Disappearing Acts: An Immigrant History

In: Cultural studies - critical methodologies, Band 18, Heft 5, S. 307-313

Abstract

This piece is an experimental autoethnographic text that juxtaposes the author's childhood experiences of growing up as a mixed-race Korean immigrant in a xenophobic small town in the United States with her mother's dreams of migrating from Korea to America. The story of the family is contextualized within the history of the Korean War and postcolonial Korea and is based on several conversations the author had with her mother and aunt, in addition to her research on the Korean War and its aftermath. It reveals the many physical and symbolic disappearances in both the author's family and Korean diaspora.