Second-Generation Asian Americans and Judaism
Second-Generation Asian Americans and Judaism
This chapter turns to the phenomenon of racial and religious intermarriage between Asian Americans and Jews, and how these families' compromise of ethnicity and religion suggests the primacy of religion. The chapter considers respondents with children. These respondents are nonreligious Asian American men who are married to Jewish women. The results show that it is far easier for these couples to pass on Jewish traditions and identities to their offspring than to pass on Asian traditions and ethnic identities. Since women are the traditional bearers of culture in the family, the results could reflect this bias. However, the data also shows that Jewish traditions and identity are easier to pass on to children because they are institutionalized in Judaism. This points to the significance that religion and religious institutions in the US are accorded in organizing identity and community, over and above ethnicity.
Keywords: Asian Americans, Jews, racial intermarriage, religious intermarriage, Jewish traditions, Judaism, ethnicity
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