My Practice of Public Sociology and Establishing and Running the Research Center for Korean Community

• In Event: 2481 - Sociology in Practice Settings Symposium Roundtable Session
  In Informal Discussion Roundtable: Table 08. Application Stories

Abstract

Ethnic community leaders, social service and heritage education organizations, and emigrant states need data and information about population and community characteristics to make informed plans for the development of the community. Ethnic research centers established at colleges and universities can provide data and information for particular immigrant and ethnic communities effectively to meet these practical needs. They can also provide courses for ethnic history, culture and society for younger-generation members of particular immigrant ethnic groups. I have emphasized the idea of public sociology, making sociological data and knowledge available to the general public. To fulfill a similar mission described above, I established the Research Center for Korean Community in 2009 at Queens College of CUNY. Since Queens College is located in Flushing, Queens, the heart of the Korean Community in the New York-New Jersey area, our Center is ideal for providing data and information needed for the Korean community. Donation of $200,00by a Korean business owner enabled me to establish the Center and I operate the Center using a fund donated by Research Foundation for Korean Community, a non-profit community organization. The Center has been involved in the following activities: publishing Korean- and English-language books based on personal narratives by different groups (Korean politicians, Korean-language teachers, second-generation Koreans etc.), providing statistical data on Korean Americans through Korean American Data Bank, providing 5-6 seminars on Korean American experiences per year in the heart of the Korean enclave, organizing an annual conference, keeping a mini library, and establishing a visiting scholar program from Korea and other countries to facilitate their research on Korean Americans.I have used basic statistical skills, the personal-narrative method, and my deep sense of devotion to the Korean community for running the Center. I am waiting for a major fund from the Korean government to expand the Center’s activities.

Author

• Pyong Gap Min, City University of New York-Queens College