...family when forced to move from Korea to America. Kim was born in South Korea in 1970. She was from a wealthy family where she lived in a mansion on a hilltop that had ponds and peacocks. Kim’s dad was a millionaire. Kim’s world came crashing down as her millionaire father lost everything in a blink of an eye. Kim’s dad shipping company, mining business and hotels all tanked which caused the family to go bankruptcy. In Korea bankruptcy is punishable by a jail term. The family fled to America penniless. Once in America Kim’s family called Queens their home. They lived in a two story brownstone that was owned by a Korean family that ran a local dry cleaner in Harlem. She was forced to be friends with the Korean family sons due to Kim’s language barrier. Kim didn’t understand how the kids called her F.O.B “fresh off the boat” when she actually flown on Korean Air to Kennedy airport. {Kim, 2004} At the age 13 Kim was taking public transportation instead of being driven to school by a driver. Kim now had to do homework alone and noticed the house would get messy without any maids around to clean up. Kim felt humiliated by carting the family dirty clothes to the laundromat. A place she called bleak. Kim had a hard time fitting in considering she looked different and barely spoke English. She witnessed her mother who was part of the high society in Korea to turn into a fish filleted in America. “One new fact that took more time to absorb was that I was now Asian.” {Kim, 2004”}...
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...a bleak place called Laundromat. One new fact that took more time to absorb was that I was now Asian, a term that I had heard mentioned only in a social studies class. In Korea, yellow was the color of the forsythia that bloomed every spring along the fence that separated our estate from the houses down the hill. I certainly never thought of my skin as being the same shade. Unlike students in Korean schools, who were taught to bow to teachers at every turn, no one batted an eye when a teacher entered a classroom. Once I saw a teacher struggle to pronounce foreign-sounding names from the attendance list while a boy in the front row French-kissed a girl wearing skintight turquoise Jordache jeans. In Korea, we wore slippers to keep the school floor clean, but here the walls were covered with graffiti, and some mornings, policemen guarded the gate and checked bags. My consolation was the English as a Second Language class where I could speak Korean with others like me. Yet it did not take me long to realize that the other students and I had little in common. The wealthier Korean immigrants had settled in Westchester or Manhattan, where their children attended private schools. In Queens, most of my E.S.L. classmates came from poor families who had escaped Korea's rigid class hierarchy, one dictated by education level, family background and financial status. Immigration is meant to be the great equalizer, yet it is not easy to eradicate the class divisions of the old country...
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...and her family fled to America penniless. Unfortunately, this move was very hard due to the fact that her and her family were used to living a catered life with chauffeurs and butlers. After arriving they ended up with a Korean family in Harlem NY. Life of poverty was not so easy being classified as “f.o.b, (fresh off the boat)” knowing little English was hard to communicate and make friends. When it came to school it was strange having to take public transportation and doing homework without governess. In America Kim says the students were very ‘disrespectful in the eyes of Korean schools “were they were taught to bow to a teacher.” In America students did not really pay the teachers any mind and in the “ghetto” were they did search and police guarded doors. In her ESL (English as second language) class there was more peace were she could actually be with others like herself speaking and acting in their culture. But easily found out that they “had nothing in common” due to the “hierarchy of Korea’s class that dictates on education and family status.” She learned that being a teenager coming from Korea and knows being in America you were classified as “1.5 generation”. This was a common ground between second generation Korean Americans an first generation which merely used “minimal English traps”. The tone of this story is informative to help others like her out. Once they arrived it was not easy...
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...The first Korean in America was political refugees. They moved to United States in 1885. Then 64 Koreans came to Hawaii to attend Christian mission schools. But most of them returned to Korea after schools finish. The first Korean immigrant group moved to the United States in 1903. This was the first major Korean immigration group. In Hawaii, the sugar plantation owners offered Koreans to work on their plantations. This paper will present History of Korean American in United States between 1903 and present. And give information about Why Korean moved to United States? What did they hope to find in the United States? and How they settle in Unites States. In January 13, 1903, on first ship 102 Koreans arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii. This group included 56 men, 21 women, and 25 children. Second ship carrying over 7000 Koreans on January, 1905. Most of these immigrants were single men or left their families in Korea. They...
