Skip to main content

Hierarchical Ethnic Nationhood in the Formal Membership and Beyond: Joseonjok and Formal and Substantive Citizenship in Their Ethnic Homeland

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Diasporic Returns to the Ethnic Homeland

Abstract

This chapter broadens the discussion of hierarchical ethnic nationhood in the context of ethnic return migration, from the current narrow focus on the labor market to the often-neglected issue of formal membership in a nation-state. It examines the issue of formal membership from two perspectives: 1) access (or roadblocks) to formal membership, and; 2) the nature of substantive citizenship after securing a formal membership. Analyzing 62 court cases where Joseonjok challenged the denial of their applications, it identifies roadblocks that Joseonjok face in their path to acquiring formal citizenship. Based on a survey data among Joseonjok who have secured formal membership, it evaluates the substantive nature of Joseonjok’s formal membership and demonstrates how hierarchical ethnic nationhood persists even for those who have secured formal membership in Korea.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Choi, Hee Jeong, and Nora Hui-Jung Kim. 2017. Of Citizens and Soldiers: Shallow Marketization of Citizenship and Military Service in Neoliberal South Korea. Journal of Cotemporary Asia 47 (4): 515–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, Caren. 2011. Making and Faking Kinship. Marriage and Labor Migration Between China and South Korea. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinemann, Torsten, Ursual Naude, and Anna-Maria Tpanien. 2013. Verifying the Family? A Comparison of DNA Analysis for Family Reunification in Three European Countries (Austria, Finland and Germany). European Journal of Migration and Law 15: 183–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joppke, Christian. 2005. Selecting by Origin. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Jaeun. 2011. Establishing Identity: Documents, Performance, and Biometric Information in Immigration Proceedings. Law and Society 36 (3): 760–786.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Nora Hui-Jung. 2013. Flexible But Yet Inflexible: Development of Dual Citizenship in South Korea. The Journal of Korean Studies 18 (1): 7–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kymlicka, Will. 2001. Politics in the Vernacular. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Chulwoo. 2012. How Can You Say You’re Korean? Law, Governmentality and National Membership in South Korea. Citizenship Studies 16 (1): 85–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Helene K. 2012. I’m My Mother’s Daughter, I’m My Husband’s Wife, I’m My Child’s Mother, I’m Nothing Else: Resisting Traditional Korean Roles as Korean American Working Women in Seoul, South Korea. Women’s Studies International Forum 36: 37–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Byoungha, Jun Yong Choi, and Jungmin Seo. 2014. Korean-Chinese Workers and the Politics of Korean Nationalism. Pacific Focus 26 (3): 395–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Hong. 2014. Beyond Co-ethnicity: The Politics of Differentiating and Integrating New Immigrants in Singapore. Ethnic and Racial Studies 37 (7): 1225–1238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Lisong. 2012. Return Migration and Selective Citizenship: A Study of Returning Chinese Professional Migrants from the United States. Journal of Asian American Studies 15 (1): 35–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Employment and Labor. 2014. Revised Guideline for Overseas Korean Visit and Employment System. Publication No.: 11-1492000-00268-01 (in Korean).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Justice. 2017. Korean Immigration Service. 2016 Annual Immigration Statistics (in Korean).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ong, Aihwa. 1999. Flexible Citizenship. The Cultural Logistics of Transnationality. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, Jung-Sun, and Paul. Y. Chang. 2005. Contention in the Construction of a Global Korean Community: The Case of the Overseas Korean Act. The Journal of Korean Studies 10 (1): 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seol, Dong-Hoon, and John D. Skrentny. 2009. Ethnic Return Migration and Hierarchical Nationhood. Korean Chinese Foreign Workers in South Korea. Ethnicities 9 (1): 147–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seol, Dong-Hoon, and Jungmin Seo. 2014. Dynamics of Ethnic Nationalism and Hierarchical Nationhood: Korean Nation and Its Otherness Since the Late 1980s. Korea Journal 54 (2): 5–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takenaka, Ayumi. 2009. The Rise and Fall of Diasporic Bonds in Japanese-Peruvian ‘Return’ Migration. International Migration 52 (6): 100–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsuda, Takeyuki. 1999. Transnational Migration and the Nationalization of Ethnic Identity Among Japanese Brazilian Return Migrants. Ethos 27 (2): 145–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2000. Ethnic Return Migration and the Nation-State: Encouraging the Diaspora to Return ‘Home’. Nations and Nationalism 16 (4): 616–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Leslie K. 2016. The Benefits of In-Betweenness: Return Migration of Second-Generation Chinese American Professionals to China. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 42 (12): 1941–1958.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamashiro, Jane H. 2012. Ethnic Return Migration Policies and Asian American Labor in Japan and Korea. AAPI Nexus 10 (1): 21–39.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kim, N.H. (2019). Hierarchical Ethnic Nationhood in the Formal Membership and Beyond: Joseonjok and Formal and Substantive Citizenship in Their Ethnic Homeland. In: Tsuda, T., Song, C. (eds) Diasporic Returns to the Ethnic Homeland. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90763-5_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics