Negotiating Identity and Community: Voices of Korean Immigrant Parents and Young Children

• In Event: Roundtable Session 57
  In Roundtable Session: On My Block: Neighborhood Roles in Learning and Identity

Abstract

This study is designed to bring more attention to how Korean immigrant families develop and negotiate their identities, living between two cultural worlds. Through the in-depth interview with the Korean immigrant parents and young children in this study, I seek to uncover how they understand and present themselves. Findings indicate that the Korean immigrant parents expressed strong resistance against stereotypical attributes of their ethnic group, and set themselves apart from other Korean immigrants, whom they labeled “Typical Korean.” The children showed a firm and positive perspective toward their ethnic and sociocultural identity as either Korean or Korean American. The children’s identity was formed combining with their birthplace and their parents’ racial identity. Implications for identity education are discussed.

Author

• Hae Min Yu, Missouri State University