Korean Multicultural Research Articles

The Socialization of Children from Vietnamese - Korean Multicultural Families: A Case Study of Korean International Schools in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City

From the moment of birth, an individual exists as a biological entity. However, true integration into human society necessitates the acquisition of cultural norms, values, knowledge, and beliefs specific to their given community. This process involves adapting to social roles and cultural practices, ultimately enabling effective communication and fulfillment of societal responsibilities. Notably, language assumes a pivotal role in this intricate web of socialization and stands as arguably the most influential factor in the overall process. To delve into the current state of socialization among children from Vietnamese-Korean multicultural families residing in Vietnam and attending a Korean International School, this research employs socialization theory, descriptive statistical methods via questionnaires, and interdisciplinary research techniques.

Cultural stressors, acculturation processes, and mental health among adolescents in Korean multicultural families.

To ascertain, among a sample of Korean multicultural adolescents, the longitudinal predictive effects of acculturative stress and parent-adolescent conflict on depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, both (a) directly and (b) indirectly through Korean and heritage cultural practices and identifications. We analyzed longitudinal data from the nationally representative Korean Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study (MAPS; 2011-2016). The sample consisted of 1,433 households at Wave 3 (the first timepoint used in the present analyses), and 92.7% of families were retained until the end of the study. Adolescents completed measures of acculturative stress and parent-adolescent conflict at Timepoint 1, heritage and Korean cultural practices and identifications at Timepoints 2 and 3, and depressive symptoms and life satisfaction at Timepoint 4. Acculturative stress at Timepoint 1 predicted both depressive symptoms and life satisfaction at Timepoint 4 indirectly through Korean cultural practices and identifications. Parent-adolescent conflict at Timepoint 1 directly predicted depressive symptoms at Timepoint 4 and predicted life satisfaction indirectly through heritage-cultural practices and identifications. These links were invariant across adolescent sex. Among Korean multicultural adolescents, acculturative stressors inhibit engagement in Korean cultural practices and identification as Korean, whereas conflict with parents inhibits engagement in heritage cultural practices and identification with the foreign-born parent's cultural heritage. Decreased Korean and heritage cultural practices and cultural identifications predict increased depressive symptoms and lowered life satisfaction. These findings suggest that culturally stressful experiences can impair psychological functioning among Korean multicultural adolescents by undermining acculturation to both Korean and heritage cultural systems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Intimate Other: Screening North Korean Defectors in Multicultural South Korea

ABSTRACT This article considers two South Korean films, Wedding Campaign (Hwang, 2005) and Secret Reunion (Jang, 2010), to better understand the evolution of cinematic representations of North Koreans within the context of the multicultural South’s approaches to North Korean arrivals. I focus on how the two films construct North Korean defectors in relation to other ethnic groups. After considering governmental approaches to North Korean defectors and other foreign migrants, I examine how the films are distinguished from both Cold War tropes that present North Koreans as the dangerous Other and the narratives of the Sunshine era that embrace North Koreans based on shared ethnicity. I argue that these films’ depiction of North Koreans in relation to multiculturalism manifests neoliberal nationalism within a highly transnational, multiethnic South Korea, as well as the paradoxical nature of South Korean multiculturalism, which emphasises assimilation rather than cultural difference. Ultimately, these films demonstrate changing narratives of South Korea as a multicultural and globalising nation with an increasing emphasis on the latter.

The changes in biethnic acceptance across daily settings and biethnic adolescents' psychological well-being during middle school transition.

Patterns of biethnic adolescents' perceived biethnic acceptance across families, peers, and school contexts were examined during the transition from elementary to middle school in South Korea. We also examined how the transition patterns were related to their psychological outcomes during this period. Utilizing 2-wave data (2017 and 2019) from the Panel Survey of Korean Multicultural Youth Adjustment, a latent transition analysis was conducted. Participants were biethnic adolescents who were in 5th or 6th grade at Wave 1 (N = 245; 51.02% female; Mage = 11.38). Their fathers were Korean, and mothers were immigrants from neighboring countries. Familial ethnic socialization, peer discrimination, and school multicultural climate scores were used as indicators of biethnic acceptance. Outcomes of self-esteem, depression, and biethnic affirmation were also examined. Latent profile and transition analyses yielded two groups (i.e., high acceptance and low acceptance) at each wave and four transition patterns (i.e., high-high, low-high, low-low, and high-low). Compared to high-high group, which was the most prevalent group, low-low and high-low groups reported lower self-esteem and ethnic affirmation, and greater depression at Wave 3. While for the majority of participants, their daily settings continued to be high in biethnic acceptance across the transition period, most at risk were those who perceived a decrease in biethnic acceptance in their daily settings. Results shed light on the need for support to maintain the context of high biethnic acceptance surrounding biethnic adolescents for their psychological well-being in school transitions.

