Shape shifting across global Korea

Abstract

“Passing” has been described in language studies as a temporary performance by which highly advanced second language (L2) learners can measure their personal linguistic attainment. However, the term invokes the trope of racial passing wherein a person who was “really” one race would “pretend” to be a person of another race in order to access privilege. Together, these approaches frame passing as a matter of personal representation or perception of another as part of an ethnic or linguistic group that they are not legitimately connected to. However, these two concepts are complicated by the practices of heritage language (HL) speakers and mixed-race individuals who are positioned across/between the boundaries of language and racial categories. Through analysis of in-depth autobiographical interviews, this chapter explores language choice and identity of mixed-race Korean Americans in the United States and abroad by drawing on transdisciplinary theories of racial/ethnic identity, authenticity, and passing. Findings reveal how despite not having highly advanced or native-like proficiency, mixed-race Korean Americans were still able exercise their agency to speak their HL and “shape shift” to inhabit different identities that suited their shifting motivations and social contexts, and how they were able to co-opt racialization and exercise agency to practice their HL.