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The Dual National Identity of the Korean Minority in China: The Politics of Nation and Race and the Imagination of Ethnicity
Author(s) -
Kang Jin Woong
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
studies in ethnicity and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.204
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1754-9469
pISSN - 1473-8481
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-9469.2008.00005.x
Subject(s) - ethnic group , politics , national identity , nationality , identity (music) , gender studies , china , dual (grammatical number) , race (biology) , identity formation , political science , cultural identity , sociology , immigration , law , social science , aesthetics , self concept , literature , art , philosophy , negotiation
This article explores the historical changes in the national identity of the Korean minority in China from the period of Japanese colonial invasion through to the present. Existing studies have taken an ethno‐cultural approach to the Korean minority's dual identity, but they have ignored the importance of political identity‐formation which creates, re‐creates, and transforms national identity. The Korean minority's national identity has been determined by political and economic factors rather than ethnic and cultural backgrounds. In this regard, the Korean minority's double‐minded self‐understanding of its own nationhood has shifted from an ethnicity‐centred dual identity to a nationality‐centred dual identity. This article notes that the Korean minority's national identity has been created and re‐created by political identity‐formation, and its imagination of ethnicity has been transformed through this political process.