Research

Jung, Gowoon*, and Hye Sook Wang. 2018. “Identity Strategy of “Wild-Geese” Fathers: The Craft of Confucian Fathers.” Religions 9(7) : 208. Retrieved (https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9070208)

Transnational migration scholarship has discussed parents’ economic and emotional sacrifice for their children as a justification for separation. However, the researchers have overlooked addressing how the parents’ sacrifice is culturally ingrained, and fathers in the homeland construct their identity embedded in local culture. This article fills the gap by analyzing the experiences of Korean transnational fathers, “wild-geese fathers”, who live in South Korea. Using online data and narrative analysis, this article argues that wild-geese fathers identify themselves as tragic figures faced with emotional difficulties and successful heroes overcoming those difficulties. It shows that the mixed narrative of heroism is tied to Confucianism, which imbues fathers with the ideology of strong father controlling their emotions and intermediary roles producing children that are capable of maintaining the lineage honor. The analysis of wild-geese fathers shows that Confucianism proves to be a durable cultural resource for the contemporary Korean transnational family in a rapidly changing global era.

Chung, Angie Y.*, Kenneth Chen*, Jung, Gowoon*, and Muyang Li*. 2018. “Thinking Outside the Box: National Context for Educational Adaptation among Chinese and Korean International Student.” Research in International and Comparative Education. Online First (https://doi.org/10.1177/1745499918791364).

Despite growing scholarly interest in international education, few studies have examined how the broader historic, structural, and cultural contexts of sending nations inform the global perspectives and pedagogical strategies of international students before and after migration. Based on surveys and focus groups with Korean and Chinese international students at one public university, the study provides an in-depth look at national differences in learning contexts as they may affect the educational and social adjustment of international students through the lens of gender, family, and nation. We argue that international students view and experience their overseas education through different historical and national understandings of family, economy, and culture within mainland China and South Korea—the former emphasizing geopolitical concepts of family and nation centered on China’s position within the global hierarchy and the latter invoking “compressed” neoliberal frameworks representing a time-space compression of traditional hierarchies and neoliberal free-market ideals in Korea. The study reconciles and synthesizes micro- and macro-levels of analyses by comparing the ways Korean and mainland Chinese international students navigate their educational experiences in the United States based on their respective nationalistic frameworks and shifting gender/family relations in the homeland.

Jung, Gowoon*, Joseph Yi*, Saul Serna, Joe Phillips, and Jerry Z. Park. 2018. “Gay Seouls: Expanding Religious Spaces for Non-Heterosexuals in South Korea.” Journal of Homosexuality 65(11): 1457-1483.

What Protestant congregations offer spaces for worship and dialogue among persons with different sexual orientations? The academic literature finds or assumes that non-heterosexuals are stigmatized or invisible in theologically conservative congregations and are welcomed in progressive, affirming congregations. This article develops an alternative claim that some conservative or evangelical congregations offer attractive spaces for non-heterosexuals to worship and dialogue. We illustrate with an exploratory study of four congregations in South Korea—two theologically progressive, two evangelical— whose pastors welcomed everybody regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The “inclusive-evangelical” congregations retained conservative theology on sexuality (sexual relations only within heterosexual marriage) but offered more empathic dialogue with non-heterosexuals than did most evangelical congregations; they also provided more resources, conventional religious culture, and ties to traditional affective networks than the affirming-progressive congregations. Inclusive-evangelical congregations offer an institutional venue for non-heterosexual Christians in Korea to potentially reconcile three central values: conservative Christianity, traditional (Confucian) affective networks, and expressive individualism

Jung, Gowoon*. 2018. “I Know What Freedom and Responsibility Mean Now: Narratives of Autonomous Adulthood among Korean Students in the USA” YOUNG: Nordic Journal of Youth Research 26(4): 348-365.

This article analyses narratives of autonomous adulthood among Korean international students at an American state university. I categorize student narratives in terms of the number of activities associated with achieving adulthood markers and the efficacy of individual agency. A broad perspective considers a wide variety of activities to contribute to autonomous adulthood and valourizes individual agency. A narrow perspective focuses on activities tailored to one’s career, and downplays individual agency compared to larger institutional-structural factors. I examine these narratives among three groups of international students, depending on their time of arrival: pre-college migrants who moved to the USA during middle or high school, college-migrants who arrived during the first or second year of undergraduate college and post-college migrants who came for advanced degrees (e.g., MA, PhD). The finding suggests that students negotiate agency and structure differently depending on their past and current experiences in the sending and receiving countries.

Dreby, Joanna, Gowoon JungΎ, and Rachel Sullivan. 2017. “At the Nexus of Work and Family: Small Family Farms in Upstate New York.” Journal of Rural Studies 49: 151-61.

Today’s farm families contend with the paradox of an increase in the cultural values associated with farming and a decrease in the viability of farming as a way of life. How do families understand and organize their labor as farmers under such conditions? This paper explores the meaning of work and family for contemporary farmers in upstate New York. Drawing first on an analysis of 116 websites, we show that farm families employ four different “work-family narratives” in public representations of their farm: (a) lifestyle, (b) small business, (c) community oriented and (d) market oriented. We then turn to in-depth interviews with 39 farm families and find that families draw on these four “work-family narratives” in private explanations of their decisions to farm and gendered divisions of labor. We also find that narratives may evolve over time to adapt to changes in the household and farm business. This suggests both agency and diversity in farm families’ adaptations to modern marketplace conditions.