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...position of choosing where in the world you would like to live. However, most immigrants facing removal proceedings are frequently hamstrung by language and cultural barriers. Both Kingston’s Woman Warrior and Suki Kim’s The Interpreter illustrate languagelessness of Chinese and Korean immigrants across American states, which are rejection by failing assimilation into American mainstream, loneliness and isolation from other people, and sense of identity crisis. Rejection by failing assimilation into American mainstream For the first generation born in America, it is especially difficult to reconcile the heavy-handed and often restrictive traditions of the emigrants with the relative freedom of life in America. In Women Warrior, Kingston draws a sharp contrast between her fantasy about Fa Mu Lan, the Chinese traditional woman warrior, and the defining moments of her real "American life." Fa Mu Lan had her village's grievances tattooed on her back; Kingston has Chinese stories practically drilled into her brain and is labeled with racial epithets. Her personal struggle and vengeance lie in making sense of the stories through writing, in depicting through words the struggles of growing up Chinese-American. There is an important difference, though, Fa Mu Lan could achieve her vengeance and then return home, but Kingston's vengeance seems to be a never-ending struggle. She has so many words to deal with that "they do not fit on my skin." The Woman Warrior is just the beginning of...
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...Korea to the United States was difficult at best. Proving most difficult was learning to face “poverty with a rich girl’s habits and memory” (Kim, 2004, p. 63). Learning English came in as the second most difficult. The difference she noticed between her old and new life ran the gamut from her change in social status and class to watching her “glamorous mother, not long ago a society lady who lunch, taking on a job as a fish filleter at a market” (Kim, 2004, p. 63). The difficulty she faced might seem trite to someone who never experienced financial security, but it seems quite devastating to Kim when she loses her domestic help and private tutors. It must have also been an assault to her ideas of respect seeing how different education was viewed by kids in the U.S. Seeing the students who held less respect for teachers and school evidenced by their dismissive behavior and graffiti blemished school walls was mind-boggling to her. How Kim interacted with others was another large change as she was now labeled something different by many people she met who weren’t Korean. With other Koreans, there was a disparity that no longer depended upon class alone as it had in her homeland. There were differences that had never existed before for her. Later, her self identification as Korean was expressed through traditional celebrations or...
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...because bankruptcy was punishable by jail time. The author took public transportation for the first time at 13 years old. This was strange for her because before she was driven to school. She also had difficulties understanding some of the terms used here such as “fresh off the boat” when she had in fact flown to the U.S. In her English as a second language (E.S.L) class she now has to interact with kids that she would have little to no contact with in Korea. The class division is even more pronounced because she knows that the wealthier Korean immigrants migrated to Westchester or Manhattan whereas she and her family were in Queens. Suki Kim stated that she was a part of the 1.5 generation. She stated that “Many of us came to America in our teens, already rooted in Korean ways and language” Kim, S. Facing rich poverty with a rich girls habits. In The interpreter. This generation clashed with first generation immigrants who barely spoke the language they also clash with second generation who were more Americanized and to her even more foreign. I feel as though the audience of the piece is not just Korean immigrants but also Americans that come in contact with them. The purpose of this piece is to explain not just the difficulties faced by coming to a foreign country but having to also adapt to a new lifestyle as well. I was shocked by the changes that Suki and her family went through...
