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The Ethnic and Religious Identities of Young Asian Americans

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The Ethnic and Religious Identities of Young Asian Americans THE ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES OF YOUNG ASIAN AMERICANS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Jerry Z. Park ________________________ Kevin J. Christiano, Director Graduate Program in Sociology Notre Dame, Indiana April 2004 THE ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES OF YOUNG ASIAN AMERICANS Abstract by Jerry Z. Park The following dissertation is an examination of the social construction and maintenance of traditional ethnic and religious identities among the rising generation of Asian Americans in the 21st century. Using an interviewed sample of 99 Asian American college student leaders at four public universities and a surveyed sample of 325 Asian American college students, I asked a set of parallel questions with regard to how the respondents understand their ethnic and religious backgrounds. The evidence based on these samples suggests that traditional identities are a constructive effort or a form of personal agency. These constructions however are derived from the available discourse in American public narratives, particularly that of race and religion. I show that not only do these public narratives produce different interpretations of ethnicity or religion when considered separately, but they also interact and inform one another in complex ways. This suggests that identities like these are both fluid and fixed relative to the social relationships embedded within family, friendships, schools, and local organizations who provide the grammar and syntax for the explanations individuals give for these identities. CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.............................................................................................vii PREFACE....................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................... 1 1.1 Theoretical Reconsiderations: The Integration of the New Immigrants ...................... 3 1.2 Social Integration and Identity................................................................................... 6 1.3 Ethnicity, Race, Religion and Identity: the Case of the Rising Generation of Asian Americans ................................................................................................................. 7 1.4 Plan of the Dissertation............................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER 2: THEORIZING AND SITUATING YOUNG ASIAN AMERICAN IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION..................................................................................... 12 2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 12 2.2 Clarifying the Terms: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion ................................................ 13 2.3 Clarifying the Terms Part II: Personal and Social Identity........................................ 17 2.4 Excursis: In Search of a Framework and the Problem of Interpreting Meaning ........ 22 2.5 Narrative and Identity Research............................................................................... 24 2.6 Racial and Religious Public Narratives and the Rising Generation of Asian Americans ............................................................................................................... 30 2.6.1 Ethnic and Religious Diversity Within Asian America.................................... 32 2.7 Rising Asian Americans in College: An Initial Portrait of the Sample...................... 38 CHAPTER 3: CONSTRUCTING ETHNIC ASSETS: MAPPING AND INTERPRETING ASIAN AMERICAN ETHNIC IDENTITIES................................... 46 3.1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 46 3.2 Asian American Ethnic and Racial Identities: Two Frameworks.............................. 47 3.3 Asian American Ethnicities in College .................................................................... 57 3.4 Asian American Ethnic Identity Salience: A Descriptive Glance ............................. 58 3.5 Asian American Ethnic Identity Meaning: A Preliminary Map ................................ 60 3.5.1 Ethnic Identity as Embodied in Traditional Cultural Attachments ................... 62 3.5.2 Ethnic Identity as Embodied in Racialized Experiences .................................. 66 3.5.3 Ethnic Identity in Relational Co-Ethnic Networks........................................... 69 3.5.4 Ethnic Identity in Racialized Situations........................................................... 73 3.6 Racialized Assimilation: Non-optional “Ethnic Assets” and Racial Liabilities ......... 77 ii 3.7 Conclusions............................................................................................................. 80 CHAPTER 4: SITUATED RELGIIOUS PLURALISM: ASIAN AMERICAN RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES ........................................................................................... 85 4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 85 4.2 Reviewing Asian American Religious Identities Part I: The Dominant Paradigms ... 86 4.3 Reviewing Asian American Religious Identities Part II: A Curious Absence?.......... 91 4.4 Asian American Religious Identities in College....................................................... 94 4.5 Asian American Religious Identity Salience: A Descriptive Glance......................... 95 4.6 Asian American Religious Identity Meanings.......................................................... 96 4.6.1 Traditional Religious Identity ......................................................................... 97 4.6.2 Nominal Religious Identity............................................................................. 99 4.6.3 “Spiritual” Religious Identity........................................................................ 101 4.6.4 Secular Identity............................................................................................. 105 4.7 Analogies from Survey Results.............................................................................. 106 4.8 Situated Religious Pluralism: Religious Identities and Public Narratives ............... 110 4.9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 114 CHAPTER 5: INTERSECTING PUBLIC NARRATIVES IN ASIAN AMERICAN ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES................................................................. 118 5.1 Introduction........................................................................................................... 118 5.2 The Complexity of Ethnic and Religious Identities: A Brief Review...................... 119 5.3 Asian American Ethnic and Religious Identities in Comparison: A Portrait ........... 122 5.3.1 Emphasizing Ethnicity Over Religion Independently .................................... 124 5.3.2 Emphasizing Religion Over Ethnicity Independently .................................... 126 5.3.3 Both Ethnicity and Religion Important Independently................................... 128 5.3.3.1 Religion within Ethnic Identity Narrative Discourse.......................... 129 5.3.3.2 Ethnicity within Religious Identity Narratives ................................... 133 5.4 Choosing Traditions .............................................................................................. 135 5.5 Comparing Independent and Forced-Choice Responses in Identity Preference........135 5.5.1 Exclusive Ethnic Identity: Significant non-optionality .................................. 138 5.5.2 Exclusive Religious Identity: Significant optionality................................... ... 141 5.5.3 Both Ethnic and Religious: Integrated (Intra-ethnic Religious Diversity) or ....... Distinct (Intra-religious Ethnic/Racial Diversity) .......................................... 144 5.6 Conclusion: Fluid Identities, the Significance of Race, and Public Narratives........ 148 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION BRIDGING TO AMERICAN...................................... 158 6.1 Where Do We Go From Here? .............................................................................. 162 6.2 Public Narratives, Group Balkanization and the state of American College Campuses.............................................................................................................. 165 6.3 Pluralism and Authenticity .................................................................................... 166 APPENDIX: REVIEW OF METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES AND APPROACHES AND IN THE STUDY OF ASIAN AMERICAN ETHNICITY AND RELIGION AND RATIONALE FOR THE APPROACH OF THE PRESENT STUDY ......................... 171 A.1 Representativeness of ethnic and religious Asian Americans ................................ 171 iii A.2 Representativeness of regional differences............................................................ 172 A.2.1 Representativeness of social environment.......................................................... 174 A.3 Shifting level and type of analysis from community to individual......................... 177 A.4 Shifting toward instrumentation parity.................................................................
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