2013 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
大阪コリアンタウン : 韓国人ニューカマーと在日コリアンの民族意識
| Project/Area Number |
13F03725
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| Research Institution | Saitama University |
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Principal Investigator |
伊藤 博明 埼玉大学, 教養学部, 教授
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
YOON Sharon 埼玉大学, 教養学部, 外国人特別研究員
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| Keywords | 在日韓国人 / 民族意識 / トランズナショナリズム / マイノリティー / 人種差別 / アイデンティティー |
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| Research Abstract |
The current project analyzes the impact that transnational migration has on the historic community of third-and fourth-generation resident Koreans("zainichi")in Osaka's Koreatown. Previously, the author conducted research on the Korean transnational enclave in Beijing. Findings from this project demonstrated that on the one hand, increasing levels of transnationalism has led to inαeased flows of material capital from the homeland ; but that on the other hand, trajectories of upward mobility among Korean migrants was largely blocked by the degeneration of trust and ethnic solidahty between South Korean newcomers and Korean Chinese oldcomers. Such findings go against current theories that argue that transnationalism has led to increased opportunities for economic mobility. By conducting ethnographic research on the Koreatown in Osaka, which has experienced similar levels of transnational activity since the 1990s, the author seeks to strengthen generalizability of the argument that transn
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ationalism of ten leads to barriers in the cultivation of ethnic solidarity.
Over the course of two years, I plan to carry out three phases of data collection. During the first phase, I conducted a review of past scholarship on Korean migration to Japan, particularly focusing on the population in Osaka, In addition, I conducted preliminary field research of the Koreatown in Osaka, meeting with diffferent organizational leaders and social activists in the Korean community. For the second phase, I moved to Tsuruhashi, where the enclave is located, and started to conduct participant observation in a number of the major Korean NGOs, churches, and schools in the area. I am currently in the process of focusing my involvement in three major organizations―a large Korean church, a well-established Korean ethnic store, and an NGO that fights against hate speech in recent years. I chose these three organizations due to 1)their prominence in the ethnic community, and 2)the diversity of diffferent types of Koreans they represent. I will record my interactions in a field notes journal as I volunteer at these organizations over a course of about one year. For the final, third, stage of data collection, I will use the micro-interactional observations I made and gauge their generalizability by conducting focused informant interviews and a large survey of South Koreans and Korean Japanese in Osaka. Less
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
FIELD RESEARCH
In my research proposal, I planned on completing the literature review and informant interviews with various leaders and activists in the Koreatown. To date, I have been able to accomplish both of these research objectives successfully. I did not use my funds to transcribe the interviews that I conducted, however, because I found that most of my informants did not wish to be recorded. I feel that this is because the topics discussed (racial discrimination, hate speech, etc.) are sensitive and I will need to establish trust with members of the Korean community before I am able to record my interviews. I feel that once my position is established in the field, I will have no problems with recording interviews in the future.
PUBLICATIONS, ACADEMIC CONFERENCES, ETC.
I recently submitted an article based on my comparative project on the Korean enclave in Beijing for a special issue on ethnic minorities in the China Quarterly. I also presented my research on the Koreans in Japan at a Japan Studies Conference at Dartmouth College in November, and at the annual meeting for the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) in Philadelphia in March. I met with editors at Stanford University Press and University of Hawaii Press at the AAS meeting about my book manuscript and was met with favorable response.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
FIELD RESEARCH
I am in the processing of choosing the appropriate three organizations where I will conduct in-depth participant observation. In the proceeding months, I will become more actively involved in these organizations and will record field notes as part of my ethnographic data collection. Using my observations, I will formulate hypotheses on the effect of transnationalism on ethnic solidarity and collective consciousness, which I will test through broader interviews and survey research, at the final stage.
PUBLICATIONS, ACADEMIC CONFERENCES, ETC.
Currently, in addition to my ethnographic field research, I am in the process of writing a comparative paper on the Korean ethnic churches in Beijing and Osaka, which I will present at the International Sociological Association this summer in Yokohama. I hope to submit this paper for publication at a major sociological journal such as Social Forces. In order to heighten my media presence on my ethnographic research, I am working with web designers and web developers to create a website showcasing my current research projects, a personal blog on current sociological issues in Osaka, and my publications. I anticipate that the website will go live by the end of August. I also anticipate that my book on the Koreatown in Beijing will go under review this summer.
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Research Products
(2 results)