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...Essay summary: Suki Kim’s “Facing Poverty with a Rich Girls Habits” Facing Poverty with a Rich Girls Habits is an insightful essay published in New York by the author Suki Kim. In this essay, she shares various challenges that she had to overcome in order to adapt to a new life of poverty and cultural diversity in New York after leaving behind her affluent and luxurious life in South Korea. This article discusses the author’s point of view as 13-year-old Korean immigrant who moved to United States out of desperation and financial tragedy rather than in search of a better life. The author’s main idea in this essay is to convey the message that the foundation of divided immigrant groups, cultural differences and generation gap are so deeply rooted even in the United States that it is impossible to eradicate them from the mindset of people. The author emphasizes on the fact that her wealthy and sheltered background in Korea created confusion. Thus, making it difficult for her to identify with people’s perception of her race in America “One new fact that took more time to absorb was that I was now Asian, a term that I had heard mentioned only in social studies class”, stated author Suki Kim in her article. She continued, “In Korea, yellow was the color of the forsythia that bloomed every spring along the fence that separated our estate from the houses down the hill. I certainly never thought of my skin as being the same shade.” The author struggled to accept the fact that...
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...Asian Americans in the Workplace An In-Depth Analysis of Korean Americans 11/19/2007 Table of Contents Introduction 3 History of Korean Immigration to the United States 4 Values and Customs 10 Demographical Profile 16 The ‘Bamboo Ceiling’: Barriers in the Workplace 22 A Personal Interview: A Different Side to the Story 26 Conclusion 27 References 28 Introduction The term “Asian American” has a rich history in the United States. It refers to a person of Asian ancestry who also obtains American citizenship. The term was originally used by the Census Bureau to clarify and distinguish the government’s equal opportunity programs and measurements. Also, the term “Asian American” was used by anti-war activists during the 1960s instead of using the “Oriental” which was perceived as more derogatory and demeaning. This phrase was finally popularized into mainstream academic usage in the 1970s, and is now the accepted term for government and academic research (Dacin and Hitt, 1997). Although this term allows for economists, sociologists, and statisticians to breakdown the different cultural groups found within the United States, one can delve much further into the evolution of the people we categorize as “Asian American.” In the following pages, we will attempt to explain our research findings on the evolution of one innergroup of Asian Americans within the United States, the Korean Americans. The issues raised will include: 1. An extensive overview of...
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...We are interested in how second-generation Asian American students at the University of Illinois feel about being Asian American, particularly those who are not of Chinese, Korean, Filipino or Japanese descent. In other words, we are focusing on students whose background ethnicity represents Southeast Asian (Thai, Vietnamese, Laotian, Indonesian) and South Asian (Indian, Bengali, Pakistani) and so forth. We want to explore how various Asian ethnic groups identify socially and culturally with the term Asian American. We asked for written responses from Asian American students, who have these background ethnicities, to describe in their own words what being Asian American means to them. In addition, we walked around campus and interviewed several second-generation Asian Americans. In their explanations, we encouraged the students to explain if it was a struggle growing up in America, whether they have ever been a victim to stereotypes or discrimination and how they have dealt with it. We took these statements and compared them to the stereotypes placed immigrants of the 1900s. In addition to the interviews, we analyzed our finding with an article published by Jerry Park of Baylor University titled, “Second-Generation Asian American Pan-Ethnic Identify: Pluralized Meaning of a Racial Label” who did a similar study in four public universities, along with other readings from class. The term, Asian American, was formed as a significant symbolic move in constructing an ethnic identity...
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...Asian Americans like most immigrants have dealt with their share of prejudice and discrimination throughout American history. Many migrated to the United States because of the push-pull affect. Asians migrated to the United States in two waves of immigration and continue to prosper as they are at the top of the stratification system. The largest ethnic groups to migrate from Asia are Filipinos, Asian Indians and Chinese. The Old Asian Immigration or first wave of Chinese Americans began in the middle 19th Century to the 20th century. Many Chinese immigrants came to the United States because of labor opportunities. The first wave of Chinese immigrants were subject to the Anti-Chinese movement because they were seen a threat to the labor force. They were pushed from place to place and in 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was an attempt “to Preclude Chinese immigrants for 10years”, then in 1907 the United States Banned Chinese. The act was then repealed in 1960s. Japanese immigrants like Chinese Immigrants were both part of the first wave of Asian immigration to the United States. Japanese immigrants followed after the Chinese and have many...
