Understanding identity formation of a Korean immigrant adolescent from a cultural historical perspective

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Identity Work and Immigrant Youth

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of a Korean immigrant adolescent, focusing on how his identity transformed throughout his multiple migrations. Research concerning immigration explains various social and cultural factors that impact Asian immigrants’ identity development. Yet, those studies often fail to sufficiently acknowledge individual’s agency and creation of new local practices. Drawing upon a cultural historical perspective, I argue that Asian immigrant students’ identity formation is an always-developing and ever-changing process that emerges in their dialogic interactions with and subjective sense-making of the environment. In addition, I show that some characteristics often attributed to Asian culture, such as reticence, may be constructed as a way to respond to struggles that Asian immigrants encounter in the United States.

Author

• Minjung Ryu, University of Maryland - College Park