Korean Immigrant Parents' Ways of Raising Children Bilingually and Transnationally

• In Event: Raising Bilingual Children: Asian Immigrant Parents' Experiences in and Across Home, School, and Community Spaces

Abstract

Immigrant children and their families participate in border-crossing experiences as they travel, both physically and socially, across two or more languages, cultures, and countries (Basch, Glick Schiller, & Szanton Blanc,1994; Ghiso, 2016; Levitt & Jaworksky, 2007; Suárez-Orozco and Suárez-Orozco, 2001). During these processes, they develop transnational networks, engage in intergenerational dialogues, build bicultural identities, and expand cross-cultural knowledge (Author, 2019; Skerrett, 2015). While these processes of transnational migration have been explored in scholarship, much of the discussion tends to focus on Latinx communities, calling for more research on the transcultural experiences of immigrants from a wider range of backgrounds (Rong, 2006; Author, 2007). This paper examines the voices of Korean immigrant parents who organize, manage, and lead physical border-crossing experiences for and with their bilingual children. In particular, I center on the unique forms of capital they utilize across countries in making efforts to raise their children bilingual and transnational.

Author

• Jungmin Kwon, Michigan State University