Three Takeaways from Interviewing 110 “JewAsian” Couples and Kids |
Three Takeaways from Interviewing 110 “JewAsian” Couples and Kids
The ProsenPeople: Exploring the world of Jewish Literature
Jewish Book Council
2016-07-18
Helen Kiyong Kim, Associate Professor of Sociology
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington
Noah Samuel Leavitt, Associate Dean of Students
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington
Helen Kiyong Kim and Noah Samuel Leavitt are the coauthors of JewAsian: Race, Religion, and Identity for America’s Newest Jews. With the release of their book earlier this month, the couple is guest blogging for Jewish Book Council all week as part of the Visiting Scribe series here on The ProsenPeople.
We have always acknowledged that what drew us to the research that would become the foundation of our book, JewAsian: Race, Religion, and Identity for America’s Newest Jews, started from personal questions based on our own experiences and relationship. When we began our project in 2008, Helen was pregnant with our first child. We were in the throes of trying to figure out not only diapering, sleeping, and feeding a newborn but also how we would raise our child to navigate and contribute to a very complex world. We were curious how other couples— JewAsian because of racial, ethnic, and sometimes religious difference—were figuring out, in light of these types of differences, how to sustain and nurture a marriage and family.
Fast forward to the present: our son Ari (almost 8) and daughter Talia (almost 5) challenge us every day with their endless curiosity and argumentative demeanor. We often find ourselves at a loss for words in their midst, particularly when it comes to in-the-moment questions and statements about identity, whether racial, ethnic, religious, or all three. But then we remember that we talked to roughly one hundred and ten individuals whose own experiences have taught us a great deal about how to think about the challenges we experience every day in our own family.
What have we learned about our own family by writing a book about families like ours? Here are a few takeaways:…
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Helen Kiyong Kim, Jewish Book Council, Noah Samuel Leavitt, The ProsenPeople, The ProsenPeople: Exploring the world of Jewish Literature