APARRI 2001

Religion and Public Life in Pacific and Asian North America

 
Asian Pacific American, Buddhist, Confucianist, Daoist: A New A, B, C, D of Religious Identity

  • Okyun Kwon: Cultural, Political, and Social Aspects of Life of Korean Buddhist and Protestant Immigrants

  • Todd Perreira: Sassana Sakon and the New Asian American: Intermarriage and Identity at a Thai Buddhist Temple in Silicon Valley

  • Elijah Siegler: The Public Performance of Race and Religion in American Daoism

  • Martin J. Verhoeven: Burning Out in the Melting Pot: Asian/American Youth Facing the Golden Dilemma

Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Social Justice

  • Yun J. Cho: 'Straight from the Church?': Debate on Homosexuality in Korean American Churches

  • Nami Kim: Asian Pacific American (APA) Protestant Women: Contributions and Roles

  • Nantawan Boonprasat Lewis:  On Naming Justice: The Spiritual and Political Connection in Violence Against Asian Immigrant Women

  • Carol Vu and Long Bui: A Wrongfully Justified, Deep-Rooted Recipe

Gathering the Faithful: Congregations and Public Life

  • James Chuck: Tell Us Your Stories

  • Young Lee Hertig: Pacific Asian American Christianity and the Naked Public Arena: Congregational Case Studies

  • Grace Choi Kim: Congregation as a Healing Community: A Framework for a Systemic Approach to Christian Education for Korean American Women

  • Michael Yoshii: A Community of Cultural and Spiritual Wholeness: Integrating Healing and Justice

A Body (of) Language: Religion, Ritual, and the Arts

  • Joseph Cheah: Cultural Pursuits and Religion: The Tao of Karate

  • Jena Lee: Ghost Hunt: Searching for an Asian American Women's Identity Using Literature

  • Su Yon Pak: Poetry as a Ritual of Remembering

  • Greer Anne Wenh-In Ng: Beyond Song and Dance: Issues in Religio-Cultural Identity in a Multicultural Metropolis

South Asian Religious Identity in the United States

  • Himanee Gupta: 'Hidden in Plain Sight': The Semiotics of Caste Among Hindu Indians in the United States

  • Khyati Y. Joshi: A Unique and Profound Impact: Experiences of Religious Discrimination in Second-Generation Indian American Ethnic Identity Development

  • Jaideep Singh: The Racialization of Minoritized Religious Identity: Constructing Sacred Sites at the Intersection of White and Christian Supremacy

Evangelical Christianity in Asian Pacific America

  • Antony Alumkal:  Evangelical Racial Ideology and Asian Americans: A Racial Formation Perspective

  • Jerome L. Gaw:  Asian Americans and the Quest for the Second Blessing

  • Erika Muse: Counter-Culture Christians and "Model Minorities"? - Boston's Chinatown Church Facing Challenges of Conservative Christian Chinese Identity in the U.S.

Faith and Social Action

  • Russell Jeung:  Organizing Oakland's Tenants

  • Tyrone Lee Kealiiaimoku Reinhardt: The View from Within: To Be Pacific Islander-Asian American, Religious,…and an Inmate

  • Trangdai Tran: The Vietnamese Catholic Community in Orange County: Social Activism and Cultural Manifestation Beyond Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Expression

  • Lloyd Wake:  Spirituality and Social Action: Yin Yang of Wholeness

Reshaping Identity, "Revisioning" the World

Panel:
Conquering the West: Religion, Transnational Ties, and Incorporation Processes of New Immigrants to the San Francisco Bay Area

USF Religion and Immigration Project:

  • Kevin Chun
  • Selina Lui
  • Hien Duc Do
  • Tom Hoang Lu
  • Minh Tuan Nguyen
  • Joaquin Gonzalez
  • Andrea Maison
  • Dennis Marzan

Abstracts:

Cultural, Political, and Social Aspects of Life of Korean Buddhist and Protestant Immigrants

Okyun Kwon kwon@cua.edu
Life Cycle Institute, Catholic University of America

This paper explores the ways in which the two major religious groups in the Korean community in New York City--Buddhists and Protestants--differ in cultural, political, and social aspects of life, based on interviews with 109 devout believers from both religious groups and participant observation of two ethnic religious centers (one Buddhist temple and one Protestant church). Interview results reveal that the two religious groups' levels of assimilation (or incorporation) into U.S. society vary, depending on the themes of study and the immediate concerns of the immigrant believers. All the variables related to the cultural, political, and social lives of the two groups of Korean immigrant believers suggest that Protestants are more likely to maintain a stronger religious identity, traditional Korean values, and sense of in-group solidarity, while Buddhists are more likely to show a weaker religious identity, individualistic tendencies, and political conservatism.

Sassana Sakon and the New Asian American: Intermarriage and Identity at a Thai Buddhist Temple in Silicon Valley

Todd Perreira perreira@ix.netcom.com
Center for the Study of Religion, University of California at Santa Barbara

The present study draws attention to a phenomenon hitherto unexamined by the fields of Asian American Studies and the study of Buddhism in America: the emergence of interracial/interreligious families among Thai Americans. This paper contains research findings as well as more preliminary or "pilot" work that pinpoints areas meriting further investigation. Drawing upon the case histories of families associated with a single temple, it aims to take a first step toward better understanding the complex relationship between Thais and farangs (Whites) and the dynamics at work in interracial families which have chosen to embrace multivalent religious identities.

