Refugee Belonging and Intra-Ethnic Boundaries in Migrant Incorporation

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 6: Migration and Belonging

Abstract

This paper explores the socio-political identity formation and sense of belonging of refugees resettled in the United States (US), focusing on the processes of refugee incorporation of North Koreans. By examining how refugee status interacts with host-state institutions and local community contexts, this project seeks to clarify how incorporation operates as a boundary making process that shapes in(ex)clusion. Specifically, this research is guided by the question of how the racial and ethnic composition of a host community, and racialized attitudes towards refugees, impact refugee sense of belonging, understood as both socio-political identification and perceived membership within the receiving society. As a proxy for a comparative study, I juxtapose the resettlement experiences of North Koreans in South Korea with those of North Koreans resettling either within or far-removed from the Korean diaspora abroad. I focus on North Korean refugees because their experiences of incorporation, despite shared ethnic identity with co-ethnic populations, illuminate how boundaries of belonging are actively produced through state recognition, community reception, and racialization.

Using a comparative, multi-method approach that combines theoretical analysis, policy and legal review, and ethnographic fieldwork, this study finds that identity is not inherited or legally bestowed but actively negotiated. The findings contribute to scholarship on nationalism, race, and migration by showing how belonging is shaped by racialized state structures and relational identity work. Ultimately, this research challenges dominant models of refugee integration and calls for more context-sensitive support systems that reflect the lived realities of marginalized migrants.

Author

• Kate Klemm-Szeto, Rutgers University-New Brunswick