Bilingual yet Monoethnic Congregations: Intergenerational Transformation in Korean Ethnic Churches in São Paulo

Abstract

The extensive alienation of younger-generation Korean Brazilians from Korean ethnic churches in São Paulo has led to inevitable transformation processes. Positioned within studies in ethnic religious communities, this research explores recent changes and evolutionary processes in the city's three largest religious organizations with a particular focus on the religious, linguistic, ethnic, and social dimensions. This ethnographic study demonstrates that for the second generation, the role of the churches in retaining ethnic language and culture has diminished significantly, giving way to the religious function as first priority. At this stage, although there have been attempts to develop multiethnic congregations, secondgeneration Koreans prefer to stay within monoethnic congregations where other coethnic members also straddle the cultures of first-generation Koreans and local Brazilians. Their negative perceptions of local Brazilians, originating in the relatively high socioeconomic position of Korean Brazilians within a socially and economically stratified Brazilian society, also seem to have hindered their integration into multiethnic congregations. This study provides significant insights into how the current stage of ethnic church transition demonstrates Korean Brazilians' degree of adaptation and their formation of ethnic cohesion and attachment within larger society.