The primary concern here is to examine how the diverse, multi-ethnic/multi-cultural environment of the Silicon Valley interrelates with the development of immigrant Thai Buddhism as observed at Wat Buddhanusorn in Fremont, California. Data for this study, conducted from December 1999 to January 2000, were collected through interviews, written questionnaires, and "observant-participant" methods among Thai, Thai-American and Euro-American individuals and their families at the wat (temple). The analysis suggests that the phenomenon of interracial/interreligious couples and families, which is represented in nearly a third of the total membership, is forging new cultural and religious arrangements that have successfully maintained and cultivated a powerful connection to natal identities. I argue that the interracial/interreligious couples and families surveyed in this study 1) reflect a growing trend in membership diversity and 2) that this has important social, cultural, and religious implications at both institutional (public) and individual (private) levels.

That scholars in Asian American Studies have strangely ignored Thai American families raises a number of puzzling questions, and it is this situation that speaks to my second concern. "Intermarriage," "mixed marriage," and "out marrying" are all categories familiar to those in Asian American Studies but, until quite recently, most of the attention has been directed toward Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese "war brides," leaving largely unexplored any relationships consummated outside those ethnic histories. Where studies not bound to the war-brides phenomenon have emerged, spousal religious identities have escaped the concerns of researchers, leaving the mistaken impression that religion among Asian Americans and their non-Asian American partners is, at best, only a peripheral issue. This critical oversight in Asian American Studies is compounded by the fact that Thai Americans have, thus far, been summarily ignored by the Asian American Studies project. It is not clear why this is so. However, at the conclusion of this paper I offer a few suggestions for further research.

Turning to Buddhism in America studies, an emergent sub-discipline in the broader Religions in America field, we discover the existence of gaps that present further research obstacles. While cross-cultural marriage as a category has been a sustained concern in Asian American Studies, it is wholly non-existent in the study of Buddhism in America. As this paper observes, scholars have typically identified Buddhists in America as being either in the "convert" or "cradle" categories. However, identity in the case of cross-cultural marriages, especially among their offspring, cannot easily be located in either of these categories. That there could be and indeed are cross-fertilizations between these and other categories seems to have escaped the attention of researchers. This situation suggests the need for new categories or terms better capable of reflecting the calculus of an individual's religious, cultural, racial, and ethnic identity. To that end, the phenomenon of interracial/interreligious marriages among Thai Americans and farangs who affirm multiple religious identities I call sassana sakon. It is a wholly invented term which otherwise has, as such, no direct correspondence in the Thai language. However, by invoking the words sassana (the Thai word closest in equivalence to 'religion') and sakon (Thai for 'cosmopolitan' as in 'not restricted-free from national limitations or attachments') and joining them together, we can, at least provisionally, give name to what has otherwise been invisible to scholars for want of an adequate category.

And so, while this is primarily a study in intermarriage and membership diversity at Wat Buddhanusorn, it is also an invitation to those of us operating in either Asian American Studies or the study of Buddhism in America to broaden the scope of our research so as to capture a fuller account of what promises to have important implications for the future of our respective disciplines.

The Public Performance of Race and Religion in American Daoism

Elijah Siegler es2@umail.ucsb.edu
University of California at Santa Barbara

Daoism, as the least understood of the major world religions, gives its American representatives ample room to play with identity and to create new forms of public institutions. This study begins with brief biographies of four Chinese men, two who emigrated from Taiwan and two who emigrated from Hong Kong in the 1970s and early '80s, all of them currently living in the US or Canada. All four men make their living as professional Daoists. A comparative analysis of the public institutions founded by each of the four goes on to illuminate different strategies in the performance of race and religion. Master Ni settled in West LA. As a leader of an almost exclusively white group, he presents Daoism as a universalistic tradition, even as he, since arriving in the US, has adopted stereotypical Chinese dress and a long chin beard. Rev. Lee heads a Daoist temple in San Francisco's Chinatown, a branch of a larger one in Hong Kong. He has made no effort to recruit non-Chinese members, and his temple, according to one white, "drop-in" Daoist, is "hard to gain access to if you cannot speak Cantonese, and even then they won't talk to you anyway."

Ni and Lee together provide a clear example of the (problematic) "ethnic" versus "export" dyad so often used to analyze varieties of Buddhism in America. But the next two examples will complicate the picture. Dr. Liu teaches Daoist techniques to mainly white devotees at evening salons held in private homes on the Westside of LA. But he lives in the Asian enclave of the San Gabriel Valley, where he leads an all-Chinese Tiandao temple, a semi-secret millenarian religion that syncretizes Daoism, Buddhism, and Christianity. Master Moy leads an international organization of tai chi clubs, many with Taoist temples attached. His headquarters in Toronto is home to a seemingly unique community of Euro- and Chinese-Canadians (mainly Cantonese) engaged in charity work, tai chi practice, and traditional liturgy.

