Understanding Experiences of Othering: Examining a South Korean International Student in a U.S. University

• In Event: 32.069 - The Postcolonial And: Interstices and Liberation Across Educational Spaces

Abstract

This study examines international students’ experiences of othering on their campuses. To achieve this goal, a case of a South Korean international student’s experiences was addressed from postcolonial perspectives. In particular, this study asks: “What does a Korean international student’s experiences of othering look like?” and “What is the base of a Korean international student’s experiences of othering?”
To achieve the purpose of this study, the concept of othering is utilized to interrogate how the participant projected othering onto her peers while simultaneously was a recipient of othering in her campus experiences. As Fine (1994) explains, othering is a co-construction of self as well as other. So, through othering, the action and process of finding differences between us and them take place while similarities within our group are also constructed. Additionally, othering is usually seen as colonizers’ exclusive property. However, in this study, othering includes not only colonizers excluding the colonized, but also excluding by the colonized.
This qualitative study employed a semi-structured interview. Through repetitive and reflexive reading of the interview transcript, I constructed preliminary findings. First, the participant’s othering was selective based on specific contexts. She had various relationships with diverse people within different contexts. Social, economic, and political contexts where she was situated contributed to her stereotypes about others. She defined some Americans as her second family with positive impressions, but other Americans were classified with neutral or negative stereotypes. Second, the participant’s historical and educational background had an impact on her othering. Her learning about Cultural Studies in a US institution influenced her focus on differences between South Koreans and Americans or other Asians, rather than understanding similarities across their nationalities. Further, her knowledge about the modern history of South Korea impacted her negative stereotypes about South Korea’s education system.
Through these findings, I question and complicate theories of othering based on specific contexts and backgrounds, rather than simplifying that othering is conducted only by the colonizer position. In particular, this study intends to complicate theories about othering by focusing on how international students experience othering on their campuses, especially in terms of historicization (During, 2000) and the context of education and research (Minh-Ha, 1989).

References
During, S. (2000). Postcolonialism and globalization: Towards a historicization of their inter-relation. Cultural Studies, 14(3-4), 385-404.
Fine, M. (1994). Working the hyphens. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 70-82). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Minh-Ha, T. T. (1989). Woman, native, other: writing postcoloniality and feminism. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Author

• Jungyeol Park, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities