The Paradox of Belonging: Korean Chinese Identity Practices in New York

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 09. Ethnic boundary making

Abstract

This paper examines how ethnic minorities negotiate and practice national and ethnic identities after migration, focusing on Korean Chinese (ethnic Koreans with Chinese nationality) in Flushing, New York. While immigrant identity research has moved beyond nation-bounded “groupism” toward transnational and hybrid accounts, less understood is how migrants who were already ethnic minorities in the sending country navigate belonging when they must relate simultaneously to co-nationals of other ethnicities and to co-ethnics from other nation-states. Drawing on 53 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2024, this paper discusses a “paradox of belonging” regarding why Korean Chinese identity appears homogeneous from the outside yet remain internally diverse in how they interpret and enact “Chinese” and “Korean” affiliation. Three paradoxes organize identity practice. First, state nationalism in China produces strong political identification as “Chinese,” even as cultural distinctiveness persist. Second, although there are limited emotional attachment with South Korea due to the status hierarchy and political ideology, everyday incorporation is embedded in Korean networks and further producing interdependence between Korean and Korean Chinese communities in New York. Third, Korean Chinese are close to Korean community yet lack formal membership, while retaining political eligibility in Chinese community despite “thin” interaction. It prompted new Korean Chinese organizations that model Korean associations while strategically maintaining independence amid geopolitical sensitivities of America, China, and South Korea.

Author

• Lixiang Jin, CUNY-Graduate Center