"What is American Daoism?" this study ultimately asks. Is it the indigenous religion of China or a timeless, universal philosophy? Should it emphasize community service or personal development? The answers prove to be multiple, taken from a range of possibilities circumscribed by the creativity an

Burning Out in the Melting Pot: Asian/American Youth Facing the Golden Dilemma

Martin J. Verhoeven mverhoev@dnai.com
Institute for World Religion

This is an exploratory paper which suggests that a growing category of at-risk young Asian/Americans lies not among those youth who face limited opportunities, dysfunctional families, or even drugs or gangs, but among those surrounded by privilege, prestige, and material abundance. These young people are not the products of bad families, under-parenting, neglect, and abuse; but the products of the opposite--good families and over-parenting. They are highly attended to, well-behaved, high-achievers, and even over-achievers. They are not idle or anti-social, do not act out and rebel, nor are they desperate for attention or lacking in self-confidence. On the contrary, they are exceedingly conformist and compliant, busy, "driven." They do well by most external standards and indices. They excel in school, win trophies, have nearly perfect GPAs, get accepted into prestigious schools. Their problem is less visible and more psychological/spiritual in nature. Moreover, Confucianism and Buddhism, the religious and spiritual heritages that the majority of these young people draw upon for direction, comfort, and meaning, seem either ill-suited to or in contradiction with prevailing trends. Many of these youth are pushed and pressured by well-meaning parents who themselves have not paused to consider the often contradictory values and expectations they instill in their children. Masked by success and traditional patterns of quiet internalization, the intense dissonance experienced by these young people goes largely underreported and unexamined. It is, nonetheless, an issue of deep concern.

This paper seeks to explore some of the unique historical, social, psychological, and cultural factors bearing on the problem, as well as to invite discussion on possible avenues of further study and possible amelioration.

"Straight from the Church?": Debate on Homosexuality in Korean American Churches

Yun J. Cho yunjcho@hotmail.com
Claremont Graduate University

The cover story of the January 20, 2000 edition of Asian Week was "Straight from the Church: How Korean American Churches in California Rallied Against Gay Rights." According to the publication, some Korean American churches in Southern California sponsored a campaign supporting an initiative called the "Sexual Responsibility Act of 2000" (SRA, hereafter). The goal of SRA was to "prohibit public entities from endorsing, educating, recognizing, or promoting homosexuality as acceptable and from using the term sexual orientation." The intention of the churches' campaign was to weigh in against California Governor Gray Davis' signing of bills which would "prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians in public schools, the workplace, and housing and allow domestic partners of state employees to qualify for health benefits." The Korean American churches said that their campaign was not a political act but a religious one. They believed that the bills prohibiting discrimination against homosexuals were against biblical teachings.

However, not all Korean Americans supported this campaign. These others believe that SRA was a "threat to basic civil rights." Thus, the debate among Korean Americans regarding homosexuality echoes the debate which pits "biblical morality" against "civil rights." The main supporters of the "biblical morality" position were the Korean American churches, because they believed that homosexuality must be denied on biblical grounds. Here, my question is: "What biblical messages portray homosexuality in a negative light?"

One reference from Genesis 19:4-11, referring to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, was used by the Rev. Peter Kim, an original sponsor of the anti-homosexuality campaign. Said Kim, "The consequences of these bills (which were strengthened by Gray Davis), will be the destruction of the next generation, the next Sodom and Gomorrah."

However, my position is very different from the Korean American churches'. What I take from the Bible is different from their readings: scripture does not tell us to deny or condemn homosexuality. Moreover, scripture seems to be totally irrelevant to today's homosexuality issue.

Thus, the goal of my paper is to persuade Korean American churches not to refer to scripture as a "reference of denial of homosexuality." Only with the scripture issue addressed will I be able to uncover other reasons for the strong Korean American denial of homosexuality. Given social and cultural background issues confronting Korean Americans today, the debate on homosexuality, at this point, is more contextual than either biblical or theological.

Asian Pacific American (APA) Protestant Women: Contributions & Roles

Nami Kim nkim@hds.harvard.edu
Harvard Divinity School

Asian Pacific American (APA) Protestant women represent a broad span of life experiences within North American life, their roles ranging from lay people, community activists, campus ministers, and academicians to clergy in local churches and ecclesial administration. Their contributions, however, have been largely invisible and undocumented. This essay aims at lifting up the critical but often-unacknowledged contributions and roles of APA Protestant women both inside and outside religious institutions by providing a sample of APA Protestant women's multiple roles and contributions to their churches and communities and to the larger society. This essay first examines the use of the term "Asian Pacific American" and then briefly outlines the history of APAs, arguing that APA women's history is intricately linked with that of APA men. This essay also explores the link between Asian Pacific America and Christianity, addressing, in particular, the difficulties, as well as positive experiences, of APA women in their encounter with Christianity. Unlike Christianity in Asia, which with few exceptions, arrived with Western colonization, Christianity in the APA population has functioned as an entree into the political and social norms of the dominant culture. At the same time, APA churches have maintained ethnic enclaves and practices. Both these dimensions are evident in the lives of APA Protestant women.

On Naming Justice: The Spiritual and Political Connection in Violence Against Asian Immigrant Women

Nantawan Boonprasat Lewis nantawan.lewis@metrostate.edu
Metropolitan State University

This essay seeks to open a political and theological space to speak about justice in cases of violence against Asian immigrant women in the US. It intends to provide a critical analysis of violence against this group of women which points to the interconnection of global oppression, racism, and sexism, as well as spiritual elements, as these are manifested in the struggles of the women. The author wishes to submit that a critical analysis which addresses these connections will be more successful in providing a pivotal tool in understanding the situation facing new Asian immigrant communities and the women in them and will better allow the women and their communities to seek justice. Case studies of violence against women in recent immigrant communities, Southeast Asian ones in particular, will be explored.

