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Making Ethnicity for Immigrant Children: Focusing on a case of a Korean school in Paris

  • Kim, Myeong-Hee (Migration & Inter-ethnic Relations Department, The University of Paris)
  • Published : 2009.12.28

Abstract

The existence of Korean schools is one of the salient characteristics of Overseas Koreans. How do such schools for Korean immigrants' children try to construct Korean ethnic identity? Also, how is immigrant children's ethnic identity developed and reinforced by the education at those schools? This paper explores these questions based on an ethnographic research at a Korean school in Paris from September 2005 to December 2007. The cultural education for immigrant children at the Korean school has a tendency to emphasize the most exotic traits of Korean culture. And this emphasis on the unfamiliar elements of Korean culture doesn't seem to help to form the ethnic identity of Korean immigrants' children. Instead, the students appear to get the sense of being a member of Koreans more from the education outside of classroom such as scholastic events than in a classroom of a Korean school. That's because scholastic events allow them to play out some of the Korean culture in more inter-ethnic settings. Therefore, it can be concluded that ethnicity of immigrant children is rather developed in inter-ethnic social contexts than born with or taught in class.

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References

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