers some concluding remarks and some closure to the various characters’ lives who had been interviewed in the book.The author’s notion of conversion is critical to her understanding of migrants’ lives and their desire to convert their labor into remittances that will help their families and set them up as citizens of a global economy regardless of the precarious nature of their status as undocumented workers. On the other hand, however, it shows how, for many, “conversion” to a new faith and, in some cases, “renewal” from a nominal faith into a fervent faith repositions these migrants not merely as undocumented migrants but also as “missionaries,” evangelists, and pastors in their foreign home. Thus, this is a compelling way to look at the migrants’ experience through these lenses, but like many concepts, they are not flawless and risk becoming overdetermined.The monograph is eloquently written and highlights the conversations between the researcher and the interviewees. In a work complete with graphs showing economic fluctuations, color photos, and timelines, Vogel presents her material pedagogically and with a keen eye for clarity. Though the length of this text is relatively short (188 pp.), it leaves the reader with a desire to delve deeper into the migrants’ testimonies and rationales. Its brevity is therefore a plus, making it accessible and easy to engage, thus providing a text that would be ideal for an audience interested in transnationalism, global economics, and the spiritual dimension of migration.