July 2025 Awards
Burmese American Christians: Unlocking their Hidden Stories and Contributions to Asian American Theology and Religion
Timothy Tseng | Professor, Christianity and Asian American Studies and Director, Asian American Christian History Institute | Fuller Theological Seminary
Joseph Cheah | Professor, Religious Studies and Theology | University of Saint Joseph
David Thang Moe | Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer, Southeast Asian Studies | Yale University
Compared to other Asian Americans, the majority of Burmese immigrant Christians are recent arrivals in the U.S. and represent a minority within a minority. Their stories are largely hidden and not widely discussed. Therefore, the project aims to uncover the narratives of Burmese American Christians (BAC) and integrate their lived experiences and voices into the broader discourse of Asian American theology and religious studies. This project’s threefold aim: a historical exploration of Burmese American Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal migration to the U.S.; an ethnographic study of BACs within diverse ethnic and ecclesial identities and in the transnational socio-political contexts; and an intercultural and transnational BAC theological construction within the U.S. contexts. The data gathered for this project will be made accessible to scholars, religious communities, and laypeople and disseminated through the digital platform of Fuller Theological Seminary’s Asian American Christian History Institute.
Keywords: Burmese American, Christianity, Ethnography
The Origins of the Silent Exodus Myth: Korean American Evangelical Oral Histories in the Greater Los Angeles Area
Justin Tse | Associate Professor, Religion and Culture (Education) | Singapore Management University
Linda (Yun Ja) Kwak | PhD Student, Theology | Boston University
Chanhee Heo | Postdoctoral Research Associate, Religious Studies | John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics (Washington University in St. Louis)
Ellen Zhou | MA Student, Pastoral Care and Counseling | Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
This working group will conduct an oral history of the origins of what Asian American evangelicals have mythologized as the “silent exodus” in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The term originates from a front-page article that Los Angeles Times staff writer Doreen Carvajal published on May 9, 1994, concerning what the “silent exodus” by which Korean Americans in Los Angeles Koreatown referred to the opening of English-language ministries in Koreatown churches, as well as new English-speaking multi-ethnic congregations in the Los Angeles suburbs. We seek to conduct an oral history of the term “silent exodus” and examine whether it can be traced to historical events in Koreatown in the early 1990s, including the 1992 Los Angeles uprising.
Keywords: Korean American, Christianity, Oral History
Korean Indigenized Trauma-Informed Spirituality, Ritual, and Practice for Women and Femmes in Diaspora
Christine Hong | Associate Professor, Educational Ministries | Columbia Theological Seminary
Seo Choi | Shaman and Founder, Alpha Sisters Publishing
Sue Kim Park | Associate Dean, Contextual Education and International Partnerships and Assistant Professor, Contextual Theology | Columbia Theological Seminary
Rev. Sunghee Han | Supervisor, Clinical Pastoral Education | Wellstar Health System
This project will create practices and rituals for negotiating and understanding suffering, pain, healing, and creation through a transnational Korean indigenous spiritualist feminist lens. Through peer-guided, interreligious roundtable discussion and study in six monthly in-person meetings and one four-day retreat, we will read, discuss, and create across our three areas of expertise: Christian practical theology, Korean Shamanism, and spiritual health care. Our work will culminate in the creation of a set of original healing rituals and practices that incorporate an understanding of Christian practical theology, Korean shamanistic ritual, and trauma-informed care for Korean women in the diaspora. This project will consider how our resources might accompany women who have experienced harm through their experiences with the Church. We hope such a resource can be used alongside different religious resources used by other AANH-PI people to continually challenge, in anticolonial ways, different diasporic colonial Christianities.
Keywords: Korean American, Christianity, Shamanism, Health Care
Narrating New Identities: Asian American, Religious, Ethnic, and Racial Selves in the 21st Century
Esther Chan | Assistant Professor, Sociology | University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
Joshua Tom | Associate Professor, Sociology | Seattle Pacific University
Jerry Park | Associate Professor, Sociology | Baylor University
Research on the intersections of religion, ethnicity, panethnicity, and racial identity presumes that these are the primary vectors that inform individuals’ actions and attitudes. We interrogate this and reconsider the importance of religion, ethnicity, panethnicity, and race to Asian Americans by examining what second – and third-generation Asian Americans consider important to their sense of self. Our research group will complete a qualitative study interviewing 125 Asian Americans from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. We aim to answer the following research questions: (1) What do Asian Americans consider important to who they are as individuals and as Asian Americans? (2) How do Asian Americans understand their non/religious identity, ethnicity, and race? (3) How do religious and racial scripts help Asian Americans make sense of their various identities and experiences?
