The book, "What Does It Mean to Be Korean Today? Part II: Community in the 21st Century," focuses on the rebirth of Korean America during the April 1992 civil unrest. Edward Chang, an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Riverside, is the guest editor of the special issue.
According to Chang, before the Los Angeles civil unrest, many Korean Americans saw their lives, culture and hopes linked primarily to Korea. After the civil unrest, however, Korean Americans realized that they had to deal with new issues facing their community, including second-generation youth, family and domestic relations, and their own participation in media, politics and the broader American culture. Chang's own essay, based on his ongoing research, addresses the evolution of a unique Korean American business - the swap meet - during the past 10 years.
In their essay, demographer Eu-Young Yu, together with colleagues Peter Choe, Sang ll Han and Kimberly Yu, trace the establishment and development of Los Angeles' Koreatown from 1990 through 2000. According to the authors, Koreatown is one of the most densely populated, but socially isolated ethnic enclaves in the nation; there is a skewed income and wealth among its Asian, Latino and white residents; and city planners, politicians and local government remain insensitive to the community's complex needs. Nonetheless, Korean American groups such as the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates help both Korean and Latino workers to improve their lives within Koreatown.
Analyzing new activism of Korean Americans, writer Miriam Ching Yoon Louie looks at "Korean American Radical Movement After Kwangju," helping to link the peoples' movements in Korea with struggles of Korean activist groups in the United States against the Iraq War, and anti-immigrant policies directed against U.S. minorities.
In her essay, Angie Y. Chung, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Albany, examines the involvement of Korean American youth in community-based organizations.
Other articles that address current racial attitudes and conflicts include a study by Nadia Kim, assistant professor of sociology and women's studies at Brandeis University, and an article by L.S. Kim, assistant professor of film and digital media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on the conflicts and contradictions of Asian and Korean Americans in television culture.
Two articles focus on Korean American youth culture. Jung-Sun Park, who teaches in the Asian Pacific Studies Program at California State University, Dominguez Hills, looks at transnational flows of culture among Korean immigrant youth: video, music, television, comic books and pop idols. An interesting development is the hybrid nature of Korean American youth culture. For example, some music groups have members born both in Korea and the United States. Susie Woo, a graduate of the UCLA Asian American Studies M.A. program and now at Yale University, examines how Korean American youth use cyberspace in relation to language, identity, and social status and positioning. According to Woo, the influence of church, middle-class family background and school all influence how Korean youth use the Internet, with whom they interact and for what purposes.
Janet Chang, an assistant professor of social work at California State University, San Bernardino, provides a study comparing married and divorced Korean immigrant women, and examines their psychological well-being in relation to gender, class background and family.
Also in this issue, K.W. Lee, founder and editor of Koreatown Weekly and The Korea Times weekly English edition, together with Dr. Luke Kim of the University of California, Davis, and Grace Kim, a retired high school teacher and writer, provide an example of the oral history project they have been working on during the past decade. They provide us with the story of Dung Lai Park, a Korean patriot who first went to Shanghai and smuggled himself to the United States in the early 20th century.
Poet Steve Hosik Moon, in his debut story, "Mountains and Fire," imagines a grandmother trying to protect her kin against the Japanese, and takes the story to a Korean American family in Chicago. East Coast poet Chungmi Kim gives us a story about a student worker, "A Stranger in America." In addition, two interviews shed light on writers and critics: an interview with writer Chang-rae Lee by Young-Oak Lee, a professor of English at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, and an interview with professor Elaine Kim, who is a pioneer in Asian American Studies, by author Min Hyoung Song, an assistant professor of English at Boston College.
The special issue of Amerasia Journal (30:1, 2004), "What Does It Mean to Be Korean Today? Part II: Community in the 21st Century," may be purchased by sending a check made payable to "UC Regents" in the amount of $13 (plus $4.00 shipping/handling, and 8.25% tax for California residents) to: UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, 3230 Campbell Hall, Box 951546, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1546. Visa, Mastercard, and Discover cards are also accepted; please include account number, expiration date, and your phone number. Inquiries for purchasing the book or for textbook discounts, aascpress@aasc.ucla.edu or (310) 825-2968. Please click here to order a copy online through the UCLA AASC Press Publications bookstore.
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