Younger-Generation Korean Experiences in the United States is an edited anthology that compares two different cohorts of Korean Americans in the formation of ethnic and racial identities using thirteen personal essays written by 1.5-generation and second-generation Korean Americans. The first cohort grew up in the 1960s and early 1970s while the second cohort grew up in the 1980s and early 1990s. Each of the essays explores four influential factors of ethnic identity formation: (1) retention of ethnic culture versus adaptation into mainstream American culture, (2) participation in ethnic social networks, (3) connections/links to the mother country or lack thereof, and (4) experiences with racial prejudice and discrimination. The first three factors pertain to internal factors while the last one is an external factor.
The great increase in the Korean population in the United States, the accompanying increase in ethnic and social service organizations, and South Korea’s emergence as an economic and cultural power contributed to the later cohort’s greater retention of their cultural heritage compared to the earlier cohort. The substantial decrease in racism against Asian Americans also contributed to the second cohort’s acceptance of Korean-American ethnic identity more comfortably than the first cohort.
Although there is a great deal of academic literature on ethnic identity and the “new second-generation” children of post-1965 immigrants to the U.S., there are very few books that use personal narratives as the primary mechanism to explore these sociological topics. Furthermore, this book makes a particularly significant contribution to studies of 1.5- and second-generation ethnic identity formation since it contains essays by two different cohorts of Korean Americans, all of whom addressed similar points of comparison. This book will be useful and interesting to both scholars and lay readers, particularly to U.S.-born children of immigrants.
January 2018 - MOU Established between RCKC and National Youth Policy Institute in South Korea; Pyong Gap Min Gave Talks at Seminars at National Assembly of Republic of Korea and National Youth Policy Institute
The Director of our Research Center, Professor Pyong Gap Min, recently returned from a very productive trip to South Korea. On Thursday, January 18,...
Read More |
March 28, 2018 - Dr. Oug Ja Kim Gave Talk on "North Korean Artists and Art Before and After the Korean War" at GLF in Flushing
On Wednesday, March 28, 2018, we hosted our first seminar of 2018. Dr. Oug Ja Kim gave a talk on "North Korean Artists and North Korean Art Before and...
Read More |
December 1, 2017 - Professor Chunrye Kim Gave Talk on "The Impact of Perceived Childhood Victimization and Patriarchal Gender Ideology on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Victimization among Korean Immigrant Women in the USA" at KCS, Bayside, Queens
On December 1, 2017, Professor Chunrye Kim gave a talk on "The Impact of Perceived Childhood Victimization and Patriarchal Gender Ideology on Intima...
Read More |
October 13-14, 2017 - RCKC Conference on "The Redress Movement for Victims of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery" at Queens College Rosenthal Library
On October 13-14, 2017, we held our 8th annual conference at the Queens College Rosenthal Library. This year's topic was "The Redress Movement for t...
Read More |