Transnationalism and Religion; A Study on Biographies of Immigrant Women in Germany

This study research into the biographies of South Korean nurses who left Korea in early adulthood and have remained in Germany until now. Between 1963 and 1978, around 11,000 Korean nurses left for Germany as working migrants. Korean nurses were hired under a restricted three-year time period for migration. After the expiration of the contract, many returned to South Korea or chose to immigrate to another country such as Canada and the U.S. But other nurses did not return to Korea but instead chose to remain in Germany. They have formed Korean Communities and organized various Korean immigrant associations in Germany. After deciding to remain in Germany, they established their life over more than 40 years in Germany society and culture. So the research is interested in the way of how they dealt with their life between a home they left behind and a new home. To this end, the data collection was conducted using Fritz Schütze’s autobiographical narrative interview and collected data was analyzed according to his narrative analysis. 

We are going to present a case study about immigrant women concerning transnationalism and religion. We will show in which complicated, intertwining and often conflicting ways transnationalism occurs if we consider not only the flows of people but also the flows of goods, especially when these goods are symbolic ones, as in the case of religion. One aspect we were especially interested in was to learn something about the ‘flow of symbols’. 

As a result of studying interviews with Korean nurses it is shown how these people find or come to ‘religion’. We ask if religion is becoming an ersatz for moving back and forth between the home country and the current country of residence. This discussion leads to further considerations concerning the connection between religion, church religiosity, and transnationality.