Paper short abstract:

This paper attempts to reconstruct the oral life stories of transnational Koreans using an experimental methodology of oral history called ‘collaborative life history.’ It may reveal a multilayered, dynamic and interconnected lifeworlds of Korean ethnicity embedded in various power relations.

Paper long abstract:

Recently, the term "Korean Diaspora" which denotes an imagined community consists of people of Korean ancestry living outside the Korean peninsula in various countries around the world and sharing a common national or ethnic identity is receiving critical attentions as a significant number of them is not living outside but has returned to South Korea while maintaining transnational networks of family and socio-economic ties.

This paper attempts to reconstruct the oral life stories of ethnic Koreans from various regions like China, Sakhalin, and North Korea and South Koreans who were displaced and marginalized using an experimental methodology of oral history called 'collaborative life history.' The aim of the collaborative life history to move away from state narratives or official ideological cold war histories and go beyond the dichotomy of abroad (them) and homeland (us). Collaborative life histories of transnational Koreans will bring forth multi-vocality and multi-positionality of Koreans who crossed multiple borders by force or voluntarily and critically re-examine the current understanding of multiculturalism in South Korea by affirming the diversity and transnationality of Korean ethnicity. Examining the transnational lives of Koreans through their collaborative life histories may reveal a multilayered, dynamic and interconnected lifeworlds embedded in various power relations such as colonialism, post-colonialism, cold war politics, and post-socialism. It is hoped that such an effort will shed some light on the future of inter-Korean relations, South Korean multicultural society, and East Asian community building.

Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates how North Korean migrants are creating invisible transnational spaces through the shadow transnational movements across borders, and how their penetrant transnationalism continues to challenge the existing order of a divided Korean peninsula and transforms both countries.

Paper long abstract:

North Korean migrants' identities have been in a constant state of evolution in the face of cold war politics. In South Korea, while they are given prominence as either heroes or victims of the Cold War, they are often the object of either pity or wariness as political defectors or economic refugees. The government provides them with special resettlement and social welfare support, but in fear of discrimination, they try to pass as South Koreans. Due to their unique political characteristics, they actively engage in the shadow transnational movements of people, goods and information across borders. Illegal money transfers and secret chain migration through transnational networks have become routine affairs. These acts of border-crossing are interpreted here as "penetrant transnational strategies," actions which penetrate not only the political barriers of the two divided nation-states but also the international borders beyond South Korea. This paper investigates how North Korean migrants, as actors and subjects, not as heroes or victims, are creating invisible transnational spaces through these strategies and identity politics. It also examines how their penetrant transnationalism continues to challenge the existing order of the current status quo of a divided Korean peninsula, and in so doing, transforms both countries themselves.

Paper short abstract:

This research follows the traits and tracks of these routes of transnational migration process of Korean Diasporas through family and gender perspective.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on the interpretation of Korean history not as a formal and institutionalized macro events, but as individually and family based and differently experienced by gender. Understanding history at the individual level, this paper focuses on the memories of Korean diaspora, specifically reconstructed memories of people involved. It is not a main focus of this paper to verify whether the memories of these are right or wrong, rather the focus is on how they are differently interpreted by gender and how that gender influences in reconstructing the memories. These memories would be reconstructed using the so called collaborative oral history methodology. I participated in the collaborative oral history sessions focusing on the people of Korean Diaspora, especially seniors over 70s who have returned to South Korea, their homeland. During the sessions I found quite a few interesting points related to the experiences of diasporic moments which may be best described as transnational experiences. Both women and men being transnational persons shared stories that criss-cross borders moving away from a single national history and in most of the cases, family matters revealed as one of most important causes of their migration. Through this narrative process, family issues are revisited and also gender norms on the Korean society are negotiated and contested in their transnational experiences. Thus, this paper attempts to reconstruct gendered transnational experiences of Korean diaspora and examine how the matters of family and gender are involved and interpreted in Korean transnational migration.

Paper short abstract:

In this presentation, I point out the formation of transnational identities through popular media among ethnic Koreans, especially those who lived in a socialist/post-socialist country.

Paper long abstract:

In this presentation, I point out the formation of transnational identities through popular media among ethnic Koreans, especially those who lived in a socialist/post-socialist country in both the Cold War and the Post-Cold War eras. During the Cold War period, listening to radio from South Korea was a dangerous act to a point of life threatening. But many ethnic Korean returnees from Russia (especially Sakhalin) and China spoke out their experiences of listening secretly to South Korean radio broadcastings in their oral life histories. From the South Korean radio programs and popular songs, they would construct various images and fantasies of South Korea. These imaginations were not just about South Korea, a nation-state, but more about their diasporic identities and public spheres.

When Cold War and Post-Cold War politics compete around North and South Korea, an imagination of (South) Korea through popular media is a social project of everyday life. At one point ethnic Koreans abroad made their mind and chose South Korea as their homeland. Soon they found ways to migrate or 'return' to South Korea. In South Korea, the process became nuanced and evolved. Their experiences, performances, and activities around South Korean popular music and media in Socialist worlds are not only an adaptation to South Korean society but also strategies for making their own identities as transnational ethnic Koreans. The transnational identities of ethnic Koreans as life strategies are mapped out over multiple borders, times and ideologies.