Keywords: Asian American, Sociology, Identity
July 2024 Awards
Advancing Asian American Theology: Collaborative Manuscript Development Workshop
David Chao | Director, Center for Asian American Christianity | Princeton Theological Seminary
Isaac Kim | Associate Pastor | Joy Christian Fellowship
Karis Ryu | Graduate Student, Religious Studies | Yale University
Sameer Yadav | Associate Professor, Religion | Baylor University
The proposed workshop aims to convene a diverse group of faculty and graduate students (along with a minister) from theology, history, and ethnic studies to critically review and contribute to the development of a manuscript titled Asian American Christian Theology: An Introduction and New Perspectives (under contract with Wiley Blackwell). Authored by Dr. David Chao, this manuscript challenges and revitalizes the academic discipline of Asian American Theology. The workshop’s objective is to refine the manuscript so that it robustly addresses contemporary challenges and reflects the complexities of Asian American identity and Christian belief and practice. It aims to move beyond essentialist tropes, instead engaging with contemporary social issues such as racial justice, mental health, and economic inequality. Through scholarly critique and interdisciplinary discourse, the workshop will enhance the manuscript’s academic rigor and relevance, turning it into a seminal resource for scholars, practitioners, and community members.
Keywords: Asian American, Christianity, Theology
Asian American Religious Activism in the Civil Rights and Asian American Movements
Helen Jin Kim | Associate Professor, American Religions History | Emory University
Marion Kwan | Community organizer and former college counselor | City College of San Francisco
Annie Li | Graduate Student, Religion | Princeton University
Wesley Woo | Former organizer at the Center for Community Change and staff | Presbyterian Church (USA)
This project examines Asian American religious activism in the Civil Rights and Asian American Movements, focusing on individuals who sought inspiration from a variety of religious traditions. It includes meeting virtually for group discussions, creating an Asian American digital community archive, and publishing academic articles.
Keywords: Civil Rights, Community Formation
Deepening our Understanding of Confucianism & Daoism for Clinicians & Social Activists: Enriching Applied Approaches for Asian-American/Pacific Islanders
Nancy Liu | Associate Clinical Professor, Psychology | UC Berkeley
Heng Du | Assistant Professor, Chinese | Wellesley College
Boaz Tang | Graduate Student, Asian American Studies | San Francisco State University
Stephen Chen | Associate Professor, Psychology | Wellesley College
Confucian and Daoist ideas are significantly oversimplified as typically applied and understood within mental health and social activism. Concepts such as filial piety, harmony, and collectivism are often described in static, unchanging terms, such as in discussions of psychotherapy cultural competence. As a result, recommendations and approaches for Asian-American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) populations are at best, blunt and over-prescriptive and at worst, reinforce negative stereotypes of populations as simplistic, conforming, and emotionally-impoverished. This working group will bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars with research expertise in Chinese history and philosophy, cultural psychology, and sociology, as well as applied expertise in clinical psychology and social activism with AAPI groups. Through monthly meetings over the course of approximately 1.5 years, the working group will produce at least 2 products: one scholarly and one public-facing. We also anticipate the generation of additional ideas and potential for future collaborations.
Keywords: Activism, Confucianism, Doaism, Healing, Mental Health
Religion and Indigeneity in the Pacific and Asian Americas (RIPAA)
Melissa Borja | Associate Professor, American Culture | University of Michigan
Nathan Samayo | Graduate Student, Religion and Society | Princeton Theological Seminary
Quincy Yangh | Graduate Student | Yale School of the Environment
Kai Ngu | Graduate Student, Anthropology and History | University of Michigan
What is “Indigeneity” in Asian and Pacific Islander (API) American communities? Our working group project seeks to map the existing literature on Indigenous API religiosity across the American landscape to expand the field of AAPI Religious Studies. The literature we read will focus on ecology, nationalism, and health which will illuminate how Asian- Pacific Islander- American communities navigate and organize themselves around different social and environmental conditions, structural oppressions, and political commitments. Through hosting guided book readings, group discussions, and author dialogues on Zoom, participants will join us in discussing existing literature on Indigenous API religions and create academic resources to be shared with relevant academic organizations and public scholarship platforms. We will also present our findings at the 2025 AAAS Conference and 2025 APARRI conference. We will increase awareness of existing literature on Indigenous API religiosity and encourage research and mobilization for the decolonization of API communities.
