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Journal Articles by GA YOUNG CHUNG
The Journal of Asian Studies, 2025
This study explores the South Korean military's ambivalent embrace of multicultural soldiers, def... more This study explores the South Korean military's ambivalent embrace of multicultural soldiers, defined as enlistees with one parent born in a foreign country. Drawing on crit i cal anal y sis of con scrip tion pol icy and me dia re ports re leased be tween 2000 and 2022, the au thors iden tify a mech a nism that pos its mul ti cul tural sol diers in one of two ways, ei ther as "in com plete Ko re ans" who may lack pa tri otic spirit and may feel com pelled to hide their fam ily back grounds or as "ex traor di nary Ko re ans" who pos sess a pa tri otic spirit and mul ti cul tural tal ents that will ben e fit the mil i tary. While this mech a nism is shaped and prac ticed as a du al i ty, the two seem ingly contrasting views are in fact based on a com mon prem ise that fun da men tally as so ci ates the mul ti cul tural sol diers with a for eign ness that oth ers and ex cludes them from the fam ily of "pureblood ed" Ko re ans. Unpacking the mil i tary pol i cies' con vo luted ef fects, the ar ti cle dem on strates how a nor ma tive au then tic Koreanness is reimagined and reconstructed in ways that racialize mul ti cul tural sol diers.
KEYWORDS multicultural soldiers, mixedblood Korean men, racialization, South Korean military, conscription, Koreanness
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies , 2023
Anti-racist and anti-colonial education with 1st gen Korean American seniors in a time of Asian h... more Anti-racist and anti-colonial education with 1st gen Korean American seniors in a time of Asian hate and racialized dread, Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies,
Amerasia Journal, 2022
In this paper, I argue that the Cold War's militarized and imperialist logic has entangled with r... more In this paper, I argue that the Cold War's militarized and imperialist logic has entangled with racialized migrant "illegality" to shape undocumented Korean immigrants' (in)voluntary enlistment in the MAVNI program. Drawing on several years of ethnographic research, I examine how young undocumented Koreans were mobilized in service of the US's imperial project to sustain its global supremacy through the "War on Terror." In particular, I attend to the way militarized imperialism embedded within U.S. citizenship becomes intimately tied to the transnational ideologies of South Korean militarized citizenship as experienced by the unprivileged descendants of the unending Cold War. The neoliberal practices of the DREAM Act and DACA only reinforced this connection. Focusing on the undocumented-to-military trajectory, this study contributes to interrogate the temporality of the racialized migrant "illegality" of Asian immigrants within the larger historical context of U.S. militarized imperialism in Asia during the unending Cold War.
Contemporary Asian American Activism: Building Movements for Liberation, 2022
Hl 0N trlilvnsto r u3ldvHf, 'uollsJnPe Jo slfedsB orru asaql pauDr flaslaerd srolntolralu! qJJPas... more Hl 0N trlilvnsto r u3ldvHf, 'uollsJnPe Jo slfedsB orru asaql pauDr flaslaerd srolntolralu! qJJPasal Iu;o saruagadxa aql z'plror^ 4ar1t Jo uoperuJoJsnen aql u! atedlclued ol rtroq raAot -slp prrB,{t11uer rprm d11ec1tlJ) I?eP aldoad qq$ dq sueaur aql,'tuop -aarJ Jo aopcerd, arp sauroJeq ry ro figuroyuoa llpsu! ol unlsAs tuasard aql Jo cfol agr oru! suollBrauaE;o uoltertatul aql salellllceJ raqlla uopetnpg 'ls1xa lou saop ssaJotd uopecnpa IBJlnau e'passatddg aqt to BoSopa4 qarlarC olnpd ol pro ^aroJ aql ul pelBls IlnPqS preqrlg sy 'usr^llJe rlaql q8norqt uolleJnpa Jo uollou ifuoreraqll eql atll -cerd ol uaqr pal uslaer pue dlqsuazlllo a^lsnlJxa;o sanbltyrJ olul pderraq qW Jo tuppo,nar lecpllod rpqt tama,roH 'uolreJnpa Jo as! -ruord aqt fq peleaae tlay i(ar6 'alqpuleltsun pano:d asaqt
Minkwon center for Community Action, 2022
Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the anti-Asian hate of 2020 exacerbated the financial, social, and... more Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the anti-Asian hate of 2020 exacerbated the financial, social, and health inequities impacting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. It led undocumented Asian immigrants, whose lives were precariously situated by their liminal legal status and invisibility, to experience greater disadvantages in their daily lives. While they make up about 17% of the 11 million undocumented individuals in the US, their struggles during the pandemic have not been widely reported. Drawing on survey data gathered by the Minkwon Center on 1,500 undocumented Korean immigrants in New York and New Jersey during the three month period between May 1st, 2020 and July 30, 2020, this report sheds light on the socioeconomic isolation and mental health crises experienced by undocumented Asians during the pandemic. Focusing on undocumented Korean immigrants who are not protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (which covers those 30-80 years old), this brief reveals how their inability to access public assistance programs, aggravated by the Trump administration's "public charge" and anti-immigration discourse, further increased the precarity of undocumented Korean immigrants in 2020. Located in a public assistance blind spot, it appears that many undocumented Korean immigrants instead relied on information and resources provided by Korean American nonprofit organizations, ethnic communities, and ethnic media outlets. The struggles experienced by undocumented Korean immigrants, the 8th largest undocumented population in the US, reaffirms the urgent need to implement comprehensive immigration reforms to ensure a system grounded in racial, economic, and social justice for all. Overall Key Findings • 7 out of 10 undocumented Korean immigrants lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Korea Journal, 2018
Korea and/or the United States. Their stories reveal how the "unending" Cold War and the vestiges... more Korea and/or the United States. Their stories reveal how the "unending" Cold War and the vestiges of US imperialism and militarism continue to impact Korean young adults and their transnational life projects. In particular, this research compares two groups: one composed of upper middle-class and upper-class male students who graduated from boarding schools and attend prestigious colleges in the United States and who are required to return to complete their military service in South Korea; and the other composed of lower middle-class and lowerclass male students who moved to the United States and are seeking to serve in the US military to secure an expedited path to American citizenship after failing to enter prestigious colleges in South Korea. In so doing, we show how two seemingly divergent paths toward militarized citizenship are highly classed. Although the two groups examined come from different class backgrounds and make different choices, they are alike in their decision to undertake military service-and to use that service to secure valuable citizenship. By showing how both groups remain tied to a militarized regime of citizenship during their respective transnational trajectories as international students, this research demonstrates the ongoing effects of the Cold War, not just on the Korean Peninsula but also in the transnational space of citizenship.
Harvard Journal of Asian American Policy Review, 2017
Seoul, South Korea: Nulmin., 2017
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2015
Tokyo, Japan: SericaShobo せりか書房, 2011
삶이 보이는 창 Seoul, South Korea: Salmi Poinŭn Ch'ang. , 2011
![Research paper thumbnail of [국문 보고서] 코로나19와 뉴욕의 한인 서류미비 이민자](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/86855479/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](뉴욕: 민권센터, 2022
2020 년의 코로나19 팬데믹과 반아시안 혐오는 아시아 및 태평양계 미국인의 재정적, 사회적, 건강상의 불평등을 악화시켰다. 불안정한 법적 체류 지위와 비가시성으로 위태로운... more 2020 년의 코로나19 팬데믹과 반아시안 혐오는 아시아 및 태평양계 미국인의
재정적, 사회적, 건강상의 불평등을 악화시켰다. 불안정한 법적 체류 지위와
비가시성으로 위태로운 상황에 처해 있던 아시안계 서류미비 이민자들은 이 기간
동안 더욱 불리한 삶 조건에 직면했다. 현재 미국의 1 천 1 백만 서류미비 이민자 중
아시아계 이민자는 약 17%에 달함에도 불구하고 팬데믹 동안 이들이 경험한
어려움은 널리 보고되지 않아 왔다. 본 정책 보고서는 민권센터가 수집한 뉴욕 및
뉴저지 거주 1 천 5 백여 명의 한인 서류미비자들의 설문 조사 결과에 기반하여
팬데믹 동안 아시아계 서류미비 이민자들이 경험한 사회경제적 고립과 심리적
위기를 고찰한다. 청소년 추방 유예 정책 (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program)의 수혜자가 아닌 한인 서류미비자들 (30 세-80 세)의 경험에 주목하여, 본
보고서는 트럼프 정권의 ‘퍼블릭 차지 (Public charge)’와 반이민 담론으로 인해
악화된 공적 부조 프로그램에 대한 접근성이 지난 한 해 동안 어떻게 한인
서류미비자들의 삶의 위기를 가중시켰는지 드러낸다. 미국에서 여덟 번째로 큰
서류미비 이민자 집단을 형성하고 있는 한인 서류미비자들이 겪은 난관은 모두를
위한 인종적, 경제적, 사회적 정의를 보장하는 포괄적 이민 개혁의 시급성을
드러낸다.
Transnational migration, the movement of "living people," has long been a conventional reality in... more Transnational migration, the movement of "living people," has long been a conventional reality in Korea. Considerable share of Korean labor force has been sent abroad, and today, this movement is gaining momentum as globalization proliferates. One noticeable phenomenon in this trend is that globalization is inducing "feminization" of migration. The "feminization" can be interpreted in two ways. One way is to interpret it as the increase in number of females among emigrant workers due to aggravation of female poverty. The other way to interpret is that a large number of women are migrating to do types of work that have been traditionally related to women-housekeeping, child rearing, nursing.
한국사회학회 사회학대회 논문집, 625-637, 2007
The Journal of Asian Studies, 2025
This study explores the South Korean military's ambivalent embrace of multicultural soldiers, def... more This study explores the South Korean military's ambivalent embrace of multicultural soldiers, defined as enlistees with one parent born in a foreign country. Drawing on crit i cal anal y sis of con scrip tion pol icy and me dia re ports re leased be tween 2000 and 2022, the au thors iden tify a mech a nism that pos its mul ti cul tural sol diers in one of two ways, ei ther as "in com plete Ko re ans" who may lack pa tri otic spirit and may feel com pelled to hide their fam ily back grounds or as "ex traor di nary Ko re ans" who pos sess a pa tri otic spirit and mul ti cul tural tal ents that will ben e fit the mil i tary. While this mech a nism is shaped and prac ticed as a du al i ty, the two seem ingly contrasting views are in fact based on a com mon prem ise that fun da men tally as so ci ates the mul ti cul tural sol diers with a for eign ness that oth ers and ex cludes them from the fam ily of "pureblood ed" Ko re ans. Unpacking the mil i tary pol i cies' con vo luted ef fects, the ar ti cle dem on strates how a nor ma tive au then tic Koreanness is reimagined and reconstructed in ways that racialize mul ti cul tural sol diers.
KEYWORDS multicultural soldiers, mixedblood Korean men, racialization, South Korean military, conscription, Koreanness
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies , 2023
Anti-racist and anti-colonial education with 1st gen Korean American seniors in a time of Asian h... more Anti-racist and anti-colonial education with 1st gen Korean American seniors in a time of Asian hate and racialized dread, Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies,
Amerasia Journal, 2022
In this paper, I argue that the Cold War's militarized and imperialist logic has entangled with r... more In this paper, I argue that the Cold War's militarized and imperialist logic has entangled with racialized migrant "illegality" to shape undocumented Korean immigrants' (in)voluntary enlistment in the MAVNI program. Drawing on several years of ethnographic research, I examine how young undocumented Koreans were mobilized in service of the US's imperial project to sustain its global supremacy through the "War on Terror." In particular, I attend to the way militarized imperialism embedded within U.S. citizenship becomes intimately tied to the transnational ideologies of South Korean militarized citizenship as experienced by the unprivileged descendants of the unending Cold War. The neoliberal practices of the DREAM Act and DACA only reinforced this connection. Focusing on the undocumented-to-military trajectory, this study contributes to interrogate the temporality of the racialized migrant "illegality" of Asian immigrants within the larger historical context of U.S. militarized imperialism in Asia during the unending Cold War.
Contemporary Asian American Activism: Building Movements for Liberation, 2022
Hl 0N trlilvnsto r u3ldvHf, 'uollsJnPe Jo slfedsB orru asaql pauDr flaslaerd srolntolralu! qJJPas... more Hl 0N trlilvnsto r u3ldvHf, 'uollsJnPe Jo slfedsB orru asaql pauDr flaslaerd srolntolralu! qJJPasal Iu;o saruagadxa aql z'plror^ 4ar1t Jo uoperuJoJsnen aql u! atedlclued ol rtroq raAot -slp prrB,{t11uer rprm d11ec1tlJ) I?eP aldoad qq$ dq sueaur aql,'tuop -aarJ Jo aopcerd, arp sauroJeq ry ro figuroyuoa llpsu! ol unlsAs tuasard aql Jo cfol agr oru! suollBrauaE;o uoltertatul aql salellllceJ raqlla uopetnpg 'ls1xa lou saop ssaJotd uopecnpa IBJlnau e'passatddg aqt to BoSopa4 qarlarC olnpd ol pro ^aroJ aql ul pelBls IlnPqS preqrlg sy 'usr^llJe rlaql q8norqt uolleJnpa Jo uollou ifuoreraqll eql atll -cerd ol uaqr pal uslaer pue dlqsuazlllo a^lsnlJxa;o sanbltyrJ olul pderraq qW Jo tuppo,nar lecpllod rpqt tama,roH 'uolreJnpa Jo as! -ruord aqt fq peleaae tlay i(ar6 'alqpuleltsun pano:d asaqt
Minkwon center for Community Action, 2022
Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the anti-Asian hate of 2020 exacerbated the financial, social, and... more Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the anti-Asian hate of 2020 exacerbated the financial, social, and health inequities impacting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. It led undocumented Asian immigrants, whose lives were precariously situated by their liminal legal status and invisibility, to experience greater disadvantages in their daily lives. While they make up about 17% of the 11 million undocumented individuals in the US, their struggles during the pandemic have not been widely reported. Drawing on survey data gathered by the Minkwon Center on 1,500 undocumented Korean immigrants in New York and New Jersey during the three month period between May 1st, 2020 and July 30, 2020, this report sheds light on the socioeconomic isolation and mental health crises experienced by undocumented Asians during the pandemic. Focusing on undocumented Korean immigrants who are not protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (which covers those 30-80 years old), this brief reveals how their inability to access public assistance programs, aggravated by the Trump administration's "public charge" and anti-immigration discourse, further increased the precarity of undocumented Korean immigrants in 2020. Located in a public assistance blind spot, it appears that many undocumented Korean immigrants instead relied on information and resources provided by Korean American nonprofit organizations, ethnic communities, and ethnic media outlets. The struggles experienced by undocumented Korean immigrants, the 8th largest undocumented population in the US, reaffirms the urgent need to implement comprehensive immigration reforms to ensure a system grounded in racial, economic, and social justice for all. Overall Key Findings • 7 out of 10 undocumented Korean immigrants lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Korea Journal, 2018
Korea and/or the United States. Their stories reveal how the "unending" Cold War and the vestiges... more Korea and/or the United States. Their stories reveal how the "unending" Cold War and the vestiges of US imperialism and militarism continue to impact Korean young adults and their transnational life projects. In particular, this research compares two groups: one composed of upper middle-class and upper-class male students who graduated from boarding schools and attend prestigious colleges in the United States and who are required to return to complete their military service in South Korea; and the other composed of lower middle-class and lowerclass male students who moved to the United States and are seeking to serve in the US military to secure an expedited path to American citizenship after failing to enter prestigious colleges in South Korea. In so doing, we show how two seemingly divergent paths toward militarized citizenship are highly classed. Although the two groups examined come from different class backgrounds and make different choices, they are alike in their decision to undertake military service-and to use that service to secure valuable citizenship. By showing how both groups remain tied to a militarized regime of citizenship during their respective transnational trajectories as international students, this research demonstrates the ongoing effects of the Cold War, not just on the Korean Peninsula but also in the transnational space of citizenship.
Harvard Journal of Asian American Policy Review, 2017
Seoul, South Korea: Nulmin., 2017
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2015
Tokyo, Japan: SericaShobo せりか書房, 2011
삶이 보이는 창 Seoul, South Korea: Salmi Poinŭn Ch'ang. , 2011
뉴욕: 민권센터, 2022
2020 년의 코로나19 팬데믹과 반아시안 혐오는 아시아 및 태평양계 미국인의 재정적, 사회적, 건강상의 불평등을 악화시켰다. 불안정한 법적 체류 지위와 비가시성으로 위태로운... more 2020 년의 코로나19 팬데믹과 반아시안 혐오는 아시아 및 태평양계 미국인의
재정적, 사회적, 건강상의 불평등을 악화시켰다. 불안정한 법적 체류 지위와
비가시성으로 위태로운 상황에 처해 있던 아시안계 서류미비 이민자들은 이 기간
동안 더욱 불리한 삶 조건에 직면했다. 현재 미국의 1 천 1 백만 서류미비 이민자 중
아시아계 이민자는 약 17%에 달함에도 불구하고 팬데믹 동안 이들이 경험한
어려움은 널리 보고되지 않아 왔다. 본 정책 보고서는 민권센터가 수집한 뉴욕 및
뉴저지 거주 1 천 5 백여 명의 한인 서류미비자들의 설문 조사 결과에 기반하여
팬데믹 동안 아시아계 서류미비 이민자들이 경험한 사회경제적 고립과 심리적
위기를 고찰한다. 청소년 추방 유예 정책 (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program)의 수혜자가 아닌 한인 서류미비자들 (30 세-80 세)의 경험에 주목하여, 본
보고서는 트럼프 정권의 ‘퍼블릭 차지 (Public charge)’와 반이민 담론으로 인해
악화된 공적 부조 프로그램에 대한 접근성이 지난 한 해 동안 어떻게 한인
서류미비자들의 삶의 위기를 가중시켰는지 드러낸다. 미국에서 여덟 번째로 큰
서류미비 이민자 집단을 형성하고 있는 한인 서류미비자들이 겪은 난관은 모두를
위한 인종적, 경제적, 사회적 정의를 보장하는 포괄적 이민 개혁의 시급성을
드러낸다.
Transnational migration, the movement of "living people," has long been a conventional reality in... more Transnational migration, the movement of "living people," has long been a conventional reality in Korea. Considerable share of Korean labor force has been sent abroad, and today, this movement is gaining momentum as globalization proliferates. One noticeable phenomenon in this trend is that globalization is inducing "feminization" of migration. The "feminization" can be interpreted in two ways. One way is to interpret it as the increase in number of females among emigrant workers due to aggravation of female poverty. The other way to interpret is that a large number of women are migrating to do types of work that have been traditionally related to women-housekeeping, child rearing, nursing.
한국사회학회 사회학대회 논문집, 625-637, 2007