International Sociology and International Sociology Reviews

‘Religion and cosmopolitanism in Korea’ is our Topic of the Month for July 2026. On this topic, enjoy this month Free Access to the article Mothers and nation in the global era: The role of evangelical Protestant mothers in the discursive construction of multicultural Korea by Gowoon Jung (Kyung Hee University, Korea) published in International Sociology. Read on to know more about the author’s trajectory and work.

Gowoon Jung

Why are you working on this topic? Could you share an experience, a fact or a person who made you get engaged in that research?

G. Jung: I have long been interested in the topics where religion, motherhood, and national belonging overlap in Korea. As Korea became more visibly multicultural, I kept noticing how often the language of “the family” and “good mothering” was doing quiet political work, drawing lines around who really counts as part of the nation. What first pulled me in was talking with friends who attend churches. I started to notice that some of them were genuinely more open and welcoming toward minorities, while others were much more focused on looking after native Koreans first. That made me wonder about the conditions that shape these different responses and especially what happens when women experience motherhood and international experiences.

What would you emphasize about your academic trajectory? Can you highlight which have been your academic positions, universities, awards, departments and research centers please?

G. Jung: I am currently an Associate Professor of Sociology at Korea University in Seoul, where I started in the fall of 2024. Before that, I was at the Department of Sociology at Kyung Hee University from 2019 to 2024, and I earned my PhD in Sociology at SUNY Albany. I work primarily with qualitative methods – in-depth interviews, focus-group interviews, and content analysis – across topics including gender and sexuality, family, religion, and migration. Right now I am conducting several projects: young people’s perceptions of dating and marriage in South Korea; young women’s feminist identities and practices; young men’s views on fairness, feminism, and changing masculinity; and young couples’ desire for a DINK (double-income-no-kids) lifestyle and the moral meaning of children. I have been fortunate to receive a few grants and honors, including a Women and Culture grant from the Amore Pacific Foundation (2023–2024) and an Early-Career Researcher Grant from the National Research Foundation of Korea (2020–2022). One of my recent articles on young women’s feminist practices, “‘I Am A Feminist, But...’: Practicing Quiet Feminism in the Era of Everyday Backlash in South Korea”, appeared in Gender & Society in 2024.

Do you wish to add any other information?

G. Jung: Thank you for selecting this article. It is an honor to be featured around the ISA World Congress in Gwangju. I would be glad to help spread the word through my own networks as well.

I would also like to mention that, as a member of the Korean Sociological Association (KSA), I am planning to organize a session at the World Congress in Gwangju – tentatively titled “Gender, Family, and Intimate Life in Transition: Reconfiguring Relationships in Contemporary Korea and Beyond”. I would warmly welcome anyone interested to take part. More broadly, I hope the many sociologists coming to Gwangju leave with a real sense of the dynamism of social change and hope in Korean society. I also hope they get to enjoy Gwangju’s wonderful food – the tteok-galbi especially – and the warmth of its people, and that it makes for a happy and memorable trip!