Yi, Joseph, Gowoon JungΎ, and Joe Phillips. 2017. “Evangelical Christian Discourse in South Korea on the LGBT: The Politics of Cross-Border Learning.” Society 54(1):29-33.

The US political debate over LGBT rights and religious liberty is shaping a similar contest in South Korea (Korea). Stories of American Christians criminally fined for refusing to service same-sex weddings, or university students and faculty punished for expressing their conservative beliefs, are widely shared in Korea’s evangelical media. The victim narrative, prominent among American evangelicals, teaches their Korean brethren that the expansion of LGBT legal rights and social acceptance endangers religious liberties. The conclusion is that that they must politically mobilize to oppose LGBT demands in Korea, even though the local movement is nascent and weak. There is, however, a second, more complex narrative emerging from the United States. This is one of Christian empathy, including stories of gay Christians wrestling with their twin identities, and of heterosexual Christians providing love and support, rather than condemnation. The empathy narrative has limited visibility in current political debates, but it encourages personal dialogues between gays and non-gay Christians and is a consequential step to understanding and tolerance. Drawing on learning and emulation theories, and conducting an empirical study of evangelical media and gay/heterosexual evangelicals in Korea, we consider the effects of these two American narratives in Korea.

Jung, Gowoon*. 2016. ““Does Transnational Experience Constrain Religiosity? Korean Evangelical Women’s Discourse on the LGBT Persons.” Religions 7(10):124. Retrieved (http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel7100124).

A large literature studies the views and discourses of Western, and especially American, conservative Christians with respect to homosexuality; only a few examine the discourse of Christians in non-Western countries, and none focuses on non-Western Christians with advanced, overseas education and careers. This paper examines the discourse of South Korean Evangelical women with overseas, educational or career experiences. I draw on 15 in-depth interviews with current and former members of a Seoul-based, Evangelical mega-church. Transnational, evangelical women show comparatively mild-minded and tolerant views toward homosexuality and LGBT persons. The women illustrated two pathways to reconcile their conflicting beliefs in conservative religion and human rights: first, the values of equity and meritocracy; and second, personal contacts with LGBT persons. This study suggests that for transnational migrants, traditional religiosity is challenged and constrained by sustained experiences in liberal, pluralistic societies.

Jung, Gowoon*, and Tse-Chuan Yang. 2016. “Household Structure and Suburbia Residence in the US Metropolitan Areas: Evidence from the American Housing Survey.” Social Sciences 5(4), 74. Retrieved (http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/socsci5040074).

Suburbs have demographically diversified in terms of race, yet little research has been done on household structures in suburbs. Using the 2011 American Housing Survey and 2009–2013 American Community Survey, this study investigates the distributions of household structures in suburbia and central cities, and the relationship between household structures and residential attainment. The findings of this research include: (1) The distribution of household structures differs between suburbia and central cities. Married-couple households are the most common household type in both central cities and suburbs, but they are more likely to reside in suburbia than in central cities; (2) Household structure is a determinant of residential attainment and the relationship varies by race/ethnicity groups. Among Hispanics and Asians, multigenerational household structure is indicative of central city residence, but this association does not hold for whites and blacks.For multigenerational households, the odds of living in suburbia decreases by almost 40 percent among Hispanics and by almost 50 percent for Asians.

Yi, Joseph and Gowoon Jung, 2015. “Public Discourses about International Students.” Sociology Compass 9(9): 776–783.

A growing, English-language literature analyzes the public discourse of international education and students. One large set of studies highlight the discursive marginalization of non-western, international students in western, host societies. They draw on critical discourse analysis (CDA) and meta-narratives of western, White, and elite dominance, which diminish the theoretical importance of discourse in non-western and non-elite settings. A second, smaller set of studies analyze the public discourse of inter-national education in non-western, specifically Asian, countries; they generally reference educational discourse in both Asian and western countries. Relatively few studies critically examine patterns of discursive domination in Asian discourse; but the ones that do so compare both Asian and Western countries. Even rarer are studies of social media discourse among international students. We find a few studies of social media discourse among Asian students who studied abroad, but none of foreign students studying in host, Asian countries. Attention to multiple discourses and theoretical narratives offers a fruitful, research agenda and underlines the complex, dynamic, global nature of contemporary public discourse on international education.

Yi, Joseph and Gowoon Jung, 2015. “Debating Multicultural Korea: Media Discourse on Migrants and Minorities in South Korea.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 41(6): 985-1013.

Since the early 1990s, South Korea has experienced growing public debate about migrants, minorities and related government policies. Much of this ‘multicultural’ discourse occurs in the internet-based cyber -media, which offer space for various producers, including mainstream media professionals, netizens and resident foreigners. A prevailing discourse of victimhood is associated with small, ideologically homogeneous groups of media producers (mainstream media and nativist websites); in contrast,mixed and nuanced discourses are more common in large and heterogeneous online communities, where users interact with a variety of viewpoints. Moreover, actors who are framed in non-negative terms—as neither xenophobes nor corrupt elites—serve as more effective brokers and bridges across various media. Most foreign-origin netizens are passive consumers of media discourse; but a few, active foreigners communicate effectively with both mainstream media and netizens and help to diversify the prevailing discourse. We find supportive evidence from a content analysis of 15 websites,supplemented with informant interviews and observations.

*:First Author, †: Corresponding Author, Ύ: Second Author