ATTACHMENT OF KOREAN AMERICANS TO THEIR HOMELAND.   Term Paper ID:30050 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines reasons why many Korean Americans maintain a strong attachement to Korea and the Korean way of life.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines reasons why many Korean Americans maintain a strong attachment to Korea and the Korean way of life. Loyalty to homeland vs. assisimilation into U.S. society. Immigrants belief in the Ameican dream and its material benefits. Problems of learning English, communiction and discrimination. Small business ownership and impact on family life. Lack of deep roots in American society. Growth of Koreatowns. Paper Introduction: Korean-Americans maintain a strong attachment to their homeland for a number of reasons, although all of them provide the same benefit--a cohesive Korean-American community in a society which has not yet fully accepted Koreans or Asians without discrimination. Like other Asians in the United States, Koreans are seen as hard-working, industrious, thrifty individuals who live and work together. All of this is true, although it is often said as if it were a negative set of qualities. The hard-working part of that equation is important in establishing lives in the United States, but it is also a sign of the Korean way of life which has been maintained by Korean-Americans. One aspect of life which Korean-Americans do not miss is low-pay for very hard work at long hours. While the discipline and selflessness which comes from Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. . . The best of both worlds was won as Korean-Americans established suchcommunities. In addition, outright discrimination in hiring and housing was a partof the Korean immigrant experience, which also helped maintain theattachment with the homeland. One of the harshest experiences for Korean-Americans was in the LosAngeles riots of 1992, in which many Korean-American small businesses weredestroyed. . . They expected it. . . In such enclaves of Korean culture andlanguage, the immigrant began to find comfort which he could not find inmainstream American society. Within Koreatown, immigrants began to feel more at home, ornot quite so lost in the overwhelming complexity and strangeness ofAmerican culture and society. . Not only were non-English-speaking Asians thevictims of discrimination, even Koreans who were professionals and educatedin the United States experienced some level of job discrimination (Lightand Bonacich 362). Is it any wonder, then, that there remains a strong attachment forKorean-Americans for their homeland? The Korean-Americans obviously left their homeland for the UnitedStates, so it is clear that they did not love everything about thathomeland, and it is also clear that the United States had something tooffer which they could not obtain in Korea. However, precisely because so many Koreans migrated to the UnitedStates in a relatively brief period, and because they experienced suchdiscrimination and difficulties, they bonded together in a way which helpeddevelop a Korean-American community in the new world, and also kept alive abond with the homeland left behind: Many Koreans long for the comforts of home and a familiar culture and language. Researching this study, it was remarkablehow many more works existed on other ethnic and immigrant minorities,compared to the Koreans, including those on other Asian groups. . . Even if I could affordto live in Korea, I would have nowhere to go there. In a mass migration such as that from South Korea to the United States, a whole generation may suffer these pains of dislocation (Light and Bonacich 43 ). The literature emphasizes the opening or buying of small businessesby Korean immigrants in the United States, which was in part a result ofthe difficulties Koreans faced in finding employment. Thelife offered in the United States included first and foremost theopportunity to achieve the American Dream, which is primarilymaterialistic. Strangers from a Different Shore. While the discipline and selflessness which comes fromsuch work are traits which Korean-Americans are grateful, they certainlyappreciate that they are paid much more for their labor in the UnitedStates than they were in Korea. Korean doctors often found themselves confined to inner-city hospitals and shunned by white doctors [and] . . Korean-Americans began to establish homes-away-from-home, orKoreatowns, in other cities. Berkeley: U of California P, 1988.Takaki, Ronald. The latter factor also kept theattachment for the homeland, where at least they not discriminated againstfor being Korean, no matter how hard they had to work for low pay. The American Dream is not fulfilled for many Korean-Americans (Lightand Bonacich 431). New York: New Press,1996.Light, Ivan, and Edna Bonacich. called Koreatown (Takaki 437). Also, no matter how successful the Korean immigrantexperience might be for some, even those immigrants maintain a connectionwith the homeland. . Even if that istheir wish, however, the discrimination Korean-Americans continue toexperience results in a renewal of their appreciation for their ownculture, if not for Korea as a whole. There are parts of both cultures andsocieties which they appreciate, but in few cases do they ever completelylose their attachment to their homeland. The husband mightfeel that he is a failure because as hard as he works he never seems to getahead. America may represent a certain kind of opportunity for economic advancement, but its appeal is largely confined to that narrow arena (Light and Bonacich 43 -431). Thechildren must attend school and work in the business. At least in Korea they did not sufferdiscrimination because of their nationality, or language, or looks, orculture. This does not mean that the Korean-Americans want tocompletely leave their heritage, culture, religion and history behind inorder to be assimilated into mainstream American culture. They might begin to dream oftheir homeland and to conjure images and feelings for a place where theywere also not very happy. . In a sense, then, they remain in the role ofimmigrant laborers despite the fact that many of them own small businesses. They would much rather live in Korea and among Koreans if that country answered their pressing economic and political needs. . Boston: Little, Brown,1989.