"Where I Don't Have To Explain Myself": Ethnocultural Church Communities as a Third Place for Immigrant Education and Acculturation

This dissertation explores how Korean ethnic churches in the United States and the constellation of key social, cultural, and institutional contacts linked to them, which I refer to collectively as church community networks (CCNs), shape ways that Korean American and Korean immigrant parents understand and navigate the formal education of children and their families’ experiences of life in the United States. This ethnographic case study of Korean American parents examines the significance of settings outside of the formal school environment, such as ethnocultural institutions and informal networks, for children’s education and development, particularly as they relate to the acculturation of newcomer youth and families to receiving societies.

Data in this dissertation come from in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with 17 participants from various generational immigrant backgrounds: first-generation parents who immigrated prior to 2000; first-generation parents of children enrolled in K-12 education who immigrated to the United States after 2000; and U.S.-born or U.S.-raised 1.5-to-second-generation parents with children in K-12 schools. Participants include four intergenerational dyads comprising first-generation immigrants who have lived and raised children in the United States since prior to 2000 and their 1.5-to-second-generation children who experienced at least part of their K-12 education in U.S. schools and are now raising young children in K-12 schools.

My analysis suggests that Korean American and Korean immigrant parents’ ideas about education and its aims are socially, culturally, and historically situated relative to the migration journey in ways that shape how they develop and implement strategies for children’s learning and development. The Korean ethnic CCN is a significant context where church members situate efforts to seek and obtain support, knowledge, and resources relevant to how they approach children’s education, and its structure is designed to facilitate pathways by which knowledge and resources are exchanged. Moreover, by providing access to practical and material support; exposing parents to ideas about children’s education and learning that influence parenting practices; and facilitating social, cultural, linguistic, and religious connections that help mitigate negative experiences associated with experiences of immigration, Korean ethnic CCNs contribute to formation of a sense of belonging and facilitate acculturation processes.

My study extends the literature on the education and acculturation of newcomer children and families and on the significance of non-school settings for children’s education and development by bringing together the following threads of inquiry: the significance of educational and other experiences across the immigration trajectory, the role of parental involvement in the education of immigrant children, and the influence of ethnocultural institutions in facilitating the acculturation of immigrants. This dissertation provides insight into why and how particular types of non-school settings provide crucial support for newcomer parents, by showing how an ethnic religious community network offers key forms of pragmatic, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual support for newly arrived families. Lastly, it provides guidance for ways that ethnocultural and other institutions may be more intentional and systematic in their approach to connecting families with resources, facilitating useful connection among parents, and creating shared social spaces for community-building and belonging.