The effects of colourism on migrant adaptation in Asia: the racial exclusion of African migrants in South Korea’s “multicultural” society

Udor, Rita; Yoon, Sharon

doi:10.1080/01419870.2021.1980221

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 29 publications

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“…This is the case on Abnormal Summit, which stars a black man from Ghana as a representative, and Hello Counselor, which features that same representative, as well as a black man from Kenya, in one segment. Love of 7.7 Billion, which features a light-skinned black woman from Spain, does not comment on her race in the episodes studied -a notable difference that is indicative of the colourism faced by African migrants in Korea (Udor and Yoon 2022).…”

Section: Personal Traitsmentioning

confidence: 84%

The good, the bad, and the pretty

Bakker

2023

Journal of Language and Discrimination

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South Korea has experienced a stark increase in its population’s diversity since the late 1980s. Though South Korean media adopts a superficially positive stance towards migrants, it perpetuates assimilative expectations and emphasises a racial hierarchy. This study critically examines its constructions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ migrants through a thematic analysis of three popular, unscripted South Korean television shows (Abnormal Summit, Love of 7.7 Billion and Hello Counselor). A little over eight hours of content was examined. The episodes indicate a preference for the migrant perceived as intelligent, high-status, likeable, cosmopolitan and ‘deserving’. Notably, migrants also face paradoxical expectations to assimilate, but not to do so ‘too much’ to avoid disrupting ideals of Koreanness, particularly in terms of language proficiency. Linguistic standards for ethnically Korean immigrants indicate even more ambivalent standards, as they are expected to speak as natively as possible while retaining their ‘outsider’ status.

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Section: Personal Traitsmentioning

confidence: 84%

The good, the bad, and the pretty

Bakker

2023

Journal of Language and Discrimination

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Stifled, invisible, and threatened: cultural appropriation in K-pop through the lens of identity-negotiating fans of color

Kim

2023

Communication, Culture &Amp; Critique

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Through a series of in-depth interviews, this article investigates how fans of color negotiate incidents of cultural appropriation in K-pop. Respondents employed various coping mechanisms to navigate the impact of such offenses while simultaneously grappling with the dissonance arising from negotiating alienating rhetoric and their own cultural identities. Criticism of cultural appropriation incidents was met with severe backlash, particularly exacerbating the marginalization faced by Native American fans who encountered underrepresentation and limited support. Drawing attention to the paradoxical interplay of globalization and ethnic nationalism in Korea, this research unveils a troubling cycle in which incidents of cultural appropriation in K-pop silence and render fans of color invisible within hostile environments.

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Multiracial Korean Americans negotiating Korean and English

Harris,

Lee

2024

World Englishes

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Using the case of multiracial Korean Americans, who are positioned across/between the boundaries of language and race, we explore language choice and use as sites for reimagining intercultural communication. Analyzing in‐depth autobiographical interviews, we ask how cultural difference and sameness are constructed and how understandings of English as a world language shape multilingual interactions. Findings reveal how, despite being familiar with cultural norms of Koreanness, multiracial Korean Americans are still constructed as cultural others by Korean speakers and rely on understandings of English as a world language to resist the metapragmatic frames their interlocutors would inscribe onto them. Use of English became a method for protecting their Korean identity, thus challenging the notion that use of a heritage language is essential for maintaining the ethnic identity. Consequently, we discuss the intersections of multiraciality and multilingualism to refine understandings of race and culture in intercultural communication and the globalization of English.

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The effects of colourism on migrant adaptation in Asia: the racial exclusion of African migrants in South Korea’s “multicultural” society

Cited by 3 publications

References 29 publications

The good, the bad, and the pretty

The good, the bad, and the pretty

Stifled, invisible, and threatened: cultural appropriation in K-pop through the lens of identity-negotiating fans of color

Multiracial Korean Americans negotiating Korean and English

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