‘Everything is a Spectrum’: Korean Migrant Youth Identity Work in the Transnational Borderland

Abstract

Jenna, a 13-year-old Korean migrant1 girl, came to the United States with her family at the age of four accompanying her parents as they pursued higher education. On the way home from school, she chats with her friend about ’silly boys,’ her new, ’strict Orchestra teacher,’ the upcoming Spelling Bee contest and more, all in fast English, her dominant language. When asked about the place of her childhood, she speaks mostly of her old apartment in a Midwestern city. Her childhood ‘home’ will always be that old apartment with wood floors and a spacious front yard for playing tag. However, this adolescent Korean girl, deeply attached to the American soil, speaks two languages, enjoys American, international, as well as Korean cuisine, loves listening to Korean pop (K-pop) on her iPod, communicates with friends on Google+, Skype chats with her family in South Korea, sends e-mails to her friends near and far, and studies TaeKwon-Do, Korean martial arts. Although most attached to her small city in the United States and mostly English speaking, she often transcends the confinement of place, through various media, to reach people in faraway states and countries and to enjoy cultural trends originating from the opposite side of the globe. We asked her who she thinks she is; she answered that she is not American, not just Korean, nor an immigrant with a green card, either. Who is she? And is it the ‘border’ itself where she belongs?