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...venture (Koo, n.d.). Education and demographics are important to a global business venture, though I believe the economy is most important. I present information about South Korea’s economy, and how it has transformed from an aid recipient to a donor country (Globalization, n.d.). Here is where I mention the chaebol’s success, which accounted for 55.7% of South Koreas GDP in 2010 (Globalization, n.d.) Not only will I show the success of the economy, I will also describe the failing housing market (Seoul Reflects South Korea Housing Trouble, 2013). To take Western Plaza Inc. into South Korea, I had to first research the weather patterns. I saw potential problems only in the spring, when hazardous yellow sand/dust blows into Korea from China (Korean Weather, n.d.)....
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...elections. The Kim family has ruled for generations and wins one hundred percent of the time because North Korea does not allow any political opposition. The people are isolated and are completely cut off from the outside world. According to a North Korean world article, North Koreans practice collective punishment. This means that if you go against Kim Jong Il in any way, not only will you get in trouble but the rest of your entire family will be punished. There is evidence about the political prisons that say death rates are extremely high. Grandchildren to grandparents have been sent to prison camps. Guards who have defected have reported being specifically told by Kim Jong Il that the prisoners are not people and should be treated as such. They are never meant to be released and their history is erased as soon as they enter. Although North Korea denies any of these camps exist. This is a humanitarian crisis and there is evidence that they are committing crimes against humanity. Kim Jong Il and his government should be held accountable. We CANNOT sit back and allow this to go on. Satellite imagery indicates that one prison camp being shut down but we have no idea where the 30,000 prisoners that were in that one camp are. If the United States has the technology to see camps and know they exist, why is nothing being done about them? Now I want to look at how the North Korean people are cut off from the rest of the world. The North Korean people do not have internet access and...
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...U.S. Foreign Policy Essay Assignment. Lessons learned through the Past 25.Nov.2011 After the end of the Second World War, the global balance of power steered with the rise of communism and nations determined to fight against it. When these two sides gradually received spotlight of international politics until the end of Cold War, the United States, the key player of anti-communism, began to propel, its unofficial, the so-called ‘World Police’ obligation, as their main foreign policy makings. Even now, the U.S., as the leading super power of the global arena, influences to the whole with what it believes is right for the sake of humanity and the nation itself. Its belief eventually may have salvaged many from the tyranny of communism or unjust dictatorships. However, at times, it did only harm than good to keep the society on the right track. But these were lessons learned after several trials of failures of various spectrums of the United State’s policies. Now, history tells the future generations of young American politicians through the mirrors of past events such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War. These mirrors foretell what outcomes one would face if he finds himself stumbled onto the wrong course of intervention. One will also discover military supremacy is not all to influence a certain entity. Despite the evident proof of the past, there are politicians that are misled to believe what are not worth believing anymore. Mitt Romney, a Republican politician, is one...
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...identity. Recently, language learning has been seen as participation and negotiation of self (see Higgins, forthcoming; Kinginger, 2004; Lam, 2000; Morita, 2004; Ohara, 2001; Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000; and Solé, 2007 among others). The trend is resonated in the growing interest in language learner identity and the studies in narratives. In this paper, a case of heritage language learner will be investigated upon the theoretical frame of poststructuralism. Narrative inquiry will be used to analyze how she negotiates her learner identity. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: First, by looking at the struggle a language learner makes to acquire her heritage language, I reclaim the centrality of identity in defining heritage language learners. Second, to widen the horizons of narrative studies to the cyber space as it provides an ample source of easily accessible data and it has become one of the commonplace media of daily communication. Heritage Language Learners and Identity To refer to the Heritage Language Learners (HLLs), various terms have been implemented such as ‘native speakers,’ ‘quasi native speakers,’ ‘bilingual speakers,’ or, from the dissatisfaction with the prior terms, ‘home background speakers,’ and ‘heritage language speakers’ (Valés, 2005: p. 412). There has not yet been a concise definition, however, that succinctly encapsulates the distinct features of HLLs. HLLs are different from L1 learners in that,...
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