Description
Book SynopsisThis book explores the impact of inconsistent rules of ethnic inclusion and exclusion on the economic and social lives of Korean Americans and Korean Chinese living in Seoul. Lee highlights the “logics of transnationalism” that shape the relationships between these return migrants and their employers, co-workers, friends, family, and the South Korean state.
Trade Review"In this distinct contribution to the field of transnational studies, Helene K. Lee shows how ethnic identity comes to take on a very different significance depending on one's nationality and class position." -- Joshua Roth * author of Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan *
"Lee examines the expectations and experiences of two groups, whose members think of themselves as Korean." * Asian Affairs *
"The book merits reading to encourage reflection on the current social situation and pondering of the possible transformation of Koreanness in the future." * The Review of Korean Studies *
"Lee’s study is a crisply written and cogently argued analysis that makes an original contribution to a range of interrelated subjects that have preoccupied social scientists for decades, including diasporic nationalism, return migration, and (im)migrant incorporation." * China Review International *
"Lee’s book aptly suggests that we should try to imagine the concept of homeland beyond the simple binary between family and foreign, us and them, and in and out." * The Journal of Asian Studies *
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1
1. The Premigration Condition 14
2. Return Migrants in the South Korean
Immigration System and Labor Market 39
3. Of “Kings” and “Lepers”: The Gendered
Logics of Koreanness in the Social
Lives of Korean Americans 67
4. “Aren’t We All the People of Joseon?”:
Claiming Ethnic Inclusion through
History and Culture 97
5. The Logics of Cosmopolitan Koreanness
and Global Citizenship 114
Conclusion: Finding Family among Foreigners 134
Acknowledgments 143
Appendix A: Research Methods 147
Appendix B: Characteristics of Respondents 149
Notes 155
References 167
Index 175
