We’ve been examining the ways our theology and personal faith evolves — and how oppression, disability, trauma and racism can shift the way we understand God, our scriptures and ourselves.
Today, we’re going to be focused specifically on addressing the marginalization and oppression of our Asian American communities — and how living in a liminal space (sometimes not accepted as fully American or fully Asian) has shaped Asian American theology and helped us to better understand our God who dwells in liminal spaces, too.
And we’re grateful to learn from Dr. Russell Jeung, a leading sociologist of Asian American identity, race, and religion. He is also professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and author of many books focused on race and religion — including “Sustaining Faith Traditions: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion among the Latino and Asian American Second Generation” that he wrote with Carolyn Chen, published by NYU Press.
In 2020, Dr. Jeung launched Stop AAPI Hate, a project of Chinese for Affirmative Action, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, and SF State Asian American Studies. It tracks Covid-19 related discrimination in order to develop community resources and policy interventions to fight racism. His spiritual memoir, At Home in Exile: Finding Jesus Among My Ancestors and Refugee Neighbors, shares his experiences living among the foreigner and the poor.
In this podcast and video, Dr. Jeung talks with us about Asian American identity, the history of Asian American studies, the formation of Asian American theology and how churches have responded to Anti-Asian American racism. He also discusses how he’s tracking the rise of racism and hate crimes during COVID-19 with the STOP AAPI Hate project.
You can subscribe or download this discussion on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe to the video series on YouTube.
Here’s an overview of our conversation:
EP21: Asian American Identity, Theology & Racial Justice
Dr. Russell Jeung talks with us about the history of Asian American studies, the birth of Asian American theology, how oppression and marginalization of Asian Americans has led to a theology of exile, the disturbing rise of Christian nationalism along with Anti-Asian Racism, why he launched the STOP AAPI HATE project to track COVID-19 related racism and discrimination and the four stressors impacting Asian Americans during COVID-19 (and how churches can help).
Listen or download the full podcast here:
Video conversation:
Dr. Russell Jeung is chair and professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. He received a BA in Human Biology and a MA in Education from Stanford University. After working in China and in the Mayor’s Office of San Francisco, he obtained his PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include the Sociology of Race, the Sociology of Religion, and Social Movements. In 2020, Dr. Jeung launched Stop AAPI Hate, a project of Chinese for Affirmative Action, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, and SF State Asian American Studies. It tracks Covid-19 related discrimination in order to develop community resources and policy interventions to fight racism.
His spiritual memoir, At Home in Exile: Finding Jesus Among My Ancestors and Refugees Neighbors, shares his experiences living among the foreigner and the poor. Russell Jeung’s spiritual memoir shares the joyful and occasionally harrowing stories of his life in East Oakland’s Murder Dubs neighborhood—including battling drug dealers who threatened him, exorcising a spirit possessing a teen, and winning a landmark housing settlement against slumlords with 200 of his closest Cambodian and Latino friends.
You can see a full list of podcasts dealing with spirituality and social justice here.
