"We Are All Children of God": The Intersectionality of Religion, Race/Ethnicity, and Immigration in Chinse Churches in Memphis, Tennessee. (3rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yu, Shaolu
• Is Part Of: Papers in applied geography. Volume 4:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 175
• Page End: 192
• Publication Date: 2018-04-03
• Subjects: Chinese Christians -- Chinese churches -- identity -- intersectionality -- Memphis; Applied human geography -- Periodicals; Geography -- Periodicals; 910
• DOI: 10.1080/23754931.2017.1401955
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2375-4931

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The Chinese (including the Taiwanese) are one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in the Greater Memphis area. In a southern midsize city like Memphis where Chinese are less concentrated, Chinese churches are major spaces for social gatherings among the Chinese community. By using ethnography, interviews, content analysis of church Web sites, program brochures, and testimonies, this article explores the intersectionality of religion, race, ethnicity, and immigration through the example of the Chinese Christian community in Memphis. The research demonstrates that Christian conversion among Chinese in the United States is not a linear assimilation. Rather, race, ethnicity, nationality and Christian identity are not exclusive but complementary. Christian identity legitimatizes American identity, preserves and reproduces Chinese identity, shapes pan-Chineseness, and serves as a "cushion" for Chinese American youth in the face of ambiguity between Chinese and American identity. Chinese churches are Chinese space in the United States, where Chinese Christians could be American in a Chinese way, and practice Chineseness in a Christian way. It is the intersectionality of multiple identities through churches that differentiates Chinese churches from nonethnic churches and nonreligious ethnic organizations.