Aporia of Ethnonationalism: Racialization and Exclusion of Korean Communities after the Pandemic

• In Event: 50260 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 1: Belonging, Mobility, and Racialization in Transnational Asian Contexts

Abstract

This study explores the resurgence of ethnonationalism and racism following the COVID-19 Pandemic, focusing on their reproduction through various forms of racialization and social exclusion among Korean communities across different regions. The pandemic has notably contributed to a significant increase in anti-Asian violence and discrimination globally. In the United States, Korean communities, along with other Asian groups, have frequently been targets of racial and ethnic hate incidents and violence. However, empirical investigation (Kim, Jung, Nam, and Lee 2024) reveals that racialization and social exclusion based on ethnonationalism against other Asian ethnic groups, particularly Chinese, also increased among Korean Americans. This rising anti-Chinese sentiment is not confined to the United States but is also observable among Koreans in South Korea, many of whom had previously not experienced anti-Asian violence or discrimination. This study seeks to explore why certain Koreans – both in the United States and South Korea – have normalized racialization and social exclusion, particularly targeting the Chinese, in the aftermath of the pandemic. Additionally, it investigates how ideas of racial/ethnic hierarchy (Bonilla-Silva, 2004; Kim, 1999; Michelle, 2019) and ethnonationalism (Balibar, 1991; Elias et al., 2021; Kim, 2008; Smith, 2009) have been internalized and reproduced within two Koreans across the regions. Through examining the post-pandemic experiences of Korean communities across the regions, this study enables us to examine how specific minority groups normalize racialization and exclusion as survival strategies, how ethnonationalism is internalized and practiced, and how the concept of “deep and malleable whiteness” (Christian, 2019; Winant, 1997) influences racial dynamics. Additionally, the empirical findings also could consider how marginalized populations appropriate the notion of whiteness in conjunction with ethnonationalism as a survival logic in times of crisis, such as the pandemic.

Author

• Chungse Jung, Davidson College