Becoming Artistic "Multilingual" Subjects in Using Various Semiotic Resources: The Case of Minority Teenagers in South Korea

• In Event: Multilingual Learners' Experiences in Academic and Community Spaces

Abstract

This case study examines how Korean minority youth born in transnational marriage families find ways to use globalization to their own advantage in constructing their identities. Drawing on an ecological theoretical framework, I used ethnographic methods. The primary data sources were fieldnotes produced through twelve months of fieldwork in Incheon; interview transcripts with the student, mother, and teacher participants; and the student participants’ artifacts. Despite the pervasive social stigmatization imposed on these minority youth, two focal minority teenagers were in the process of growing up as “multilingual” subjects who cultivate ingenious ways of living while up against stereotypes. Specifically, they are equipped with diverse semiotic resources to express themselves, to communicate with others, and to construct their alternative identities virtually.

Author

• Jaran Shin, Kyung Hee University