Political Sundays: A Case Study of Church-based Korean-Chinese Immigrant Activism in South Korea

• In Event: 262 - Section on Sociology of Religion Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Chinese Religion

Abstract

In South Korea, as in many other countries, churches have been offering immigrants technical help and fighting for immigrant rights in South Korea. Well-known for its effort for and success in organizing immigrant protesters, the Seoul Korean Chinese Church (SKCC) has been one of the most influential actors in the immigrant politics of South Korea. Using ethnographic data gathered from SKCC’s anti-deportation protest in the summer of 2013, this study presents how immigrant churches can mobilize immigrant protesters based on other factors besides religiosity. Even though some devout Christians participated on the basis of Christian morality, most of the protesters at SKCC, especially the leaders, were non-religious newcomers who did not practice any religion. Based on my interviews with protesters across the level of faith, I argue that the collaboration between non-religious newcomers and devout Christians was based on their common identity as members of the Korean-Chinese diaspora, mothers or wives, and on a charismatic religious leader, who was also a human rights activist. These empirical findings challenge previous studies’ assumption of the homogeneity of faith-based political actors.

Author

• Juyeon Park, University of Massachusetts-Amherst