China is a multiethnic country with a population of 56 ethnic groups, including the Han Chinese majority and 55 ethnic minorities, over 30 of which are cross-border ethnic groups. Members of the Korean Chinese cross-border ethnic minority can trace their migration back to the mid-nineteenth century when people migrated from the Korean peninsula and settled in the historically volatile region of Manchuria. As Korean Chinese immigrants were the regional forerunners of transnational migration, prior academic interest has been primarily focused on how unskilled Korean Chinese labourers and marriage migrants experience confusion, frustration, and contradiction when confronted with their ancestral homeland (the Korean peninsula) and natal homeland (China) and how they grapple with a sense of a torn identity. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the generation of Korean Chinese youth and how they balance the Chinese and Korean aspects of their identities in daily interethnic interactions in China. This article conceptualises interethnic interaction as a process of identity grafting, wherein ethnic symbols are used by Korean Chinese youth to balance cultural differences and proximity when interacting with individuals of different ethnic backgrounds. Via a thematic analysis of ethnographic data collected at a multiethnic university campus in China and through interviews with 10 Korean Chinese university students, this article reveals that Korean Chinese university students draw on ethnic symbols to reconcile cultural differences in various ways, fostering a differential sense of ethnic belonging. The Korean ethnic minority has experienced increased geographical mobility since the late 1980s, with younger generations growing up in diversified surroundings due to migration from ethnic enclaves to coastal or metropolitan areas in China. This study adds to the existing literature by exploring the persistence of Korean Chinese ethnicity among this generation of young people and their ways of practising symbolic ethnicity.
목차
Abstract Ⅰ. Introduction: Conceptualising interethnic interaction as identity grafting Ⅱ. The ascribed and symbolic Korean Chinese ethnicity Ⅲ. Research Method Ⅳ. Findings 1. Toning down ethnic symbols for identity repression 2. Ethnic awakening and the born-again Korean Chinese identity 3. Integrated Korean Chinese identity as a cross-cultural mediator 4. Situational Korean Chinese as skilled cultural navigators Ⅴ. Conclusion References
키워드
Identity graftingInterethnic interactionEthnic symbolsKorean Chinese
저자
Ruixin Wei [ Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany ]
인하대학교 다문화융합연구소 [ The Convergence Institute for Multicultural Studies]
설립연도
2015
분야
복합학>감성과학
소개
○ BK21 플러스 사업과 융합연구 등 국책 프로젝트 사업을 위한 컨트롤 타워 역할을 할 수 있는 기관으로 활용하고자 함.
○ 국내외 학술대회 운영과 다문화교육 기관과의 네트워크를 구축할 수 있는 기관 역할을 담당함.
○ 개별학문을 뛰어 넘어 학제간 다문화교육연구의 수집․공유․전파를 위해 체계적으로 관리할 수 있는 연구기관의 역할을 담당함.