Unmixed Salad: The Concept of Multiculturalism in Korea through the Musical Troupe, Salad

• In Event: Korea in Motion: Shifting Sounds and Cultural Identifications in Transnational, Multiethnic Korea

Abstract

This paper examines the musical troupe, Salad, of Korea which is made up of different ethnic groups including Koreans, Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipinos, and so on. The troupe Salad focuses on the difficulties of new transnational migrants and their children in adjusting to the Korean society and also introduces the traditional music of the different ethnic groups. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which the concept of multiculturalism is performed and reflected by the musical theatre of Salad. Over the last decade, the Korean society has come to realize the emergence of multiculturalism and the concept has been exploited in academic and everyday life discourses. While there has been much scholarly attention to how music education of Korea embraces the concept of multiculturalism, little attention has been given to the ways in which music theatrical genres reflect multiculturalism that Korean society constructs. Analyzing the Salad troupe's performances, I argue that the Salad troupe manipulates what the Korean society pursues for multiculturalism as conceived and imagined by Koreans and those transnational migrants. In this paper, I claim that the troupe shows different social stratum and racialized/ethnicized hierarchies, juxtaposing traditional and exotic elements for transnational migrant groups and modern and westernized elements for Koreans.

Author

• Soojin Kim, Gyeongju University