Forced Migration and Transgenerational Memory: The Complexity of Moral Injury and Layers of Impact

Recent US policy has led to increased immigration enforcement, including the authorization of arrests in sensitive locations such as schools and churches. This policy change is rooted in the assumption that undocumented immigrants are criminals, reinforcing structural injustices that fuel racism and xenophobia. These injustices contribute to profound psychological, moral, and spiritual suffering within immigrant communities, creating narratives of fear that disrupt moral values and lives. Young people often encounter misinformation through various media platforms, making it challenging for them to discern truth from distortion. This project examines how forced migration and transgenerational memory shape moral and spiritual struggles in immigrant communities. Particularly, this research explore the socio-historical and cultural contexts of immigrant communities and the harmful ideologies that impact their moral and spiritual values. I propose the Korean concept of shimjeong as a critical lens for understanding moral injury.

A structural understanding of moral injury critiques the ways in which moral injury studies in the U.S. often privilege certain wartime experiences while overlooking systemic violence, migration trauma, and racial discrimination. By emphasizing institutional, social, and systemic injustices, my research broadens the scope of moral injury discourse to include the experiences of immigrants and their transgenerational memories and displacement. Moral injury does not only arise from high-stakes situations but also from the persistent effects of migration, racial violence, and socio-political marginalization in the United States.

Korean immigration to the United States began in the early 20th century, with 7,226 Koreans arriving in Hawaii between 1903 and 1905 to work on sugar plantations. A more significant wave of migration followed the Korean War and the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The Korean War, which erupted in 1950, not only shaped migration patterns but also left a lasting impact on the collective memory, moral frameworks, and spiritual values of the Korean immigrants. The lingering effects of war, combined with the ongoing division of the Korean peninsula, have deeply influenced the moral injury and spiritual struggles of Korean Americans.

In the face of cultural isolation and racial discrimination, early Korean immigrants sought solidarity within faith communities. These communities played a crucial role in preserving spiritual and cultural identity while navigating the challenges of a new society. Intersubjective memory, passed through generations, continues to shape the experiences of Korean Americans, influencing how they process loss, displacement, and moral suffering. Grief within immigrant communities extends beyond the personal to encompass historical, cultural, and relational losses. It is not merely an emotional response but a complex process that affects behavioral, cognitive, spiritual, relational, and existential dimensions. The Korean concept of Shimjeong captures emotional, relational, social, and cultural dimensions in understanding moral injury. According to Korean socio-cultural psychologists Sang-Chin Choi and Gyuseog Han, shimjeong means:

"As an indigenous cultural emotional state, shimcheong* refers to a state of aroused emotion concerning a particular event occurring in a relationship. Shimcheong is activated when a specific behavior or event provokes a violation of expectations concerning the self in the we-ness category. The most frequently used expressions are “disappointed shimcheong,” “rejected shimcheong,” “sad shimcheong,” “unfairly treated shimcheong,” “depressed shimcheong,” “despaired shimcheong,” etc… These expressions show that the valence of shimcheong is generally negative." 

I examine how immigrants’ shimjeong is activated in morally injurious situations, such as racial discrimination and social marginalization, and how shimjeong narratives are portrayed in historical fiction and nonfiction literature. To ground my analysis in lived realities, I incorporate intergenerational narratives from the works of Han Kang, Min Jin Lee, and Grace Cho as part of my literature review. These works provide insight into how Korean immigrants navigate moral and spiritual struggles within historical and contemporary contexts.

This research offers insights for religious scholars, spiritual care providers, and moral injury practitioners by deepening awareness of structural moral injury in relation to migration and transgenerational memory. Rather than focusing solely on treating individual cases of moral injury, my work emphasizes the importance of strengthening immigrant communities through interreligious communal care, education, and advocacy. By fostering moral imagination and communal healing, this approach seeks to prevent the perpetuation of moral injury across generations and promote communal resilience within immigrant communities.

* I changed the spelling from shimcheong to shimjeong to better align with the Korean theological concept of jeong.

Sang Chin Choi and Gyuseog Han, “Shimcheong Psychology: A case of an emotional state for cultural psychology,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 41(2), (2008), 209-212.