What do you think?
Rate this book
Global Korea #3
Migrant Conversions: Transforming Connections Between Peru and South Korea
A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org.
Peruvian migrant workers began arriving in South Korea in large numbers in the mid 1990s, eventually becoming one of the largest groups of non-Asians in the country. Migrant Conversions shows how despite facing unstable income and legal exclusion, migrants come to see Korea as an ideal destination. Some even see it as part of their divine destiny. Faced with looming departures, Peruvians develop cosmopolitan plans to transform themselves from economic migrants into pastors, lovers, and leaders. Set against the backdrop of 2008's global financial crisis, Vogel explores the intersections of three types of conversions-- money, religious beliefs and cosmopolitan plans--to argue that conversions are how migrants negotiate the meaning of their lives in a constantly changing transnational context. At the convergence of cosmopolitan projects spearheaded by the state, churches, and other migrants, Peruvians change the value and meaning of their migrations. Yet, in attempting to make themselves at home in the world and give their families more opportunities, they also create potential losses. As Peruvians help carve out social spaces, they create complex and uneven connections between Peru and Korea that challenge a global hierarchy of nations and migrants. Exploring how migrants, churches and nations change through processes of conversion reveals how globalization continues to impact people's lives and ideas about their futures and pasts long after they have stopped moving, or that particular global moment has come to an end.
Peruvian migrant workers began arriving in South Korea in large numbers in the mid 1990s, eventually becoming one of the largest groups of non-Asians in the country. Migrant Conversions shows how despite facing unstable income and legal exclusion, migrants come to see Korea as an ideal destination. Some even see it as part of their divine destiny. Faced with looming departures, Peruvians develop cosmopolitan plans to transform themselves from economic migrants into pastors, lovers, and leaders. Set against the backdrop of 2008's global financial crisis, Vogel explores the intersections of three types of conversions-- money, religious beliefs and cosmopolitan plans--to argue that conversions are how migrants negotiate the meaning of their lives in a constantly changing transnational context. At the convergence of cosmopolitan projects spearheaded by the state, churches, and other migrants, Peruvians change the value and meaning of their migrations. Yet, in attempting to make themselves at home in the world and give their families more opportunities, they also create potential losses. As Peruvians help carve out social spaces, they create complex and uneven connections between Peru and Korea that challenge a global hierarchy of nations and migrants. Exploring how migrants, churches and nations change through processes of conversion reveals how globalization continues to impact people's lives and ideas about their futures and pasts long after they have stopped moving, or that particular global moment has come to an end.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2020
6 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 19, 2025
This book follows the story of Peruvian migrants who travel to South Korea in search of a better life. Vogel theorizes that while the migrants had differing intentions and stories, their common experience can be summarized into three ‘conversions’: monetary, religious, and cosmopolitan. I appreciated the simple organization of the book into three chapters, each exploring one of these ideas, and a preceding one for background information; this made her argument very easy to follow.
My harshest critique of this book is that Vogel’s writing does not synthesize well her stories with her analysis, where at times I felt like I was reading a piece of reporting journalism instead of an academic source. She explains her research in the voice of her subjects and often at great length – her stories sometimes spanned multiple pages. Despite that, I think that, as a contribution to the literature, Vogel’s concept of ‘conversions’ was well-developed and can certainly be extrapolated to academic analyses of other migrant groups, or even more generally to any group of travellers, such as the cosmopolitan conversion of corporate business travellers or students studying abroad finding solace in religious groups, to name a few examples.
My harshest critique of this book is that Vogel’s writing does not synthesize well her stories with her analysis, where at times I felt like I was reading a piece of reporting journalism instead of an academic source. She explains her research in the voice of her subjects and often at great length – her stories sometimes spanned multiple pages. Despite that, I think that, as a contribution to the literature, Vogel’s concept of ‘conversions’ was well-developed and can certainly be extrapolated to academic analyses of other migrant groups, or even more generally to any group of travellers, such as the cosmopolitan conversion of corporate business travellers or students studying abroad finding solace in religious groups, to name a few examples.
October 2, 2020
Investigando para la tesis.
December 12, 2020
My parents are immigrants, and I am always curious about the types of experiences that people go through when move to a new culture. Interesting stories.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews