Newcomers in a Nontraditional Receiving Community: Korean Immigrant Adaptation Strategies in the American Deep South

Shifts in the population demographics of the United States have been rapid in the past two decades. No other region has seen more change than the South (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). A traditional black/white dichotomy existed in the southern workforce hierarchy after Reconstruction. However, the civil rights movement, increased educational opportunities, welfare reforms, and other features associated with Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs constricted the once reliable pool of poor White and Black workers sought by farmers and manufacturers (Griffith, Broadway, & Stull, 1995), forcing businesses to search for nontraditional sources of cheap labor. The locales from which industrial recruitment of immigrant labor takes place are beginning to change due to strict anti-immigration laws and shifts in the hiring practices of some industries such as meat processing. The current study offers a glimpse into that world, providing readers with a snapshot of immigrant life in a nontraditional receiving community.This article explores the adaptation strategies adopted by a Korean immigrant population working and living in a small town in southeast Georgia. A recent study by the Pew Research Center (2012) shows that Asians are now "the best-educated, highest-income, fastest-growing race group in the country" (p. 1). Therefore, the existence of a sizable Korean population toiling in a poultry processing plant in rural south Georgia raises a number of questions. While much of the situation proves to be in accord with the existing literature on immigrant communities, deviations from existing theories are apparent as well. Our analysis centers on how the nature of ethnic church membership in a small town setting deviates from that of larger, suburban or urban areas. This particular scope allows us in this paper to provide a glimpse of immigrant life in a nontraditional receiving community coming to terms with a second wave of newcomers that differ markedly from the typical labor pool in the poultry industry.From South Korea to South GeorgiaThe journey from South Korea to south Georgia is not the stereotypical Asian immigration story. Recent increases in the Asian population of the United States have seen a comparative rise in the number of academic articles focusing on this ethnic group. Similar to the all-encompassing title "Latino", the term "Asian" includes multiple ethnicities from a variety of countries and linguistic backgrounds. Focusing strictly upon immigrants from South Korea, Yoon (2012) describes how 6.8 million Koreans now live in 170 countries constituting their own diaspora. Although the initial Korean immigrants left to escape poverty or war and oppression at home, the Koreans migrating to the United States since the 1960s are mainly from the middle-class. However, because 96 percent of Korean immigrants in the United States live in metropolitan areas (Yu, Choe, & Han, 2002), there is a dearth of information about Koreans in rural settings.The influx of Koreans to south Georgia can be traced back to the troubles affecting millions in the post "Korean Miracle" economy. The years following the 1953 armistice saw amazing economic expansion. Although the country suffered widespread destruction during the 1950-1953 war, the collective drive of the South Korean people quickly transformed the nation. Korea followed an economic strategy that subordinated all other socio-economic factors to the market, "building up the physical and human capital base prior to turning to consumer durable production" (Chomsky, 2010). This course of action appeared to be an effective means of growth for the Korean economy until the general crisis of 1997, brought on by a massive expansion of credit based primarily on foreign loans. The World Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund intervened in order to stabilize the financial turmoil. However, the intervention was not without consequence for large sectors of the population, mostly the middle class. …