A Wrongfully Justified, Deep-Rooted Recipe

Carol Vu, California State University at Fullerton cv071383@student.fullerton.edu
Long Bui, University of California at Irvine longb@uci.edu

*Long and I guarantee that you will be "knocked out" by this cuisine of two dishes that include the cultures and beliefs of Vietnam and the United States.

How to Create an Experience of a Vietnamese American Catholic Homosexual

  • 1 cup Political Issues
  • 1 cup Social Issues
  • 1 cup Psychological Issues

*Each cup of issues tossed together and justified and enforced over easy with--

  • 1 tub Vietnamese Catholic Church Leaders
  • 1 bulk container Vietnamese Catholic Communities
  • 1 pack Vietnamese Catholic Families (with strictness, honor, and discipline handy, in case any rebellion occurs)

*Be sure to stir-fry together with the bottle of fallacies and the bottle of miseducation that come with the tub, bulk container, and pack to complete and maintain the political, social, and psychological issues.
*Follow this recipe consistently and exactly, and you can continue to wrongfully justify a deep-rooted recipe for an experience of a Vietnamese American Catholic Homosexual.

How to Create the Experience of a Vietnamese American Buddhist Homosexual

  • 1 cup esoteric superstitions about behavior/actions (religious attitudes)
  • 1/2 lb. nonchalance towards addressing sexual mores (social history)
  • 3 liters traditional passivity, but general acceptance (internal values)
  • 5 bags understanding, knowledgeable Buddhist monks
  • 1 teaspoon understanding that sexuality is intrinsic to the natural/environmental foundation of the religion (dogma and doctrine)

*This recipe will help you understand one of the most ancient and mysterious religions in the world and how it perceives one of the most misunderstood human traits--homosexuality.

Tell Us Your Stories

James Chuck jaschuck@juno.com
American Baptist Seminary of the West

This presentation will describe a project currently underway at the First Chinese Baptist Church, San Francisco, to preserve and share the life stories of about 60 persons connected with the church who are 55 years of age or above. These short biographies, accompanied with pictures, deal with parents, growing up, schooling, marriage, work, and faith. Some participants chose to write their own biographies; most were constructed from tape interviews.

Aside from the usual reasons for preserving life stories, the project seeks to supplement and augment descriptions of congregations with more fully-drawn accounts of the individuals who make up the congregation, thus supplying a subjective and "inner" dimension that is often missing in congregational studies. In this view, the church is seen not simply in its institutional aspect, but as a blending of individual histories, commitments, gifts and talents exercised both inside and outside the walls of the church - in the latter aspect, as members of family, through their work, and in their larger community involvements.

Pacific Asian American Christianity and the Naked Public Arena: Congregational Case Studies

Young Lee Hertig yhertig@united.edu
United Seminary

The main thesis of this paper contends that Pacific Asian American Christianity (PAAC) is silent in the public arena due to a fusion of Neo-Confucian culture and western Puritan fundamentalism. The western fundamentalistic notion of the otherworldly Gospel, transplanted to Asia through the mission endeavors of the 19th century, still shows its strong hold on PAAC. Splitting this world from the other world, separating profane and sacred, PAAC is confined to the four walls of church buildings.

Furthermore, the deep-seated labels of liberal versus conservative in theology repel church members from any attempt to connect God with public issues. The emerging 1.5 and 2nd generation churches are also otherworldly. The emerging Asian American church expression of faith contains uniformity in middle class contemporary worship, emulating a mega-church style, but their theological stance remains the same as the older generation's.

Compartmentalizing faith and life in the professional arena, the younger generation Asian Americans still embody a separatistic theology of private versus public. Most of their public engagement is limited to occasional social service. Their private expression of faith lacks social consciousness. The November presidential election reflected Asian American conservative ideology, with more than 45% of Asian Americans voting for Republican candidates, the highest such percentage among minority groups.

This paper seeks to identify deep-seated theological narratives that hinder public engagement of Asian American Christianity. By focusing on the 1.5 and 2nd generation Asian American churches, we can assume that public expression of faith is not primarily hindered by language barriers but by theological confinement.

Congregation as a Healing Community: A Framework for a Systemic Approach to Christian Education for Korean American Women

Grace Choi Kim gracechoikim@hotmail.com
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

This paper will propose an educational ministry framework for the healing and growth of Korean American women. It draws upon knowledge of the Korean American family system and its particular socio-cultural, socio-political, and socio-economic contexts and draws also upon religious and philosophical ideologies embedded in the context of life realities confronting the family system. This historical analysis will assist in the understanding of present gender norms and social regulations in the home and in Korean American churches and communities. Not only will this new framework foster women's spiritual, emotional, psychological, and theological self-development and a more holistic orientation towards the Bible, but it will also build the community of faith for both men and women. With such goals in mind, a community theology (which will encompass feminist theology) will be proposed to promote women's self-awareness and self-reflection. This process will hopefully bring about a re-creation of the woman's self-image, with the result that immigrant families, churches, and even whole communities will be transformed.

A Community of Cultural and Spiritual Wholeness: Integrating Healing and Justice

Michael Yoshii BVUMC@aol.com
Buena Vista United Methodist Church

Asian American Christian congregations can be voices for justice in our communities and in the world, but we also need our own healing from experiences of racial, gender, and class oppression. Our experiences as Asian American Christians can sometimes also be fractured because of the lack of connectedness to our own cultural assets and streams of indigenous religious tradition. Reflecting on local church experiences, this paper will explore how we might envision the local congregation as a community for cultural affirmation and healthy critique, a source for healing, and a voice for justice in the world today.

Cultural Pursuits and Religion: The Tao of Karate

Joseph Cheah, OSM jpcheah@aol.com
Graduate Theological Union

In "Musings of a Hyphenated American," Lindbergh Sata lamented over the ways in which the Nisei of his generation had failed to receive the essential teachings of their Japanese heritage partly because of their lack of a sophisticated grasp of their parents' native tongue and partly because of their parents' inability to transmit the depths of Japanese cultural belief systems to them. One of the cultural teachings he cited in particular was budo, or Japanese martial arts. He noted that among Japanese Americans of his generation, few had mastered or fully understood the essential teachings of Japanese martial arts in part because they were required by their parents to engage in budo which was often not of primary interest to many of them. Consequently, they failed to understand that budo is "a product of cultural teachings which underscore form, economy, concentration of body energy, and mastery of the body as a step towards self-knowledge."

This paper, presented almost thirty years after Sata's "Musing," is an attempt to extend Sata's insightful reflection on the utilitarian value of Asian martial arts from a 1.5 generation Asian American who is himself an advanced student of karate-do. While Sata correctly noted that art in any culture to some extent is going to be part and parcel of the culture, reinforcing the culture so as to be seen in utilitarian fashion as serving the values of the culture, there is nevertheless a transcendent character in art which is not purely utilitarian. In this paper I examine such a character that transcends mere physical techniques in the martial art of karate-do. Specifically, I examine the "do," or "tao" aspect of the art of karate. I do this by attempting to describe the mushin (wu-hsin in Chinese), the highest possible mental state attainable by a martial art practitioner, its connection with Taoism and Buddhism, and its relationship to public life; namely, the ethical values embodied within the spiritual component of karate -- i.e., the kata, or formal exercises.

Ghost Hunt: Searching for an Asian American Women's Identity Using Literature

Jena Lee Jenalee19@aol.com
Pacific School of Religion

Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior and Amy Tan's Bonesetter's Daughter are fertile theological texts from which to extract two authentic strands of Chinese American women's experience. Comprehending Kingston's and Tan's complex subjectivity requires using an interdisciplinary methodology. Ghosts symbolically represent the shifts of authority of voice, oppression, and worldview necessary for Asian Pacific American (APA) women to self-determine and convey their experience. Included in these shifts is a reinvestigation of the canon of knowledge and logic. In this paper, I show how both Tan and Kingston resist assimilating into dominant American logic by pledging a communal solidarity of remembrance and creatively carving a new template of conveyance that privileges "heart" and "mystery." With resistance to invisibility and discrimination pledged under a new framework of epistemological authority, seeming paradoxes like "singular pluralities" make sense. Then, an APA women's coalitional identity of "singular plurality in resistance" can be built.

Poetry as a Ritual of Remembering

Su Yon Pak spak@uts.columbia.edu
Union Theological Seminary, NYC

Memory, as a key component of forming identity, is formalized in ritual. Poetry, because of its evocative use of imagery, engages the imagination that is fed by our memories. In the ritual of poetry writing/reading, one can see the circular movement of memory: imagery-imagination-memory. Seen this way, imagery can be a vehicle for the process of going from memory to imagination. Religion can be a filter, giving language, image, stories, and values to this process.

Memory and imagination are inextricably linked. In order for memory to be a living memory, there must be a tension and a rhythm of movement between past, present, and future. This tension and rhythm is borne out in the movement between memory and imagination. This movement between memory and imagination is also an integral part of the formation of a people's identity. Through imagination, one generation transmits its memory to the next. Even when the experience is not lived, it becomes "living," thus forming identity through a hermeneutic of imagination for the next generation.

Beyond Song and Dance: Issues in Religio-Cultural Identity in a Multicultural Metropolis

Greer Anne Wenh-In Ng gawi.ng@utoronto.ca
Emmanuel College, University of Toronto

As one of the most multicultural cities in North America, indeed the world, Toronto sees public celebrations of a succession of cultural festivals in any given year: Lunar/Chinese New Year, St. Patrick's Day Parade, Dragon Boat races, "Caravan" (two weeks of "song and dance" presented by the city's European as well as Asian and other ethno-cultural communities/organizations), Carribana (West Indian summer festival), etc. To what extent should Asians in Canada rejoice in this public acknowledgement of the city's cultural diversity, yet remain skeptical of the implicit cultural paternalism and subtle racism (in the form of exoticism/orientalism) still obtaining in some of them?

In fact, how do Asian Canadians participate in these festivities-simply as cultural phenomena, or with an awareness of their religious dimensions? If the latter, what dilemmas does such awareness pose for Asian, in particular Chinese, Canadian Christians--for instance, with regard to questions of syncretism? What considerations will give guidance to such religious individuals and communities as they negotiate between the demands of "faithful religious practice" and "authentic cultural preservation"? Is there a tension here for Christians that does not exist to the same extent for other Asian Canadians?

The presenter will engage participants in a discussion of these issues as experienced in the participants' own lives and contexts, and will suggest that, in the globalized, multicultural, multifaith context of the early 21st century, religious formation is inevitably religio-cultural formation, and that such formation appears more as ongoing journey rather than as finalized product.