Bicultural Acceptance Attitude as a Protective Factor Against the Effect of Acculturative Stress on Life Satisfaction Among Korean Multicultural Adolescents

Bicultural Acceptance Attitude as a Protective Factor Against the Effect of Acculturative Stress on Life Satisfaction Among Korean Multicultural Adolescents

Supplemental Material for Cultural Stressors, Acculturation Processes, and Mental Health Among Adolescents in Korean Multicultural Families

Supplemental Material for Cultural Stressors, Acculturation Processes, and Mental Health Among Adolescents in Korean Multicultural Families

Incorporating Hip-hop and Black Popular Culture in Korean Primary School English Teacher Training

This study illustrates how hip-hop and black popular culture can be integrated into primary school English teacher education and explores Korean teachers’ reactions to these elements. Within an intensive teacher training program where hip-hop and black popular culture were introduced and adapted for Korean ELT, the study analyzed Korean primary school English teachers’ responses to the pedagogical values of these elements within Korean context. The findings reveal mixed attitudes toward the inclusion of hip-hop and black popular culture. From the perspective of “teacher as learner,” there were positive responses in terms of interest in African American English features and the value of hip-hop and black popular culture as educational resources and their trendiness in literacy education. However, their practicality was viewed negatively. Within the “discourse of schooling” in Korea, the positive aspects included the value of teaching American culture through hip-hop and black popular culture, while doubts about their effectiveness in Korean ELT prompted a negative response. Regarding “teaching activities,” positive reactions emerged when teachers contextualized racial issues in the U.S. in relation to Korean multiculturalism, but concerns arose about the appropriateness of the language and imagery in hip-hop. This study encourages further discussion on this topic.

한국 다문화 청소년의 성별, 폭력으로 인한 입원경험, 외로움이 자살생각에 미치는 영향

한국 다문화 청소년의 성별, 폭력으로 인한 입원경험, 외로움이 자살생각에 미치는 영향

Forgotten Refugees and Erased “Multicultural” Subjects: The Vietnam War and South Korea's Subimperial Nation-Building

This article revisits South Korea's mostly forgotten involvement in the Vietnam War and examines lingering effects of the war on South Korea's subimperial nation‐building in general and on its contemporary multicultural policies in particular. The Vietnam War served as a stepping stone for South Korea to transform itself from a war‐torn country to an economic subempire in Asia. Encounters with Vietnamese refugees in the aftermath of the war helped form South Korea's subimperial gaze, solidifying the racial inferiority of South Koreans to the United States but establishing their superiority over the Vietnamese. Further, the resettlement of Vietnamese refugees laid the foundation for the practices of contemporary South Korean multiculturalism. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, South Korea presented itself as a benevolent protector of Vietnamese refugees. The brutal acts committed on the battlefields and the neglect of the Vietnamese refugees living at the margins of South Korean society have been effaced from public memory. Through the work of selective memory, the “multicultural” South Korea presents itself yet again as a caring supporter of Vietnamese migrant wives. It is through this cultural amnesia that the myth of ethnic homogeneity was maintained, allowing the contemporary multiculturalism discourse and practice to be advertised as a novel cultural globalization project that is free of historical guilt or responsibility.

Teaching Wife’s Language to the Children of International Marriage Couples in South Korea

This study examines the social factors and bilingual education for the children of international couples in South Korea. Previous studies identified two negative factors for bilingual education based on destination and immigrant characteristics: resistance from local spouses and the immigrants’ need for assimilation. We further develop the concept of global language status, which may moderate these effects. Using the 2015 Korean Multicultural Family Survey, we conduct regression analyses to test the two factors based on the origin country of immigrant wives. The findings show that the global language status is a meaningful factor that impacts the direction of the local resistance and assimilation effects. Korean husbands’ decision-making power on children’s education is significantly associated with a decrease in bilingual education. Korean language proficiency and citizenship as markers of assimilation also affect bilingual education, but they show a decrease for Chinese wives but an increase for Southeast Asian wives.

