Description
Book SynopsisThis volume examines the socio-cultural aspects of transnational mobility of the Korean diaspora across the globe, spanning countries such as Japan, the Philippines, Germany, the US, and the UK. The contributors explore gendered migration, social inclusion and exclusion in homeland and hostland, embodied multiple subjectivities and belonging in historical and contemporary contexts, migrants' work and family, ethnic media consumption, information and communication technology (ICT) in transnational mobility, ethnic return migration, and marriage migration. This work is a strong interdisciplinary and trans-regional study, combining various disciplines such as sociology, gender studies, anthropology, history, theater studies, media and communication studies, and Asian studies.
Trade ReviewThis is the only book I know that examines such a diverse range of mobilities to and from South Korea in both historical and contemporary contexts. Most of the chapters are theoretically sophisticated with substantial ethnographic detail and should interest not only Korean Studies specialists, but scholars studying migration, diasporas, and race and ethnicity more broadly. I especially appreciated the emphasis on professional and marriage migration, and the return migration of adoptees and diasporic descendants to the ethnic homeland. -- Takeyuki Tsuda, Arizona State University
A new era of migration produces new features of immigrant lives. These features are well analyzed in this collection, which also examines enduring topics with fresh perspectives, such as the gendered dimensions of migration, return migrants, and newly dug up topics from the past, all in this innovative collection. This welcome addition is a fascinating compression of time and space with reference to transnational mobility of Korean migrants in and out of Korea. The authors analyze data from interviews, historical documents, theater work, and media. The collection explores why people move in and out of borders, what the priorities are to them, how they go about in search of identities, and seeking work, education, asylum, touring, and health services. Interactions between immigrants, returnees and locals are richly described. -- Gil Soo Han, Monash University
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Transnational Mobility and Korea
Yonson Ahn
Part I: Transnational Mobility and Media
1. Media and Transnational Mobility of Korean Women
Youna Kim
2. Transnational Journey into Belonging: Korean American Adoptee’s Birth Search in Eric Sharp’s Middle Brother
Jieun Lee
Part II: Migratory Mobility and Gender
3. Nursing Care in Contact Zones: Korean Healthcare “Guest Workers” in Germany
Yonson Ahn
4. Patriarchal Racialization: Gendered and Racialized Integration of Foreign Brides and Foreign Husbands in South Korea
Seonok Lee
5. Doing Business in Contemporary Japan: The ‘New’ Wave of Korean Female Immigrants
Dukin Lim
Part III: Return Migration
6. Living as “Overseas Koreans” in South Korea: Examining the “Differential Inclusion” of Korean American “Returnees”
Stephen Cho Suh
7. (Dis-)Connectedness and Identity Negotiation: Lived Experiences of Korean Chinese Students in South Korea
Ruixin Wei
8. “Uh… well, we’re… Russians”: Identity and Resistance to Ethnic Hierarchy Among Koryŏ Saram Diasporic Returnees in South Korea
Changzoo Song
Part IV: Transnational Mobility from a Historical Perspective
9. Korean Immigration to the United States, 1903-1905: A New Look at Japanese Imperialism
Wayne Patterson
10. Korean Activists in Tōkyō, The Asia Kunglun, and Asian Solidarity in the early 1920s
Dolf-Alexander Neuhaus
11. Between Personal Choice and Social Exclusion: Diaspora Identities of Korean Marriage Migrants of the Korean War Period in the Philippines
Minjung Kim
Afterword: Transnationalism Studies and its Challenges: The View from Asia
Brenda S.A. Yeoh
