Korean Families Yesterday And Today

Twelve chapters, portraying diverse aspects of the contemporary Korean families and showing how they have come to have their current shapes

Redefining Multicultural Families in South Korea: Reflections and Future Directions aims to reinvigorate contemporary discussions about Korean families that include immigrants by expanding the scope of what we consider to be multicultural families to include the families of undocumented migrant workers, divorced marriage immigrants, the families of Korean women with immigrant husbands, and by providing a nuanced look at their lives in Korea, not as newcomers but as first-generation immigrants.

Redefining Multicultural Families in South Korea provides an in-depth look at the lives of families in Korea that include immigrants. Ten original chapters in this volume, written by scholars in multiple social science disciplines and covering different methodological approaches, aim to reinvigorate contemporary discussions about these multicultural families. Specially, the volume expands the scope of “multicultural families” by examining the diverse configurations of families with immigrants who crossed the Korean border during and after the 1990s, such as the families of undocumented migrant workers, divorced marriage immigrants, and the families of Korean women with Muslim immigrant husbands. Second, instead of looking at immigrants as newcomers, the volume takes a discursive turn, viewing them as settlers or first-generation immigrants in Korea whose post-migration lives have evolved and whose membership in Korean society has matured, by examining immigrants’ identities, need for political representation, their fights through the court system, and the aspirations of second-generation immigrants.

The book is organized into an introduction and five subsequent parts with 13 chapters overall. The introduction provides a brief overview of the continuity and changes in the patrilineal culture of the current Korean family. Part I, Traditional Korean Families, presents a historical analysis of the family/kinship system and womenʹs life during the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties. Part II, Family and Society, includes two chapters on changes in the family population and families with the concept of compressed modernity, and examines family issues at the macro level. Part III, Family, Change, and Space, includes three chapters on family life among the rural, urban, and lower classes based on intensive qualitative research. Part IV, Family and Gender, includes three chapters on the image of the Korean family, love and marriage, and work-family reconciliation as discussed from feminist perspectives. Part V, the Family in Life Stages, includes three chapters on the early, middle, and late years of the family, focusing on family relations. -- Book jacket.

The divided families problem is a serious social issue in North and South Korea, involving hundreds of thousands of first generation divided family members, most of whom have not seen their relatives since the Korean War. It is the most pressing humanitarian issue between the two Koreas, and is connected to the greater issue of human rights in North Korea today. However, little serious academic work exists on the subject, in either English or Korean. This new study, based on research conducted in Korea, including interviews in 2001 with Korean families who benefited from the most recent exchanges, addresses the many issues surrounding the divided family problem, and highlights its importance in the path towards Korean rapprochement.