Jean Park

The importance of religion among the Korean immigrant community in Los Angeles is readily apparent.  Driving through LA, one cannot help but see churches with Korean and English written signs, welcoming those who would participate.  The role of the church for new immigrants has already been widely documented, but not as much for the second generation, or the children of the immigrants.  Research on the Korean community and church tend to focus on the church as assistance through assimilation.  But with the coming of age of the second generation of church-goers in Los Angeles, the church has become less important in assimilating into the United States and more of a location where ethnic identity is created, reformed and maintained.  Through ideal location of church as both a physical space and shared community, the second generation of Korean Americans, at both an individual level as well as a group level, interacts and negotiates with other members of their ethnic group.

The primary data for this study comes from personal interviews and observations carried out in the months of June, July and August 2006.  Research was conducted in Korean churches in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles.  Subjects from the interviews were drawn from two churches: Los Angeles Oriental Mission Church and Wilshire United Methodist Church.  The interviewees consisted of a roughly equal ratio of males and females, with females being the slight majority.  Fifteen Korean American youths ranging in age from fifteen to nineteen years old participated, along with three interviews with the church pastors.  The fifteen interviewees were all in high school in the Los Angeles area, and were all planning on attending further schooling.  The majority of the youth live in typical household structures, however there were a few that lived with single parents or with a relative.  The immigrant status of the youths varied from those who left Korea at twelve years old, to those who were born in the United States.  Therefore, all of the youths would be considered part of the second or one point five (1.5) generation.  As well, ongoing interviews are being conducted through e-mail with ten college students and recent graduates. 

Originally, it was very difficult to establish a relationship with a church.  Most churches that I had contacted, immediately refused to allow my presence in the church.  Eventually I found LAOMC (Los Angeles Oriental Mission Church), a very large church that attracts many Korean families.  The pastor of the high school department granted me permission to observe and interview students at church.  But the pastor warned me of a precondition that he would choose who I was allowed to interview, and that he must be present at the interview.  The second church I found, WUMC (Wilshire United Methodist Church) was different in many ways from LAOMC.  Not only was it much smaller, but considerably less strict.  I was welcomed in with open arms and given the freedom to speak with whomever I pleased.  It is interesting to note that in the beginning of my search for churches, the topic of my race and religion would always be brought up.  At first I tried to stay as neutral as possible, and not give away my personal beliefs or background.  But I noticed that when I did not say whether I was spiritually involved in church or not, even after I had explained that my research purpose was not to attack dogma or the tenets or religion, I was immediately rejected.  When I would relent that I had in fact attended church in my youth, I was more openly received.  Incidentally, LAOMC and WUMC both asked me my religious and racial background to which I relented. 

LAOMC is one of the most popular churches in Los Angeles for Koreans.  To accommodate the high number of members, not only is there an elaborate parking system, but also a number of services held throughout the day from 6am till 8pm.  While there were four different adult service times in the day, there were two major high school service times.  I chose to attend the early morning service at 9.30am so that I could then drive and catch WUMC’s one high school service.  My first day at LAOMC was atypical in that there was a special high school senior graduating service.  As well, after meeting the pastor in person, he introduced me to a couple of students to interview.  And though he led me to the students he deemed acceptable to interview, he did not end up sitting in on the interview.  Gradually, as the weeks passed my presence became less discernible, and not only was I able to move more fluidly among the students, but also able to interview those of my choosing.     

The role of the church is expanded to general community center and social gathering especially more so in an urban environment like Koreatown.  At LAOMC not only did they maintain their own library, but they also ran their own Korean school for use by its members after church.  WUMC, being much smaller, did not have such accommodations, but nonetheless would act in a further capacity than just a religious meeting center.  Both churches held festive fellowship on Friday nights for high school students.  And after service on Sundays students would “hang out” at the church coffee cart or eating area.  In this capacity the church was a fun social “hang-out” for students. 

In my interviews with the students, the idea of one’s “Korean-ness” was a prevalent theme.  There was almost a sliding scale where one was defined as, “White-washed” or “Americanized” or “Fobby” or “Korean” with a gray area in between.  Growing up in diverse southern California, I was familiar with the term “FOB.”  And as I observed in church, I was fascinated by the reoccurrence of the term “FOB” in everyday speech and the multiple meanings that it could convey.  Along with being a noun (eg. He is such a “FOB”), “FOB” became an adjective such as “fobby” and “fobulous”.  I would ask each of my interviewees their own definition of “FOB”, and there was never a commonly decided definition.  But most of my interviewees agreed that they would take offense to the use of it if a non-Asian-American were to use the term to describe them because of its history as a pejorative term.  But among the interviewees, the meaning was layered and unclear—depending on the situation it could be more of a pejorative term or a term of endearment or both.  My interviewees definitions of “FOB” often made references to “being Korean Korean” as well as discussing the type of clothes “FOB’s” wear.  They also discussed it as the inability to speak English without using Korean words, speaking heavily-accented English, having extensive knowledge of current Korean pop culture, or simply being “nerdy” or “geeky.”  It seemed that “FOB” or “fobby” were an indication of “Korean-ness.” 

FOB, with its history as a derogatory term in the United States, seems to have been reclaimed by Korean-Americans to describe each other as well as Korean nationals.  FOB is used as a way to identify and index one’s relative relationship to the Korean nation.  If one is “fobby”, one has more familiarity with Korea, not only the Korean language, but the customs, styles, and pop culture.  Using the term “fobby” was contradictory; while the speakers would define the term with negative connotations, they would hint at their wanting to be more “fobby-like.”

In addition to the sliding scale of “Korean-ness”, I questioned students on their plans for the future and what role the church would play.  About half responded that they would continue attending church, but particularly the church they were already attending.  I found this to be interesting because some of the students were matriculating into schools far from their homes.  The other half responded that they would not continue attending church, except during school breaks when they were home.  I also questioned their plans to join Christian campus groups targeted specifically to Koreans and Korean Americans, such as KCM (Korean Campus Ministries) and KCCC (Korean Campus Crusade for Christ).  Groups such as KCM and KCCC vary in their role, from just running fellowships in the least formal sense to Bible studies.  None of the groups acted as a church and are considered a supplement to church.  Almost all the respondents replied that they were planning on joining (even those who said they would not continue attending church in college).

My thesis will concentrate on the church as a location for ethnic identity formation, analyzing social behavior for high school students as well as those in college (and recent graduates).  These interviews will help me situate the role of the church in Los Angeles as well as better analyze Korean American identity against traditional models and theories of ethnic identity formation.  My research is by no means the definitive guide to Korean American ethnic identity.  But rather, I hope to add complexity and nuance to identity formation in the limited studies involving the second generation of Korean Americans.