"Hidden in Plain Sight": The Semiotics of Caste Among Hindu Indians in the United States

Himanee Gupta himanee@hawaii.edu
University of Hawaii

This paper argues that caste identities, which historically lost much of their relevance when Indians left their home country, are gaining increasing importance as the identity of Indians in the United States comes to be defined in Hindu terms. Caste and Hinduism always have been problematically linked, and the Hinduizing of public culture in India has brought this relationship to the forefront of many aspects of political and social life. This paper takes a look at how the rise of global communication technologies and such things as the economic insecurity that has characterized the post-Fordist work environment may be encouraging a return to caste identities among overseas Indians, particularly those who come from high-caste and upper and middle class backgrounds. The paper uses a semiotic approach to examine how caste identities persist in ways that are "hidden in plain sight."

A Unique and Profound Impact: Experiences of Religious Discrimination in Second-Generation Indian American Ethnic Identity Development

Khyati Y. Joshi khyati_joshi@alum.emory.edu
Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, Columbia University

In a qualitative study of 41 second-generation Indian Americans in Boston and Atlanta, most research participants discussed experiences of religious or racial discrimination during their K-12, college, and/or adult years. The qualitative data reveal a major difference in how the research participants' experiences of religious discrimination--as compared to racial discrimination--affected the individuals' ethnic identity development process. Because of the personal and cultural meanings attached to religion, experiences of religious oppression had an impact different in quality and duration from those based on race. This held true for research participants of all religious backgrounds (Catholic, Christian, Hindu, Ismaili, Muslim, and Sikh). This discussion of the interview data attempts to distinguish experiences of racial and religious discrimination and explore the nuances of the latter's impact on second-generation Indian American ethnic identity development.

The Racialization of Minoritized Religious Identity: Constructing Sacred Sites at the Intersection of White and Christian Supremacy

Jaideep Singh SinghPlant@aol.com
University of California at Berkeley

In recent years, religion has become a particularly powerful method of classifying the "enemy" or "other" in national life, impacting primarily non-Christian peoples of color. For instance, Muslims have become among the most demonized members of the American polity, as a result of international events and actions of a miniscule handful of their co-religionists. Analogously, Sikh migrants to the United States-whom most Americans find indistinguishable from Muslims-have found themselves the target of racist scapegoating and media misrepresentations.

Such actions confirm the validity of the siege mentality many Sikh Americans feel on various levels. They believe that they are made second class citizens because of not only their racial background and lack of English proficiency but also because of the religion they practice. This is an especially disquieting notion to them, because a number of the migrants came to the United States to escape the religious persecution the tiny Sikh minority suffers in India.

The new society into which these Sikhs have transplanted their culture, one they perceive as hostile and forbidding to their cultural traditions, has racialized them as a result of their ostensible "racial uniform," which in the case of the Sikhs is also a religious uniform. In a fervent attempt to cling to what they perceive as the salient aspects of their religio-historical identity, Sikhs have built a gurdwara (Sikh temple) wherever they have migrated. This has become a source of conflict in a number of communities around the United States, in the past three decades since Sikhs have started arriving in this country in large numbers.

An excellent case study on this trend focuses on the struggle of the Sikh community in San Jose, California to build a new gurdwara and the highly racially charged objections of members of the local community who opposed the construction of the sacred site. The racialized and xenophobic aspects of the opposition put up by certain members of the community in San Jose is very similar to that confronted by several other Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other non-Christian, Asian American congregations seeking to build places of worship in white residential enclaves. Instances of sacred site construction bring to the surface the often clandestine hostility towards an apparent "model minority." Normally, a site of worship would be welcomed into a neighborhood as an addition that could only enhance the quality of life of the area's residents. However, the racialization of these issues prevents the ascendancy of logic in appraising the situation.

Evangelical Racial Ideology and Asian Americans: A Racial Formation Perspective

Antony Alumkal aalumkal@Iliff.edu
Iliff School of Theology

Michael Emerson and Christian Smith recently argued that evangelical attitudes toward race follow from their "cultural toolkit" that emphasizes individual relations over social structures. I argue that this view is inadequate and present an analysis of evangelical racial ideology based on Omi and Winant's racial formation theory. I then discuss how a racial formation perspective sheds light on the influx of Asian Americans into evangelical campus ministries.

Asian Americans and the Quest for the Second Blessing

Jerome Gaw Jerome@funkycarnivore.com
Claremont School of Theology

The influence of Pentecostalism in Asian American evangelical churches is significant. This project, in its preliminary stages, attempts to illuminate the doctrine of perfection in its relationship to the Holiness/Pentecostal movement and the "model minority" myth. As a joint M.A., Religion and M.Div. student, I approach this research project from the standpoint of history, theology, and ministry.

The American Holiness Movement of the mid 19th century represented a conservative reading of John Wesley's doctrines of Christian perfection and entire sanctification. Holiness preachers emphasized Wesley's claim that human salvation involves two processes. The first process is one of justification or conversion, in which one is freed from one's own sins. In the second experience, perfection, one is liberated from the flaw in one's moral nature that causes sin. This results in perfect love for God and man. For the Holiness movement, receiving this second blessing became the theological emphasis, which led to a split between it and the mainstream Methodism of its time. From this division emerged many small Holiness denominations, the largest of which were the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) in 1880 and the Church of the Nazarene in 1908. The idea of the second blessing survived through the century, manifesting itself in the modern Pentecostal movement, which by 1993 had claimed membership of 200 million.

