Kenneth Guest
Contact
Ken.Guest@baruch.cuny.edu; 646 312-4477
Kenneth J. Guest is the author of God in Chinatown: Religion and Survival in New York’s Evolving Immigrant Community (NYU Press, 2003) which addresses the role of religious communities in the recent migration of Fuzhounese from southeast China to New York City, the creation of transnational religious networks, and the effects of this migration on the religious revival sweeping coastal China.
Prof. Guest’s most recent research, conducted with Baruch sociologist Ke Liang, is entitled “Immigration, Education and Opportunity Among Chinese Americans of Fuzhounese Descent”. The study explores education and immigration experiences of the children of Fuzhounese immigrants who have begun to attend Baruch College in significant numbers over the past five years. These students–children of restaurant, garment shop and construction workers–are succeeding in higher education despite significant cultural and economic challenges faced by their families. View his lecture on the subject at CUNY’s Asian Asian-American Research Institute.
His research focuses on China, New York City, immigration, religion, and transnationalism. He has conducted fieldwork in China and the US.
Professor Guest is a graduate of Columbia University (B.A., East Asian Studies); Union Theological Seminary (M.A., Religious Studies); and The City University of New York Graduate Center (M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Anthropology).