Reproducing hybridity in Korea: Conflicting interpretations of Korean culture by South Koreans and ethnic Korean Chinese marriage migrants

Abstract

As South Korea's gender imbalance has grown, thousands of South Korean men have sought wives from the ethnic Korean minority in China. In this paper, we explore these women's experiences along with South Korea's multicultural policies, highlighting the hybrid nature of South Korean culture and challenging its hegemonic role in discourses of multiculturalism. Drawing from interviews we conducted with Korean Chinese between 2010 and 2013, we compare lived perceptions with official representations of transnational marriages. We find official representations essentialize and reify notions of ‘true’ Korean culture. We draw from Joon K. Kim's (2011) ideas of cultural paternalism and fetishism, but argue that multiculturalism itself, not merely South Korea's uncritical adaptation, should be reexamined. We conclude by asking how the Korean Chinese make competing claims to cultural authority within South Korean political space, and argue that they ambiguously blur the lines among the multiple cultures implicit in South Korean multiculturalism.