The doctrine of perfection has evolved within the Pentecostal church to emphasize personal piety and intense spiritual discipline. It is important to note that Wesley's theology, while stressing the importance of personal piety, also includes a component of social justice. This sensibility has been largely lost in contemporary Asian American churches. Instead, it seems that personal fulfillment and "perfection" take precedence over social conscience and involvement in community activism. The priority given to personal success within the Asian American evangelical church is partially rooted in the Holiness movement's emphasis on signs. There seems to be a parallel between this capitalistic sort of theology that offers rewards for proper living and devotion to God, which leads to a sense of entitlement, and the model minority myth, which emphasizes the positive results of hard work and perseverance.

From a ministerial perspective, it is important to understand that for Asian American youth, the pressures of living up to the model minority myth still exist. Emphasizing "perfection" without clarifying its meaning can be damaging to young people; John Wesley's brother, Charles, believed that perfection was not achievable in this life, and John Wesley himself explains in A Plain Account of Christian Perfection that the second blessing only happens toward the end of one's life on earth. Having attended Chinese evangelical churches for my entire life as the son of a pastor, I have seen firsthand the impact of Pentecostal theology upon our churches.

While still in its preliminary stages, I hope to expand this topic into my thesis for the Master's degree.

Counter-Culture Christians and "Model Minorities"? - Boston's Chinatown Church Facing Challenges of Conservative Christian Chinese Identity in the U.S.

Erika Muse MekaW@aol.com
State University of New York at Albany

"God doesn't say not to work hard and live frugally: it's a matter of who you're doing for."

This paper takes an ethnographic approach to the study of the discursive production of identity among a group of conservative evangelical Christians in Boston's Chinatown Church (a pseudonym). My argument is that "counter-culture" Chinese Christians actively account for both the realities of their historical, socio-economic circumstances and their practice of conservative evangelicalism to the extent that this enhances the ethnic current of Christianity among Chinese. For example, in child rearing, we see reverberations of the Protestant work ethic merged with an immigrant Chinese emphasis on success. Other works on this topic indicate we may be looking at Asian Christians as model Protestants, as education and success, as well as Christian beliefs, are emphasized.

This family-centered, conservative church's survival depends a great deal on the education of its children and new membership. Social and economic life intersects with church doctrine on many levels, but here, I will focus on the family and "Christian family relationships" interpreted in a Chinese American context. This focus on the relational aspect of the church will highlight the approaches taken by both women and men in merging economic reality with evangelical reality and is centered on the middle class, two-income family and its planning for the future, with regard to economic security and salvation.

Organizing Oakland's Tenants

Russell Jeung rj09207@tiptoe.fhda.edu
Foothill College

This presentation narrates how Cambodian and Latino tenants organized to win a landmark housing lawsuit in Oakland, California. Besides detailing how organizers utilized legal, political, and media resources, it describes the faith-based organizing tactics of the evangelical Christians who lived with these tenants.

The View from Within: To be Pacific Islander-Asian American, Religious,…and an Inmate

Tyrone Lee Kealiiaimoku Reinhardt AIMOKUELUA@aol.com
Northern California Nevada Conference, United Church of Christ

This paper presents the experience of being a Pacific Islander-Asian American religious person incarcerated by the American justice system. It tells the stories of several inmates attempting to survive both inside and outside, dealing with various interfacing experiences.

The Vietnamese Catholic Community in Orange County: Social Activism and Cultural Manifestation Beyond Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Expression

Trangdai Tran tntd9@hotmail.com
California State University at Fullerton

As the post-1975 waves of Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants have resettled in Orange County, CA, they have participated in a multi-dimensional transformation of the land and its demographic reality. The Vietnamese ethnic community, a prominent subgroup, exemplifies this process and its involvement of the group's inherent attributes, among which religion plays a key role. Its teaching and living faith harmonized with the culture, Vietnamese Catholicism has blossomed and clearly manifested itself over the last quarter of the twentieth century and into the beginning of the new millennium. This Vietnamese Catholic influence enlivens the face of faith in Orange County, providing impetus for this exciting time of devotion and actualization.

Spirituality and Social Justice: Yin Yang of Wholeness

Lloyd Wake mlwake@mindspring.com
Pacific and Asian Center for Theology and Strategies (PACTS)
Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion (PANA)

At the request of the National Japanese American Historical Society, I recently wrote an essay on the assigned theme of "Spirituality and Outreach." I assumed that the Society asked me to do this, because there is currently much discussion, writing, thought, reflection about, and interest in spirituality--especially by the present youth and young adult generation--and because the Society thought that I, as a reputed (rightly or wrongly) "activist clergyman," might be able to say something relevant about the designated theme.

The essay was about the fallacy of thinking that spirituality and involvement in social justice are two separate experiences. I tried to point out that separating the two is a flawed separation and that my own "spiritual highs" have come from praxis rather than reflection. The essay obviously revealed my bias toward action being more important than reflection (spirituality). Without apology for either that essay or my involvement in social justice issues, in my presentation to the August PANA gathering I wish to explore the "spirituality" that persons and communities are seeking to discover and experience today, that very area in which I may lack relative understanding and experience.