Keywords: Decolonialism, Ecology, Health, Indigeneity, Nationalism
Voices of Resilience: Documenting the Foremothers of Asian American Feminist Theologies
Boyung Lee | Professor, Practical Theology, Iliff School of Theology | PANAAWTM Board Chair
Kristine Chong | Director, Shay Moral Injury Injury Center at Volunteers of America | PANAAWTM Board Secretary
Linda Morgan-Clement | Project Manager | PANAAWTM
The 40th anniversary of the Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry (PANAAWTM) is a milestone worth celebrating and commemorating. In honor of this significant occasion, we propose an oral history project titled “Voices of Resilience: Documenting the Foremothers of Asian American Feminist Theologies.” This project aims to preserve and amplify the narratives of five influential figures in Asian American feminist theologies, co-founders of PANAAWTM and/or significant shapers of Asian American feminist theologies in various fields: Kwok Pui Lan, Rita Nakashima Brock, Gale Yee, Jung Ha Kim, and Su Yon Park. Through their stories, as shared through intergenerational dialogues with interviewers of successive generations, we seek to enrich the understanding of Asian American feminist theological thoughts and their contributions to broader theological discourse and feminist praxes.
Keywords: Asian American, Feminst, Theology
July 2023 Awards
Asia Pacific American and Native American Religions: A Dialogue on Food, Spirituality, and Land
Dana Lloyd | Assistant Professor, Global Interdisciplinary Studies | Villanova University
Elisha Chi | Graduate Student, Theology and Religious Studies | Villanova University
Himanee Gupta | Professor and Associate Department Chair, Historical Studies | Empire State University
SueJeanne Koh | Graduate Futures Program Director | University of California, Irvine
This working group brings into dialogue scholars of Asia Pacific American religions and Native American and Indigenous religions to critically examine the relationship between food, land, and spirituality. Land and spirituality have been central to the study of Native American and Indigenous religions but remain understudied in the academic field of Asian American religions. Bringing these scholarly communities together will allow each of us to learn from each other in ways that have the potential to open new avenues of inquiry in both disciplines and yield new insights. This interdisciplinary working group brings together scholars from various career stages to create a reading group that will meet every month virtually over six months and then meet in person for three days in April 2024 to use fresh insights gained from the reading group to create a collective podcast series and write a white paper, to be disseminated widely.
Keywords: Food, Indigeneity, Land, Native American, Pacific Islanders, Spirituality
Filipino American Nurses: Faith and Professional Communities in the Age of COVID and Anti-Asian Hate
April Manalang | Associate Professor, History & Interdisciplinary Studies | Norfolk State University
David C. Chao | Director of the Center for Asian American Christianity | Princeton Theological Seminary
Christian Gloria | Associate Professor, Sociomedical Sciences | Columbia University
Hans Carlo Rivera | Graduate Student, Gillings School of Global Public Health | University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
What role has God and/or church played in coping with Anti-Asian hate and COVID among Filipina nurses who possess a faith commitment and worked on the front lines of the pandemic? Nearly 1/3rd of the COVID deaths were Filipina nurses. Moreover, Anti-Asian hate spiked 145% in 2020, the height of the pandemic. Over 80% of Fil-Ams self-affiliate as Catholic (Manalang, 2022). In Manalang’s current research, Fil-Am nurses reported that they heavily relied on their faith in God to cope with the tragic COVID losses amid Anti-Asian hate. In our joint project, we will 50+ conduct in-depth interviews; develop a compelling podcast; and publish a scholarly article. Our in-depth national and transnational interviews (e.g., New York, Virginia, France, Philippines, and Germany) will show that for this highly religious community, God matters to Fil-Americans. We will advance research nationally and transnationally, and in the areas of public health, religiosity, and citizenship.
Keywords: Catholicism, Covid-19, Filipino American, Public Health, Racism
Walking a Fine Line: Being a Hindu American Woman Against the Grain of Hindu Nationalism
Anjana Narayan | Professor and Chair, Sociology | California State Polytechnic University Pomona
Bandana Purkayastha | Professor, Sociology & Asian and Asian American Studies | University of Connecticut
Rianka Roy | Graduate Student, Sociology | University of Connecticut
This project seeks to document the voices silenced by strident authoritarian mainstream and community groups within the US. We will use a decolonial approach for documenting living Hinduism as racialized minority women or non-binary people, people from marginalized caste, and those in interfaith and intercaste intimate partnerships. We will interview selected people and prepare podcasts and public-facing writing with the collaborators/co-participants.
Keywords: Caste, Decolonialism, Gender, Hinduism, Interfaith
January 2023 Awards
Exploring Restorative Justice as a Healing Process to Address Caste Discrimination Cases on US Campuses
Jeffery Long | Professor of Religion, Philosophy and Asian Studies | Elizabethtown College
Vrajvihari Sharan | Director for Hindu Life & Adjunct Professor | Georgetown University
Asha Shipman | Director of Hindu Life | Yale University
We propose forming a working group to explore the feasibility a restorative justice response on US campuses to address caste discrimination. US campuses have been considering or have added caste discrimination as part of their non-discrimination policies which move it into the domain of criminal justice and equate it to racial discrimination. In recent years campus administrators have begun employing restorative justice practices to address student misconduct and bias incidents in a way that aids in conflict resolution while also fostering healing, fairness, feelings of belonging, and closure. The topic of caste is very tender and sensitive within the US Hindu community, leading to deep anxiety about how to properly address it. Hindu chaplains are well equipped to create safe and equitable spaces similar to the restorative justice space. Analogous practices within dharmic traditions which mirror restorative justice practices suggest restorative practices would be well received by the Hindu community.
Keywords: Caste, Education, Hinduism, Restorative Justice
May We Gather: Multi-Part Public Speaker Series on Asian American Buddhist Historical Recovery and Resilience
Funie Hsu | Associate Professor, American Studies | San José State University
Duncan Williams | Professor of Religion and East Asian Languages & Cultures and Director of the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture | USC
Chenxing Han | Independent Scholar
May We Gather began in spring 2021 as a response to anti-Buddhist and anti-Asian violence and erasure. We are now planning for a major in-person pilgrimage in spring 2024 to mark the three-year memorial date of the Atlanta shootings. As educators, we find it particularly meaningful that May We Gather has been taught in a numerous of educational contexts, from high school, college, and divinity school classrooms to Buddhist temples and inter-religious communities. For the purposes of this APARRI Working Group, our aim is to increase the educational impact of the spring 2024 pilgrimage by organizing a multi-part speaker series in the winter of
2023/2024 on Asian American Buddhist Historical Recovery and Resilience.
Keywords: Asian American, Buddhism, Education
Northeast Critical Ethnic Studies Working Group
KC Choi, Kyung-Chik Han | Chair/Professor of Asian American Theology | Princeton Theological Seminary
Eleanor Craig | Administrative and Program Director for the Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights (EMR) and Lecturer | Harvard University
Kathy Chow | Graduate Student, Religious Studies | Yale University
Devin Singh | Associate Professor, Religion | Dartmouth College
Vikrant Dadawala | Lecturer of History and Literature | Harvard University
Darren Yau | Graduate Student, Religion | Princeton University
While Asian American religious studies scholars have given renewed attention to the racialized character of Asian American identity and religiosity, the current trajectory, which primarily considers Asian American racialization in relation to anti-Blackness, risks masking the myriad forces at play in the racialization of Asian Americans. Asian American religious studies might also consider Asian American racialization in relation to settler colonialism, queer critique, and overlapping imperial formations. This elision limits the possibilities of Asian American religious studies as a subfield. To respond to this problem, this working group considers how a sustained engagement with critical ethnic studies can inform research in Asian American religious studies. Our working group turns to critical ethnic studies to elevate a wider range of methods and objects in the hopes of expanding the theoretical horizons and disciplinary ends of Asian American religious studies.
Keywords: Critical Ethnic Studies, Religious Studies
Unheard Soundscapes: A Close Listening to Asian America
Chanhee Heo | Graduate Student, Religious Studies | Stanford University
Kathryn Gin Lum | Associate Professor, Religious Studies and History (by courtesy) | Stanford University
Chenxing Han | Independent Scholar
Xianfeng Shi | Graduate Student in Religion | Boston University
Elaine Lai | Graduate Student in Religious Studies | Stanford University
Unheard Soundscapes is a podcast series consisting of interviews, soundscapes, and conversations with people and places where Asian and Asian American religions have been underrepresented in history and society. Our project explores the intersection of Asian and Asian American resistance and religious practice. By attending to multisensorial perceptions and experiences and bringing creative attention to Asian and Asian American religious spaces, Unheard Soundspaces unsettles western-centered epistemologies and modes of knowledge production. Through the podcast series and an accompanying website, our project targets scholars, students of religious studies, practitioners, and activists. As a community-engaged project, Unheard Soundscapes aims to achieve three goals: 1) name and honor marginalized religious spaces and ontological pluralities; 2) empower Asian and Asian American individuals to connect over soundspaces that bridge racial, ethnic, and generational differences; and 3) cultivate decolonial research methods and pedagogical practices.
Keywords: Activism, Asian American, Resistance
* For the 2023-24 cycle, a person can only be a part of one working group.