----------------------- 1 This is my country,this is my home" (Kim and Yu 25 ). In fact, one factor repeatedoften in the literature is that Koreans actually work harder in the UnitedStates as owners of small businesses than they did in Korea where they alsoworked long hours for low pay. Like other Asians in the United States, Koreans are seen as hard-working, industrious, thrifty individuals who live and work together. That aspect of Korean life they do notmiss: Because of the conditions in their homeland, Korean immigrants were no strangers to hard work at low pay. Many of the differences between blacks and Korean-Americans wereand are based on cultural misunderstanding, but great damage was done tothe fragile sense of belonging which Korean-Americans had slowly developedin the United States. The migration experience is a difficult one: It tears people from their often beloved homelands, breaks up families, and forces them into as prolonged, sometimes lifelong period of adjustment to a strange and alienating environment. . also began encountering a declining demand for physicians and a new wave of discrimination against foreign doctors when they applied for internships and resident positions in hospitals (Takaki 439). Many new immigrant groups suffered from this handicap, but Koreans were among the worst off. But the new Korean immigration has led to the dramatic emergence of Koreans as a very visible group in America, the Korean population having jumped from 1 , in 196 to half a million in 1985. The Korean immigrants might not be able toreturn home, or might not even want to return home, but they were able toenjoy the best of their homeland in another land: This concentration of Korea-owned grocery stores, churches, gas stations, travel agencies, barbershops, insurance companies, restaurants, and nightclubs prompted a Korean immigrant to remark: "One does not feel that one lives in America when one lives on Olympic Boulevard (Takaki 437). It was easier toapply themselves to a small business and work hard for themselves. are the most successful of Korean immigrants. Oneaspect of life which Korean-Americans do not miss is low-pay for very hardwork at long hours. Those who find little or no success and assimilation in the UnitedStates will obviously long for their homeland, where at least they felt apart of the culture. They were used to it. Another reason for the continuing attachment of Korean-Americans totheir homeland is that, from an historical point of view, they have not yetestablished deep roots in the United States, as other ethnic minoritieshave over a long period of time. For example, Korean doctors migrating to the UnitedStates found success in one sense, but suffered in another because ofdiscrimination: Korean doctors of New York . As one Korean-American says, "Some went back toKorea, . Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Angeles, 1965-1982. In addition, the stresses that accompany such hard work as isrequired by small business ownership also can fracture familyrelationships. East to America. . The hard-working part of that equation is important inestablishing lives in the United States, but it is also a sign of theKorean way of life which has been maintained by Korean-Americans. Clearly such professionals might never consider leaving the UnitedStates to return to Korea, but such experiences certainly keep alive astrong attachment for a homeland where, with all its problems andinjustices, discrimination based on nationality did not exist. Part of the discrimination against Korean immigrants, which leads toincreased attachment to their homeland, has to do with language: most came with a severe English-language handicap. . In Los Angeles, the home of 15 , Koreans, a new community has sprung up . Allof this is true, although it is often said as if it were a negative set ofqualities. While it is true that many Koreans in the United States haveestablished themselves in small businesses, this does not necessarilytranslate into a life of wealth or leisure. The reasonfor this, again, is that Koreans have simply not been in the United Stateslong: Before the Immigration Act of 1965, Koreans were so small numerically and so spread out geographically they were a hidden minority. The newness of Korean immigration and the absence of links between Korean and local languages added to the difficulty of adaptation (Light and Bonacich 361). . In short, the situation for Korean-Americans is an ambivalent one. After all, they left that homeland for economic,political and other reasons, but now they might remember it as moredesirable than their lives in the United States, although it might not havebeen better at all, or even worse. Korean-Americans maintain a strong attachment to their homeland for anumber of reasons, although all of them provide the same benefit--acohesive Korean-American community in a society which has not yet fullyaccepted Koreans or Asians without discrimination. Thisentrepreneurship helped establish Koreans in their new land more than anyother factor, but, unfortunately, it did not necessarily mean the end ofdiscrimination (Light and Bonacich 318). However, the bulk of thisdesire to leave had to do with economics more than any other factor. The wife must work both at home and at the business. They long for peace and security, butthey have not found it in the land of dreams. . Attachments to the homeland remain, butfor most Korean-Americans, the United States, for better or worse, is home. Works CitedKim, Elaine H., and Eui-Young Yu. [But] this appearance of status has shrouded some frustrating realities. They might be eager to escape it as an inevitable feature of ;life for themselves and their children, but they also had the experience to know they could survive it, if necessary (Light and Bonacich 36 ). . because they don't want to stay here. 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