There is a wealth of material available for seekers-from Thomas R. Kelley, Henri Nouwen, Thich Nat Han, and the Dalai Lama to Neurotheology. In my exploration, perhaps I need to ask if social activists are more influenced by a left-brain and linear orientation than by a right-brain and creative/artistic orientation, and whether the reverse is true for those we describe as "spiritual persons." I explore this theme for my own growth and development toward wholeness.

Peripheral Cultures, Peripheral Peoples

Ronald Y. Nakasone RyNakasone@aol.com
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

In Manen Gannen No Futoboru (The Football Game of the First Year of Manen; the novel appears in English as The Silent Cry), the 1994 Nobel Laureate Kenzaburo Oe critiques the eroding influence of the homogenizing and centralistic culture emanating from Tokyo on peripheral traditions. In Oe's mind, the political, economic, and cultural center of Japan, preoccupied with its self-importance, draws outlying areas into its orbit. In post-Pacific-War (World War II) Japan, even Oe's isolated village on Shikoku was undergoing a major transition, and Oe's "growing awareness of a culture in Japan that was very different from the dominant Tokyo one" prompted him to write the novel.

Oe's reflections on peripheral cultures and peripheral peoples is noteworthy. While the periphery is commonly associated with backwardness and insularity, and the center with diversity and openness, Oe thinks otherwise. Peripheral cultures are "blessed with richness and diversity," and its people are open to the world in a way that comes from knowing the meaning of "relative values." Suggesting ambiguity and a decentered world, "relative values" aptly describes the experiences of Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and other minority peoples, who are located on the edges of both their ancestral cultures and their adopted homeland. Peripheral peoples live in two cultures, learn two histories, and speak two languages. Multi-layered and concomitant cultural, historical, and linguistic experiences expose peripheral peoples to often conflicting perceptions of reality and values. These experiences provide rich and diverse repertoires for alternative possibilities. Living on the boundaries of American culture and removed from their ancestral cultures, peripheral peoples and communities continually find creative ways to bridge both worlds, earn livelihoods, raise their children, and transmit their cultural and spiritual values. Hybrid identities transform ancestral traditions and the American experience in unforeseen ways. This essay will explore the Asian American aesthetic experience in anticipating the past and remembering the future.

My Father Has No Children: Reflections on a Hapa Identity and a Hermeneutic of Particularity

Henry W. Rietz rietz@grinnell.edu
Grinnell College

I do not have the privilege of speaking from a generally recognized social location. My mixed, or "hapa," heritage precludes me from claiming any one identity with integrity. I am both Asian-American and Euro-American, and yet I am neither. I am an other to the Other.

The first part of the essay consists of an autobiographical narrative that tells some of the particularities of my story. For most of my life, I had been a secret to my father's Japanese-American family. My "hapa" identity, my very existence, threatened the honor of my father's family. So, for them, my father had no children.

The second part of the essay reflects upon my "hapa" identity and how it might contribute to discussions of identity construction and hermeneutics. I will suggest that my "hapa" identity reveals some of the limitations of identity constructions which use categories such as Americans of Japanese Ancestry or even Asian-American. Such categories are based on the commonalities of its members and their difference from a larger group. While recognizing the political expediency of such categories, constructing identity in this manner tends to homogenize members of the group while also exoticizing and ostracizing them from others. Instead, drawing on my own experience, I will propose a mode of identity construction that emphasizes particularity as the basis for community and communication.

Conquering the West: Religion, Transnational Ties, and Incorporation Processes of New Immigrants to the San Francisco Bay Area

The Religion and Immigration Project of the University of San Francisco:

  • Kevin Chun, University of San Francisco
    Selina Lui, University of San Francisco
  • Hien Duc Do, San Jose State University
    Tom Hoang Lu, San Jose State University
    Minh Tuan Nguyen, San Jose State University
  • Joaquin Gonzalez, University of San Francisco and Golden Gate University
  • Andrea Maison, University of San Francisco
    Dennis Marzan, University of San Francisco

This panel explores the role of religion in the lives of new immigrants from the Philippines, Vietnam, China, and Taiwan to the San Francisco Bay Area. Panelists will present research findings from ethnographic work conducted in 4-6 religious sites (Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical and other) that boast high levels of participation by new immigrants.

Individual papers will address the following:

  1. The role of immigrant religious groups in encouraging and supporting or rejecting participation in the political life of San Francisco and of the larger US political scene. Do religious communities encourage naturalization, voting, and participation in local and national political forums? Are migrant religious groups active in political movements and issues? Do religious groups encourage the participation of new immigrants in voluntary associations?
  2. The transnational religious and political engagement of new immigrants. How involved are immigrants in politics in their countries of origin? Are immigrant religious leaders and congregants affected by, and active in, political issues and movements in their countries of origin? Do religious groups encourage a transnational political and cultural identity?
  3. What social services do religious congregations provide for new immigrants? Are religious organizations direct providers of basic needs? Do religious leaders and members actively pressure public agencies to provide needed services to new immigrants? Do religious groups provide assistance in negotiating public social services for new immigrants?
  4. What strategies do religious organizations have for negotiating acculturation stress experienced by new immigrants? Do religious groups promote the cultural values of countries of origin and/or attempt to affirm US cultural values?

The preceding questions (and others) will be addressed through the presentation of 4-6 case studies of San Francisco Bay Area religious groups and/or agencies to explore the role of Asian and Asian American Religions in the participation in public life by new immigrants.

To contact the Religion and Immigration Project of USF directly, you may e-mail Lois Lorentzen at: lorentzen@usfca.edu.