A Companion to Korean American Studies presents interdisciplinary works from a number of authors who have contributed to the field of Korean American Studies. This collection ranges from chapters detailing the histories of Korean migration to the United States to contemporary flows of popular culture between South Korea and the United States. The authors present on Korean American history, gender relations, cultural formations, social relations, and politics.
Contributors are: Sohyun An, Chinbo Chong, Angie Y. Chung, Rhoanne Esteban, Sue-Je Lee Gage, Hahrie Han, Jane Hong, Michael Hurt, Rachael Miyung Joo, Jane Junn, Miliann Kang, Ann H. Kim, Anthony Yooshin Kim, Eleana Kim, Jinwon Kim, Ju Yon Kim, Kevin Y. Kim, Nadia Y. Kim, Soo Mee Kim, Robert Ji-Song Ku, EunSook Lee, Se Hwa Lee, S. Heijin Lee, Shelley Sang-Hee Lee, John Lie, Pei-te Lien, Kimberly McKee, Pyong Gap Min, Arissa H. Oh, Edward J.W. Park, Jerry Z. Park, Josephine Nock-Hee Park, Margaret Rhee and Kenneth Vaughan.
Rachael Miyung Joo, Ph.D. (Stanford, 2006), is Associate Professor of American Studies at Middlebury College. Dr. Joo has published
Transnational Sport (Duke University Press, 2012). She has written about sports, transnationalism, race, and globalization.
Shelley Sang-Hee Lee, Ph.D. (Stanford, 2005) is Associate Professor of History and chair of Comparative American Studies at Oberlin College. She is author of two books in Asian American history, most recently
A New History of Asian America (Routledge, 2013).
ContentsAcknowledgementsList of Figures and TablesNotes on ContributorsIntroductionRachael Miyung Joo and Shelley Lee
Part 1: Histories of Migration and the Rise of Korean America
1
The Origins and Construction of Korean America: Immigration before 1965Jane Hong 2
After the Watershed: Korean Migration since 1965Shelley Sang-Hee Lee 3
Empire, War, Globalization, and Korean America in Global and Transnational PerspectivesKevin Y. Kim 4
Adoption in Korean AmericaArissa H. Oh
Part 2: Cultural Production
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Korean American LiteratureJosephine Nock-Hee Park 6
“Is that Kimchi in My Taco?” A Vision of Korean American Food in One BiteRobert Ji-Song Ku 7
Korean American Theater and Performing Arts: Networks of Practice and Bodies of WorkJu Yon Kim 8
Music and Korean AmericaJohn Lie 9
Sports in Korean AmericaRachael Miyung Joo 10
Hallyu and Korean America: Transnational Connections through Cultural Consumption in New York CityJinwon Kim
Part 3: Korean American Racial and Ethnic Formation
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The Changing Dynamics of Race, Class and Gender Relations in Contemporary Korean Immigrant FamiliesAngie Y. Chung 12
Race-ing the Korean American ExperienceNadia Y. Kim 13
In Search of Mixed Korean AmericaSue-Je Lee Gage 14
Korean Ethnicity and Asian American PanethnicityAnn H. Kim 15
Transmitting the Monumental Style: Hangukinnon, “Diasporicity,” and the Osmotic Flow of Transnational Korean American IdentityMichael Hurt 16
Sacred Ethnic Boundaries: Korean American ReligionsJerry Z. Park and Kenneth Vaughan 17
A Review of Korean American Education Studies: Disrupting a Single Story of Model Minority SuccessSohyun An
Part 4: Gender, Sexuality, and Kinship
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Gender, Migration, and Mobility in Korean American Communities: A Case Study of the Nail Salon IndustryMiliann Kang 19 Gender, Beauty, and Plastic Surgery: Towards a Transpacific Korean/American StudiesS. Heijin Lee 20 Closer or Estranged: Transnational Spousal Relationships between Korean Wild Geese ParentsSe Hwa Lee 21 Toward Queer Korean American Horizons: Diaspora, History, and BelongingAnthony Yooshin Kim and Margaret Rhee 22 Korean American Women Negotiating Confucianism, Christianity, and Immigration in Free Food for MillionairesKimberly McKee
Part 5: Politics and Activism
23 Korean Americans and Electoral PoliticsPei-te Lien and Rhoanne Esteban 24 Engaging Korean Americans in Civic ActivismEunSook Lee and Hahrie Han 25 Korean Produce Retailers in New York: Their Conflicts with White Distributors and Use of Ethnic Collective ActionsPyong Gap Min 26 A Wedge between Black and White: Korean Americans and Minority Race Relations in Twenty-First-Century AmericaChinbo Chong and Jane Yunhee Junn 27 Koreatown as Political CapitalSoo Mee KimIndex
All interested in Korean American studies or Korean diaspora studies, and those interested in the relationship between immigration, race, and ethnicity in the United States.