Consuming Ali Abdul: conditional acceptance in the context of Korean multiculturalism

Abstract This article examines the representation of Ali Abdul, the Pakistani character in the global Netflix hit Squid Game. While Ali has been celebrated for increasing South Asian representation in Korean media, we contextualize his portrayal through the lens of Korean multiculturalism. In doing so, we consider how the representation of Ali reflects the conditional acceptance of migrant men established by state-led Korean multicultural policies and politics. Through a close reading of the conditions that humanize Ali as both worthy of sympathy and unequal to his Korean counterparts, we argue that Ali’s acceptance hinges upon his relation to Korean protagonists in ways that further a vision of ethnocentric nation-building through the racialization of dark-skinned masculinity.

The Relationships Between Hardiness and Life Satisfaction or Expectation of Korean Multicultural Children: Focused on Mediating Effect of Acculturative Stress Moderated by Resilience.

This study identified the relationship between hardiness and life satisfaction or expectation of multicultural Korean children, and examined the mediating models of acculturative stress moderated by resilience on hardiness and life satisfaction or life expectation. The participants in the study were 201 male and female children from Korean multicultural families. PROCESS Macro 3.5 Model 14 was used for the analysis of the moderated mediating effects. The results revealed that hardiness and resilience were positively correlated with life satisfaction and life expectation, whereas acculturative stress was negatively correlated with life satisfaction and life expectation of multicultural children. In a moderated mediating model for life satisfaction, there was no interaction effect of acculturative stress and resilience, but a conditionally indirect effect of acculturative stress was only significant in groups with low resilience. In a moderated mediating model for life expectation, there was a significant interaction effect of acculturative stress and resilience, and a conditionally indirect effect of acculturative stress was only significant in groups with low resilience and with very high resilience. These findings suggest that only when multicultural children have low resilience, the mediating effect of acculturative stress is significant in relations of hardiness and life satisfaction, as well as hardiness and life expectation. In particular, resilience moderates the influence of acculturative stress on life expectations.

Paradoxical configuration of advocacy groups for multiculturalism discourse in South Korea

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates that the paradoxical configuration of groups supporting multiculturalism in South Korea stems from uniquely Korean experiences of colonialism, territorial division, and modernization. Unlike other societies, conservative political force advocates for multiculturalism and blames nationalism for its intolerance. On the other hand, its political counterparts have lingered on Korean nationalism, often presented as an antipode of multiculturalism. For exploring the antecedents of South Korean multiculturalism that contributed to shaping such configuration, I use the Foucauldian theoretical concept of governmentality and genealogy. Governmentality focuses on the conditions or circumstances under which policy problems are produced and genealogy allows us to trace back to its origin of the discourse, for de-familiarizing and dismantling the widespread perception of South Korean multiculturalism. This article explores how historical and geopolitical conditions have shaped engagement with multiculturalism discourse and how the emergence of post-nationalism laid the foundation for multiculturalism policy.

Seeking Directions for Multicultural Education for Prospective Pastors in the Korean Multicultural Society

Seeking Directions for Multicultural Education for Prospective Pastors in the Korean Multicultural Society

A Longitudinal Analysis of Self-Perceived Social Communication Competence Profiles of Korean Multicultural Adolescents according to Regional Size, Cultural and Linguistic Background: Middle and High School Students

A Longitudinal Analysis of Self-Perceived Social Communication Competence Profiles of Korean Multicultural Adolescents according to Regional Size, Cultural and Linguistic Background: Middle and High School Students

샘 오취리의 스타 이미지 분석을 통해 본 한국 다문화주의의 발전과 한계

본 연구는 최근 형성되고 있는 국내의 복잡한 다문화주의의 지형과 새로운 인종주의적 현상들을 배경으로 가나 출신의 방송 스타인 샘 오취리를 통해 한국 다문화주의의 발전과 한계를 짚어보는 것을 목표로 한다. 오취리는 국내 여러 방송 프로그램에 출연하며 스타덤을 형성했지만 블랙페이스 문제와 관련된 이른바 ‘관짝소년단 논란’을 겪으면서 활동을 중단한 인물로서, 본 연구는 그를 한국 미디어와 사회의 다문화성을 진단하는 하나의 담론적 텍스트로 바라본다. 스타 이미지란 스타 개인이 보유한 특정 성질만으로 형성되는 것이 아니라 사회 및 대중과의 관계 속에서 형성되는 것이라고 할 때, 인종적 성격과 스타로서의 성격의 접합을 통해 만들어진 오취리의 스타 이미지는 한국 사회의 다문화주의와 인종주의의 한 단면을 드러낸다. 오취리의 스타 이미지를 구성하는 홍보, 평판, 역할, 비평 영역의 미디어 텍스트들을 관찰한 결과, 오취리는 유사 한국인으로서, 한국적 정서를 매개하는 재담꾼으로서, 한국의 다문화성을 증명해줄 흑인의 대표자로서의 이미지를 통해 한국 미디어 및 사회 안에서 긍정적으로 포용될 수 있었음을 발견할 수 있었다. 그러나 관짝소년단 논란은 대중들이 이러한 이미지를 벗어난 오취리를 발견하게 된 계기였고, 오취리의 이미지는 흑인에게 부여되어 온 종래의 부정적 관념들로 대체 및 재구성되었다. 오취리의 스타 이미지가 구축 및 해체되는 일련의 과정을 통해 본 연구는 한국 다문화주의에 내재한 모순 및 한계를 다양성, 대표성, 진정성의 차원에서 개념화하여 논의한다. 이를 통해 한국의 다문화주의가 언제든 타자성을 복원할 수 있는 불안정한 담론에서 단단한 토대를 지닌 일상의 감수성으로 성장해야 함을 주장한다.

Multiculturalism or Revamped Monoculturalism: Exploring the Principles, Policies, and Practices Enacted in Korea’s Changing Society

This theoretical essay critically explores the principles, policies, and practices enacted in South Korea under the banner “multiculturalism.” The central finding advanced frames Korean multiculturalism as being a sociopolitical device that has the agenda of making migrants “multicultural” by understanding and adapting to Korean monoculturalism. The contribution of this study lies in its in-depth analysis of the rise of Korean multiculturalism in the years after the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games to the present time. The essay concludes with the recommendation that multicultural initiatives be designed to create a broader, more inclusive “we” that enhances Korea’s national identity and culture.

"노동시장분절이론 중심으로 본 다문화 한국 사회의 특징과 함의 -재한조선족 집거지를 중심으로-"

본 연구의 목적은 다문화 한국에서 같은 민족이자 해외 이주민 소수집단을 대표하는 조선족의 한국 이주와 집거지 형성의 특징과 그 함의를 알아보고자 하였다. 분석방법으로 다양한 이론 중 노동시장분절이론을 적용하였고 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 집거지 형성의 특징은 집거지 내부에서의 분절동화현상과 중국 소수민족으로서 정체성 형성 및 자신들만의 사회단체를 설립 활동을 강화하고 있다. 둘째. 한국 사회에 뿌리 내려 있는 기존의 민족주의 개념 확대와 다문화주의 적용 실천, 그리고 완전한 영주권 전치주의로 전환을 고려해야한다는 함의가 있다. 연구 결과는 다문화 한국 사회가 미래 해외 이주민들과의 공존을 위한 연구에 활용될 수 있을 것이다.

다문화가정 청소년의 음주 행동에 영향을 미치는 요인 -외국인 부모의 출신 지역별 차이를 중심으로-

다문화가정 청소년의 음주 행동에 영향을 미치는 요인 -외국인 부모의 출신 지역별 차이를 중심으로-

Understanding “Koreanness”: Racial Stratification and Colorism in Korea and Implications for Korean Multicultural Education

This paper explores the social construct of Koreanness and its implications. The first section reviews literature on Whiteness, and states that Koreanness shows many similarities to Whiteness in the United States. Next, drawing upon the framework of Bonilla-Silva, this paper argues that a tri-racial system is emerging in Korea, with Koreanness at its center. Then, the study examines how racism and colorism permeate Korean society and culture, with special attention to education. The paper concludes that Koreanness should be addressed in multicultural education in Korea: in teachers’ reflection of their identities, teacher education, instruction, and anti-racism curriculum.